DHL claim late for vat

Laz123

I bought my son some T Ricky Assassin jeans from US site for Xmas.

DHL delivered them in time. Now I've got an invoice from them for Vat £44.23 and Admin £5.00.

I thought any tax had to be paid immediately?

Is this legit?

I've had so many attempted scams, phishing etc that I'm very cautious now.

mattyprice4004

DHL ask for it after - but that's a lot of tax. How much were the goods?

Laz123

We paid £220.

railbuff

It will be import duty that DHL have paid customs to release your goods at the port. Some couriers will deliver the goods and invoice later while some like parcelforce will not deliver goods until you pay the invoice.

Not all goods from outside the EU will get hit like this, but looks like the contailer your goods were in was one the customs stopped to check.

It is not a scam, you need to pay the invoice. was it emailed or posted. if emailed then don open links and call DHL to confirm the invoice. if posted still call and confirm its correct

Nilrem

The VAT and fee sounds about right for the value, possibly even a little cheap (it doesn't sound like they've applied any duty), given VAT is 20% on most things, and DHL charge either £1.50 or 1.5% of the value of the items (whichever is more) for their handling fee with residential packages.

It's fairly normal for DHL to bill you later for VAT/duty, as they deliver first to reduce the delay that could otherwise occur.

Railbuff, with DHL it's not the container being checked, as they'll have the full details of the shipment in electronic form before they ever pick the package up, which is the reason you almost always get a customs bill if your order is shipped DHL express, but it's hit and miss if it's DHL Worldmail (their "standard post" sort of shipping), or you get it shipped with something like US postal service.

Hintza

Nilrem wrote: »

or you get it shipped with something like US postal service.

If you ever get the option choose the postal service over a courier, it gives you a much better chance.

But don't be tempted to ask the seller to mark the value down as you can hardly claim £200 (if lost or damaged) if the value was marked as £20!

arcon5

£5 admin fee - that seems very low..? I know some couriers charge upwards of £12

railbuff

Nilrem wrote: »

Railbuff, with DHL it's not the container being checked,

I have worked at a container port and customs will pick random containers that come in and if your parcel is in that container they will most likey imply duty once checking the container manifest with the contents.

visidigi

railbuff wrote: »

It will be import duty that DHL have paid customs to release your goods at the port. Some couriers will deliver the goods and invoice later while some like parcelforce will not deliver goods until you pay the invoice.

Not all goods from outside the EU will get hit like this, but looks like the contailer your goods were in was one the customs stopped to check.

It is not a scam, you need to pay the invoice. was it emailed or posted. if emailed then don open links and call DHL to confirm the invoice. if posted still call and confirm its correct

Please understand what you are talking about....

Express Couriers, such as DHL, UPS and FedEx electronically submit the data on all shipments prior to arrival in the UK this is checked and the invoices generated automatically - customs don't stop it to check it.

If they want to stop it to check it they electronically request this and the couriers will pull it automatically when it enters the sortation systems.

Royal Mail might be more likely to see customs charges avoided, but as far as express couriers are concerned, its highly unlikely.

visidigi

railbuff wrote: »

I have worked at a container port and customs will pick random containers that come in and if your parcel is in that container they will most likey imply duty once checking the container manifest with the contents.

DHL don't do sea freight for consumer package travelling by air from the US(road isn't exactly possible...)

Its likely entry into the UK is via its hub at EMA or through LHR if not a direct provisioned service.

Laz123

It looks like I'll have to pay, making this an even more expensive xmas present.

Thanks to all.