Import VAT on gifts?

fuzzypicklehead

Not sure if anyone can help with this one-- My family live in the States and sent over two parcels for us in the last week or so. One was a couple of old mobile phones for the kids to use and the other was a pair of jumpers that my sister knitted for them. The parcels were clearly marked as gifts. We had a notice through the post that we had to pay import VAT for them within a certain time period or they would be returned to the sender.

My parents were tracking the parcels and saw that they were being held for charges, which made them really sad. Personally, I think it's appalling to be charged to receive a gift that your loved one made with their own hands and spent a fortune to post here.

Is there any way to challenge or reclaim these charges?

antonic

This is from the HMRC website

Gifts sent from outside the EU

If you're sending or receiving a gift from outside the EU:

• Excise Duty is payable on any alcohol or tobacco products
• Customs Duty is payable if the value of the gift exceeds £135, but will be waived if the amount of duty is £9 or under
• import VAT is payable if the value of the gift exceeds £40

To qualify as a gift:

• It must have been sent from a private person outside the EU to a private person(s) in the UK.
• The Customs Declaration must be completed correctly – see guidance on the customs procedures for goods posted to the UK link below.
• It must be for the use of either you or your family.
• There must be no commercial or trade element and it must not have been paid for by the recipient either directly or indirectly.
• It must be of an occasional nature only - for example for a birthday or anniversary.
• If it's perfume or toilet water it must be within the allowances described in the earlier section 'Perfume and toilet water'. If the allowances are exceeded than charges apply on the excess

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/customs-procedures.htm


What have you actually received ?


Is it a demand from HMRC or a demand from the Post Office ?


The more info you provide the more we can help !.

fuzzypicklehead

Thanks, those guidelines are helpful.

The notice we recieved was from Parcelforce, saying that the goods were being held in their sorting area until charges were paid. I didn't want to risk them being sent back, so I paid it. The parcels arrived today, and were clearly marked as gifts on the customs declarations. However, my parents had estimated the value of the parcel at $100, so that would be over the threshold for Import VAT.

I wonder why this has never come up before--we've been sending and recieving gifts overseas for years!

antonic

Glad to have helped you out.

The other thing you have to watch out for is that if you are receiving regular parcels from your parents, HMRC may think you are running a business importing goods from abroad.

fuzzypicklehead wrote: »

Thanks, those guidelines are helpful.

The notice we recieved was from Parcelforce, saying that the goods were being held in their sorting area until charges were paid. I didn't want to risk them being sent back, so I paid it. The parcels arrived today, and were clearly marked as gifts on the customs declarations. However, my parents had estimated the value of the parcel at $100, so that would be over the threshold for Import VAT.

I wonder why this has never come up before--we've been sending and recieving gifts overseas for years!

fuzzypicklehead

Hmm. I'm sensing that future gifts will probably come from Amazon.uk!

John_Pierpoint

Is there a clamp down in this s,all consignment parcel area ?
The Channel Islands as recently lost its use of the VAT allowance because of the market in high price to weight items (CDs, printer inks etc,) moving to the CIs