USA Customs Charges?

optiMISER_3

Of course I hate VAT and duty but I guess there is no choice. I don't understand the reasons for duty but suspect it is to do with larger trade issues and it could be applied only to bigger items or heavier importers (than £18 limit).

As for the postage company handling fees and HMRC inability to accept payment in any other way, surely that could be solved.

One idea would be to have an online system for self-declaring imports and paying duty and VAT by credit card or even on account (as in self-assessment income tax). A customs tracking number could be assigned (perhaps linked or same as the courier tracking number) which you'd then ask the sender to put on the parcel (or would be automatic in the case of same as or linked to courier tracking number). On coming into the UK the customs tracking number could be scanned by HMRC or the postal company on their behalf (as part of their tracking process surely they could do this for next to nothing apart from intial system setup). It would in effect say, "there is a customs declaration for this package and payment has been made".

Only a proportion of parcels would be opened and checked by customs in a similar manner to how some income tax returns are investigated but not all. Customs should find funds for this and it not incur a charge for the parcel investigated as long as it corresponds to a correct declaration. Maybe you could even fund it by heavily fining those found with large incorrect declarations, maybe the funds could come from savings from all the manual calculations and judgements that customs must do at the moment, which would be done by computers and importers themselves.This system should also make it easier to keep track of the total amount of imports an individual makes and perhaps have a yearly limit rather than (altghough maybe there is one already in addition) the £18 per transaction. This would stop the wasteful practice of ordering multiple items over several weeks to come under the £18 threshold for each parcel.

Oh, also the exchange rate calculation should be more reliable with the above system.

pulliptears

I ordered OH some NERF bars for his car from the US, mainly because you couldnt get them here. They were £300 and delivered by FedEx. 3 years on, I never had a customs charge

Probably because the damned things were so heavy they just wanted rid of them lol

martindow

I would be very surprised if Fedex don't charge. As has been said they will send their invoice in a couple of days.

Js_Other_Half

I assume this has been resolved long since - the OP started the thread over a year ago.

Gibbo76

I'd just like to take this opportunity to point out to some of the ill informed idiots on here who are knocking Royal Mail and Parcelforce about paying the £8 fee for them "doing nothing". I actually work for Royal Mail and we in fact have to pay that fee (or close to it) to HMRC to get the items released from them. If we didn't pay it then you wouldn't even get your items. A lot of the charges are down to buyers/sellers poor paperwork and ignorance of the customs system. So please get your facts right before spouting nonsense that clearly you know nothing about. Do your research and you can keep these charges to a minimum.

custardy

quite a thread revival!

geet

Hello, I bought a switch mode power supply from USA and it was sent thru USPS on 7th. It is only after a lot of surfing that I realised I had to track it with Parcel Force. As of today it is with Parcel Force "awaiting charges". As I have never done this before, that is buy from abroad, I had no idea I would have to pay customs and vat and all that, and now a fee. Can someone let me know what will happen now - will I get a letter asking me to pay? The power supply is $125 including $40 postage. Approximately how much will the duty and vat and fee add up to? Thanks in advance.

custardy

you will get a letter

$125+$40= £108.88

so + 20% = 130.66 (assuming its liable for 20%) so £22

then plus £8 or £16 fee and any customs duty that maybe due

martindow

And probably a few pounds duty - percentages vary for different items.

geet

Hi Custardy and Martindow,

The $125 included the postage $40 so it was a total of £76.

Got the letter - import duty = £0
vat = £15.40
AND clearance fee = £13.50

a total of £28.90!!! Don't mind the VAT but whatever the justification, taking £13.50 fee for a purchase that cost me £76.00 (including postage) is a bit too much, I think:-(