Being taxed £300 on an item ordered from US! Do I have to pay it?

ashy_mashy

I ordered an item from the US which cost me £1300 including £65 postage by UPS. The item is a 3CCD camera which I ordered for a University project designing a machine vision system. Eventhough I am currently a university student myself, the item is actually for a friend who lives in a different country and I am going to be taking it with me when I travel there in June. Thus the item is NOT actually going to be used in the UK

The item was delivered today and the UPS delivery guy asked me to pay £300which was due to import tax!! I was shocked since I thought everything was paid for, I told them I did not have the money at that time so he did not give the package and gave me an invoice for £300 instead!

Can someone please tell me what I must do? Does the fact that I am a university student reduce the Tax? Also as I said the item is not going to stay in the UK means I do not need to pay the tax but how do I go about doing that (e.g. collect at the package at the airport) ???

Please help!

heatherw_01

To be honest I am not sure what you can do but the most you can get into the UK without being charged is £18

Info here

mike3000

It's import duty and sometimes you can get away with it but most times not, as the sender filled in a customs form declaring the value. As far as i know there is nothing you can do.
If the sender had put a lower value you would have paid less, or if they had marked it as warannty return it would be free from import duty.

as far as i know, not much help but i think you are stuck with paying it if you want the item.

nomoneytoday

If it was to be used abroad then it should have been sent directly there.
You have to pay the charge, or return the item to sender - sorry

raa_thistle

Most of the cost is VAT unfortunately. £CCD video cameras have an import duty rate of 5%. This is about £70, but the VAT takes it up to £320ish.

The duty rates for items can be found here. Enter a description of the goods you want and go through until you find the relevant code, then choose the country of origin and click on Duty Rates.

Unfortunately if you want this item you are stuck with paying the duty/VAT. Sending it to the other country wont necessarily help as you will likely have to pay VAT there (definitely if its in the EU)

Sorry

ashy_mashy

Thanks all.

But as I understand, I only need to pay tax if the item is to stay in the UK. Also I would prefer paying import tax in the other country as it is likely to be much lower than the UK. Does anyone know who I can contact about this (phone number or email address)?

Also if I I pay the VAT here in the UK and then take the product to another country will I have to pay tax in the other country aswell?!!

Thanks

bengal-stripe

ashy_mashy wrote: »

Also I would prefer paying import tax in the other country as it is likely to be much lower than the UK.

Also if I I pay the VAT here in the UK and then take the product to another country will I have to pay tax in the other country aswell?!!

If the ‘other country’ is within the EU, then there won’t be any difference. Import duty is the same, although VAT varies from country to country; the UK with 17.5% is more at the lower end. (Germany has just gone up from 16 - 19%.) The VAT paid in one country of the EU, is valid in every other member state.

If the ‘other country’ is outside the EU, why was the item not sent directly to its destination? Get in touch with customs and excise, whether there is the possibility of refund if you have the documentation to proof, that the item has been exported to a country outside of the EU. (I rather doubt it.) There are provisions in place for refunds if the item gets returned to country of origin (faulty, wrong delivery etc). Maybe return it to the States and then export to its proper destination, assuming this is outside the EU.

ashy_mashy

The country is in fact Iran so it is outside the EU. The reason I had to order it and get it sent to UK is because online internet companies tend to think that orders from countries such as Iran are a "scam". I will get in touch with customs and excise.

Thanks

seaweasel

Since it was delivered to the UK, I wouldn't imagine HMRC will care where you're taking it subsequently but there's no harm in trying to find out. Any goods imported from outside the EU are liable to VAT and usually customs charges.

RayWolfe

Are you sure that the goods can be legally exported from the US to Iran? It may be embargoed and you could be letting yourself into problems that are larger than VAT & Duty!

seaweasel

Forgot about the US and their grudges when it comes to world trade! Such a progressive, sensible country.