Import Duties/ Customs Charges/ Fees on Champagne

xiix

Hi all

This is an odd one. I bought 2 cases(24 bottles) of half bottle champagne (75cl) when I was working in Singapore so have paid the appropriate local customs and taxes on them.

I am thinking of importing them back to the UK but have no idea what I need to pay in terms of customs and excise duties; import tax, VAT et al. I tried HMRC website and yielded nothing and emailed them and also nothing. I rang them, was put on hold for 45 minutes and then an idxxt redirects me to their website and hung up! The other say she will get back to me and that was 4 months ago.

So any help/ advice/ assistance are welcome.

Thanks!!

Voyager2002

Well, here are the rates of duty per 100 litres (depending on the alcohol content):

Sparkling wine and made-wine:

Exceeding 5.5% - less than 8.5% abv £268.99
Sparkling wine and made-wine:

8.5% and above - not exceeding 15% abv £355.87

(From https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowance-excise-duty-alcohol-duty/alcohol-duty-rates-from-24-march-2014)

You might also have to pay VAT.

peachyprice

75cl is a whole bottle, 37.5 is a half bottle, might make a difference when calculating the duty/vat due

martindow

Voyager2002 wrote: »

You might also have to pay VAT.

I would think this is almost certain. VAT calculations are based on the shipping cost plus the value of the items.

They will need to be well packed to survive and you will not be likely to get insurance on glass bottles.

I suspect that sending them will be prohibitive. You may be best giving them away to friends or going over on holiday for a drunken trip away.