Fedex advancement fee and questionable VAT charges.

Aloesa

About a month ago I received an unexpected gift from a friend living in the US, which was delivered to me in the UK via FedEx. When the item was delivered no mention of any outstanding charges were made and I was only asked to sign for the package.

However I have now been sent a letter from FedEX regarding Duty and tax, which amounts to £43.60 (£31.60 VAT + £12 advancement fee). My problem with this is twofold.

Firstly the tax number seems quite far off, however I am far from an expert here. The 'International air waybill' and commercial invoice show the value of the package at $117.98 which I checked by the item and is the correct amount. By rough calculations this comes to about £94 (or less using the exchange rate given at the time) - so then 20% VAT of this would be around £19 ? Perhaps this is off but it makes me question the 31.60 charge a bit.

Secondly, I feel that charging me an 'advancement fee' is totally unfair. Initially as I never made any agreement, or dealt with FedEx in any way. Thus I cannot see where any agreement or contract would have been entered by me with them, and as such how they can even ask me to pay this. Furthermore, when the item was delivered no mention of a charge was given before I signed for the package, so tacking this on later seems like a very underhanded tactic.

As such, I have basically been sent a unexpected gift and have now been told to pay all this for it, I appreciate the gift of course but the charges at near half the price of the item seem outrageous. Any advice or corrections to my viewpoint would be appreciated.

wealdroam

Aloesa wrote: »

About a month ago I received an unexpected gift from a friend living in the US, which was delivered to me in the UK via FedEx. When the item was delivered no mention of any outstanding charges were made and I was only asked to sign for the package.

However I have now been sent a letter from FedEX regarding Duty and tax, which amounts to £43.60 (£31.60 VAT + £12 advancement fee). My problem with this is twofold.

Firstly the tax number seems quite far off, however I am far from an expert here. The 'International air waybill' and commercial invoice show the value of the package at $117.98 which I checked by the item and is the correct amount. By rough calculations this comes to about £94 (or less using the exchange rate given at the time) - so then 20% VAT of this would be around £19 ? Perhaps this is off but it makes me question the 31.60 charge a bit.

Secondly, I feel that charging me an 'advancement fee' is totally unfair. Initially as I never made any agreement, or dealt with FedEx in any way. Thus I cannot see where any agreement or contract would have been entered by me with them, and as such how they can even ask me to pay this. Furthermore, when the item was delivered no mention of a charge was given before I signed for the package, so tacking this on later seems like a very underhanded tactic.

As such, I have basically been sent a unexpected gift and have now been told to pay all this for it, I appreciate the gift of course but the charges at near half the price of the item seem outrageous. Any advice or corrections to my viewpoint would be appreciated.

Remember that vat at 20% is also charged on the shipping cost.

Have you still got the wrapping? What was the shipping cost?

You are right... it is the sender that contracted with Fedex to deliver the package.
Pass the Fedex invoice to the gift sender if you wish.

Aloesa

Ah, I actually had no idea about the shipping being also subject to VAT. This brings the numbers a lot closer and makes a lot more sense. Many thanks! I'm guessing I got stung here as my friend seems to have paid a fair whack on guaranteed postage.

With regards the charge, I am reluctant to pass that onto the sender (just as it seems rude), so if I have no recourse in that area, I will probably just email FedEx and chance my luck with disputing it. Failing that I guess I'll just have to stump up the cash and ask for smaller gifts from overseas in the future - as paying half the price of the good itself between tax and fees is really silly.

bris

As the receiver you are classed as the importer whether it was a gift or not. The sender could have paid the fees their end but would perhaps be unaware they even needed to.


Bottom line is if you buy or get anything sent from outside the EU then you pay the taxes due. You can arrange the customs clearance yourself but for £12 it's a fair price to pay to expedite the process and have it done for you.