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

ashy_mashy

RayWolfe wrote: »

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!

Has the US has banned all trades with Iran? I'm planning on telling UPS to send the direct the package to Iran, will that be a problem? Will the UK care if it's being sent to Iran, having come from US?

ashy_mashy

Just found this:

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Country Regulations

From the United States to Iran (Islamic Republic of)


Iran (Islamic Republic of) is Embargoed.

The U.S. department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) administers a program of embargoes for political or national security reasons. This program typically embargoes or blocks the assets of, and prohibits transactions with, any country and its nationals regardless of location.

It is the policy of United Parcel Service, including all U.S., Non-U.S. subsidiaries, and direct branches abroad to comply with both the letter and the spirit of OFAC Embargoes. United Parcel Service will not provide service to any country under an OFAC Embargo. This ban includes the transmission of mail or parcels to embassies of an embargoed country in a non-embargoed third country.

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Can someone explain what is meant by the bit highlighted in bold?

bengal-stripe

ashy_mashy wrote: »

This ban includes the transmission of mail or parcels to embassies of an embargoed country in a non-embargoed third country.

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Can someone explain what is meant by the bit highlighted in bold?

UPS will not carry a letter or parcel (posted in the USA), that is addressed to the Iranian Enbassy in London
(16 Prince's Gate, SW7).

Cute_'n'_Quirky

ashy_mashy wrote: »

Has the US has banned all trades with Iran? I'm planning on telling UPS to send the direct the package to Iran, will that be a problem? Will the UK care if it's being sent to Iran, having come from US?

You will not be able to do this either - the goods are already here. In order to get USPS to send to another country you will have to pay the customs duty first.

If you had posted this on the Ebay board you would have found out more about it.

Why didn't you check all this before you ordered and paid for the goods?

ashy_mashy

bengal-stripe wrote: »

UPS will not carry a letter or parcel (posted in the USA), that is addressed to the Iranian Enbassy in London
(16 Prince's Gate, SW7).

What if it is addressed to UK but I tell them to forward it to Iran? will I get in trouble for that?

(I talked to customs and excise and they said I will have to tell UPS to amend the entry to reduce the customs duty since it is not going to stay in this country)

Cook_County

This is not a tax question or indeed a money saving question.

You are planning on importing a piece of Americn hi-tech equipment into Iran via a third country.

Could this get you jailed, fined or extradited by the US authorities? I do not know, but Ray Wolfe has already told you this might cause you problems. Given that you have published this intention on a public forum I would suggest speaking with a solicitor familiar with American trade sanctions against Iran.