Customs duty and VAT of discounted overseas products?

eloy7

Have you ever shopped from Wish Inc or similar websites selling products with huge discounts?

These are normally low quality products shipped from China.

Most customers are the US where there is not much import tax for personal shopping.

Should I expect huge custom duties and tax when buying from the UK? My worry is the price which is used for calculating the customs:, is it the list price or the discounted price I paid?

How likely is it get such small items without paying additional charges for the custom and VAT?

Brynsam

Depends what you're buying. Many electronic goods (laptops, mobiles) don't carry import duty - just import VAT at 20% if picked up by Customs.

VAT (and duty, if any) is paid on the full cost of the item i.e. the amount you paid plus any carriage/insurance. This is to stop exporters offering goods with tiny purchase prices but vast shipping costs. Provided the paperwork clearly shows what you paid, this is what Customs would use unless they have reason to believe there is some sort of fraud or scam going on.

Whether you mean 'small' as in physical size or in terms of cost, they are generally just as likely to be picked up as larger or more expensive items, although there is a minimum level at which HMRC levies VAT/duty.

More info at https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

Gloomendoom

Bear in mind that you may have a customs clearance fee on top of the VAT and any duties.

Parcel force charge a minimum of £8.

http://www.parcelforce.com/sites/default/files/Customs%20leaflet.pdf