Coming from abroad with many Mobile Phones - Any customs procedure?

jumperabv3

(I asked this in the cutting tax forum without success)

I'm intending to fly back to the UK and I am going to bring with me lots of mobile phones which I want to recycle in the UK. (around 100 pieces)

I cannot recycle these mobile phones where I am unless if I will get really cheap and bad price for these, and many UK companies offering 3-4 times what I will get here, so I would like to bring these mobile phones into the UK and recycle them with one or more of those companies recycling mobiles.

My question is if there is anything I need to do in terms of customs in the airport? Is there anything that I need to prepare or do before I am taking that flight?

By the way I am flying through Italy ... so would that be a problem then or Italy would be the first and only point of contact in terms of customs? I really don't know what to do any help would be appreciated. (I am stopping in Italy for 20 hours so I'm intending to enter that country first)

Thanks in advance...

duchy

You should declare them to customs as you are intending to sell them (the fact you are selling them to a recycling company makes no difference)

If the phones are in your checked bags and you are merely connecting in Italy you wouldn't have access to your bags anyway

jumperabv3

duchy wrote: »

You should declare them to customs as you are intending to sell them (the fact you are selling them to a recycling company makes no difference)

If the phones are in your checked bags and you are merely connecting in Italy you wouldn't have access to your bags anyway

Okay, and how much would I pay or declaration itself doesn't mean I have to pay? Is there any allowance? (those are not expensive phones)

System

Would that number of phones be considered as importing for business purposes regardless of the reason for bringing them?

jumperabv3

!!!!!! wrote: »

Would that number of phones be considered as importing for business purposes regardless of the reason for bringing them?

I wouldn't call it business, those are mobile phones I collected and just want to sell ... I do not have a business for selling mobiles, and I am not doing it for living ... it's just a one off thing I want to do but I'm trying to find out if this is going to be full of bureaucracy or it can be done easily.

shaun_from_Africa

It might also be a good idea to contact the airlines that you will be flying with as they may well have restriction on the number of items with installed batteries that you can take in your checked or carry on baggage.

I wouldn't call it business, those are mobile phones I collected and just want to sell ... I do not have a business for selling mobiles

As you collected them with the intention of selling, them HMRC in the UK would indeed class them as a business import and I'm sure that Italian customs will be the same.
Travelling into Italy from outside the EU, you are given a personal limit of €430 which you can bring in tax and duty free but to qualify for this allowance the goods must be personal belongings or intended as gifts and there must be no commercial aspect to the import.

As you are bringing them in to sell, they are not personal goods but commercial imports.

jumperabv3

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

It might also be a good idea to contact the airlines that you will be flying with as they may well have restriction on the number of items with installed batteries that you can take in your checked or carry on baggage.



As you collected them with the intention of selling, them HMRC in the UK would indeed class them as a business import and I'm sure that Italian customs will be the same.
Travelling into Italy from outside the EU, you are given a personal limit of €430 which you can bring in tax and duty free but to qualify for this allowance the goods must be personal belongings or intended as gifts and there must be no commercial aspect to the import.

As you are bringing them in to sell, they are not personal goods but commercial imports.

Okay, I counted the imptt phones that I want to bring with me, and I'm flying with my wife.

Together, the number of phones is exactly 31, so I can take 16 and she can take 15 ... this way it's under the 430 allowance, but question is if this is called "business import" or not? Are we on a thin line here?

Moto2

If you come in through Italy, that where they'll need to be declared as you thought.
There isn't any need to declare them into the UK as there's free movement of goods within the EU
So as long as one EU country accepts them and applies the relevant taxes and duty, that should be the end of it.

Errata

Are you expecting the suitcases to get through the x-ray scanners at check-in without any questions being asked? Good luck with that.

jumperabv3

Errata wrote: »

Are you expecting the suitcases to get through the x-ray scanners at check-in without any questions being asked? Good luck with that.

Yes, I'm not coming from a country full of bureaucracy in these kind of things, so maybe the UK likes to trouble people but not where I come from with these phones.

richardw

Why have you collected them and not disposed of them as you upgraded?