Claiing back misapplied customs duty

harrys_dad

My son and family recently relocated from the US to the UK. In their rush to the airport they left behind an expensive Chanel bag and a macbook (both well used and not recent purchases). A friend then sent them to the UK by FedEx, but filled in the "value" slip as if they were new. To get them released from customs and finally delivered to their address in the UK they were charged £280 customs duty. This was paid by credit card to FedEx over the phone.

I suspect that the duty was not payable because the items were not new, (my son has lived in the US for 9 years and his wife has US citizenship) but was charged because customs thought they were new because of the value slip.

Any advice as to how to reclaim this money please?

(If this would be better on a different board please move)

Hintza

Contact HMRC and ask them to send you the appropriate form.

visidigi

harrys_dad wrote: »

My son and family recently relocated from the US to the UK. In their rush to the airport they left behind an expensive Chanel bag and a macbook (both well used and not recent purchases). A friend then sent them to the UK by FedEx, but filled in the "value" slip as if they were new. To get them released from customs and finally delivered to their address in the UK they were charged £280 customs duty. This was paid by credit card to FedEx over the phone.

I suspect that the duty was not payable because the items were not new, (my son has lived in the US for 9 years and his wife has US citizenship) but was charged because customs thought they were new because of the value slip.

Any advice as to how to reclaim this money please?

(If this would be better on a different board please move)

Customs charged based on what they were told, the shipper declared it as such. So the mistake is not customs, it sits with the shipper.

You could ask for a reassessment of the duty, the challenge you have in doing so is you have to somehow prove they had a lower value than was originally declared.

Customs don't, by default open your box, so they wouldn't have known it was used.

You can ask for the forms from customs to reassess, although you may struggle with proof.

Additionally, the % fee that FedEx charge is unlikely to be refunded on the basis they cleared what was declared and had to pay the duties on your son's behalf.