Buying A Phone Abroad

gjchester

lasvegaschris wrote: »

A 16bg iPhone 6 in the UK would be £539 when bought outright, compared to $649 ($706 after tax) in USA which works out around £430. So nearly £100 saving.

You could buy the top end 128gb iPhone 6 for more or less what it would cost you to buy the bottom end 16gb one in the UK.

Your not making a fair comparison, remember VAT and Duty are in that UK sticker price. You are making a saving but not as large as you think.

Take our 20% VAT off the UK price and that £539, becomes £450 far closer to the US ex Tax price of £400 without tax.

Top end iPhone 6 is $849 Ex Tax in the US which works out around £520. Take Tax off the UK price of £699 and you come in at around £580.

Add in a power adapter and possible lack of warranty and its not such a big saving after all.

It may be you avoid tax and the duty by not declairing them, and thats down to your conscince, but if you are caught its going to be down to you to either prove they were UK purchases and so already duty paid (not as people often think down to HMRC to prove you bought them out of the UK) or pay duty and tax that will negate any saving.

lasvegaschris

gjchester wrote: »

Add in a power adapter and possible lack of warranty and its not such a big saving after all.

There would be no need for a power adapter, the (lack of) warranty IS an issue though.

cbrown372

I broke the screen on my ipad mini on holiday in Florida a couple of years ago and went to the Apple store to see if they could help. They replaced it for me (at a cost, claimed on insurance on my return) and while chatting to the Genius guy I was dealing with I asked about buying an iphone in USA to use in UK. He suggested that while buying an ipad/ipod would be okay it was sometimes problematic to buy an iphone, no particular reasons given just that you may have problems.

Roger1

gjchester wrote: »

It may be you avoid tax and the duty by not declairing them, and thats down to your conscince, but if you are caught its going to be down to you to either prove they were UK purchases and so already duty paid (not as people often think down to HMRC to prove you bought them out of the UK) or pay duty and tax that will negate any saving.

Sure, but import duty on a mobile phone imported from the USA is 0%.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/popular-import-items/import-duty-and-taxes-for-mobile-phone/

d123

Roger1 wrote: »

Sure, but import duty on a mobile phone imported from the USA is 0%.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/popular-import-items/import-duty-and-taxes-for-mobile-phone/

But import Vat is 20%...

gjchester

Roger1 wrote: »

Sure, but import duty on a mobile phone imported from the USA is 0%.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/popular-import-items/import-duty-and-taxes-for-mobile-phone/

Yes and no.

See

https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods/arrivals-from-outside-the-eu

Although the duty on a mobile is zero rated, to simplfy customs you are charged 2.5% import duty on all goods regardess of the class, up to £630, so oddly if you bought a more expensive version it may be taxed on the actual rate, not the simplified rate and you pay less duty.

The point was once you remove taxes theres not as much in it as first seems.

Roger1

d123 wrote: »

But import Vat is 20%...

Er, VAT is VAT, or are you saying what you call 'import VAT' is additional to VAT?

Obviously not. The point I made is that there is NO IMPORT DUTY in the case in question. Simple enough - normal VAT @ 20% and no import duty, as modified by gjchester in post 17.

d123

Roger1 wrote: »

Er, VAT is VAT, or are you saying what you call 'import VAT' is additional to VAT?

Obviously not. The point I made is that there is NO IMPORT DUTY in the case in question. Simple enough - normal VAT @ 20% and no import duty, as modified by gjchester in post 17.

Oh, someone trying to be clever and pedantic?

Funny how HMRC call it import vat, isn't it?

Import VAT

VAT is a tax normally charged on the supply of goods (and services) made by a VAT - registered business in the UK. For goods brought in or sent to the UK from the EU there's no extra VAT to pay unless you're ordering or sending purchased goods from one of the EU Special Territories, such as Jersey or Guernsey, in which case you'll have to pay import VAT.

The EU 'Special Territories' are The Aland Islands (Finland), The Canary Islands (Spain), The Channel Islands (UK), The French Overseas Departments of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Reunion and Mount Athos also known as Agion Oros (Greece).
Goods imported to the UK from outside the EU are subject to import VAT, unless they are brought in as part of your duty free allowances.

Import VAT rate

The percentage charged is the same VAT rate that applies to similar goods that are sold in the UK.

The import VAT percentage rate is applied to the total value of the goods. In the case of goods brought in this is the sterling equivalent of the price paid abroad, as shown on the receipt.

In the case of goods posted from outside the EU, it is the amount on the Customs Declaration, which includes the price paid for the goods, the cost of transport, postage and packing, insurance and any duty that may be payable.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/tax-and-duty.htm

So, Er, perhaps use google before you try and be clever and Er, just look like a stupid pedant.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Roger1

d123 wrote: »

Oh, someone trying to be clever and pedantic?

No.

Funny how HMRC call it import vat, isn't it?

No. Your quote from http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/tax-and-duty.htm includes:

The percentage charged is the same VAT rate that applies to similar goods that are sold in the UK.

This is what I said.

So, Er, perhaps use google before you try and be clever and Er, just look like a stupid pedant.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

No.

Don't be silly. Oh, and don't be offensive.

d123

Roger1 wrote: »

No.No. Your quote from http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/tax-and-duty.htm includes:

This is what I said.

No, it isn't, you thought you were some, er, hilariously funny person, when er, you were just being a pedant.

Let's remind you what you er, said...

Roger1 wrote: »

Er, VAT is VAT

Import vat might be rated the same as standard vat, but as shown by the HMRC link, import VAT is an official term for a separate tax that is actually applied slightly differently to standard vat.

If you buy an item domestically you are not charged vat on the transport costs, packaging or insurance for carriage of the item, while you are on import vat as import vat is added onto the sum total that HMRC decide upon as the full import value.

As I said, stupid pedant fail.