Pitfalls of getting personal/gift intl parcels delivered by FedEx to business address

buru

In February 2017, I had a international parcel delivered to my office address. This was purely for convenience. But it turned out to be a costly mistake.

The contents of the parcel were personal effects couriered by family, and not purchased goods. It was labelled as gift, and its valuation less of than £34. However, because it was addressed to a business address, HMRC - Customs apparently charged VAT. Now the courier, FedEx, apparently paid the tax and delivered the parcel to the intended recipient (myself) at the said office/business address.

My troubles started last week (end of June 2017), when there was a communication from a debt collector - Control Accounts PLC, with an invoice of £58.98. This cost is said to be for an unpaid invoice of £18.62 from Federal Express Europe Inc., plus late payment fee of £40, plus interest of £0.36. Now this letter from Control Account PLC was addressed to the business address, with the business name as the customer; and my name (recipient) from the original address omitted. It took about a week for this communication to be linked to me, after traveling between 3 different offices at my work place and then followed by a phone call to Control Account PLC.

I followed this up with FedEx with the invoice number on the letter from Control Account PLC., and Fed Ex promptly forwarded the copies of the invoice in question. Clearly, the original invoice also did not have my name on the address, and I did not receive the original invoice. Blissfully unaware of the existence of any such invoice, the copy invoice came as a shock. Upon further enquiry, FedEx clarified why I am liable for the tax on the parcel. Any other requests/queries related to the invoice are met with a deaf ear by FedEx.

I raised the issue of their letter and original FedEx invoice having the name of the original recipient on the parcel being omitted with Control Account PLC on their online query form. The reply I got was to make a phone call to their premium phone number (calls cost 2p per minute). With no other choice, I called. The attitude I got was - you have no business calling this number other than to pay the money owed. Apparently, such communications would only be address to the business and not the contact originally named in the address on parcel, and the business should pay up all costs raised in their invoice by Control Account PLC. The operator considered me as a representative from the company and was happy to accept payment for the original invoice from FedEx. I was happy to pay the said amount owed in the original invoice from FedEx before the premium call ends. To add insult to injury, credit/debit card payment has an additional charge which came to over £2. The operator confirmed that a new invoice would be sent to the business for the late payment fee of £40, with a caveat that no interest will be charged for the time being. Obviously, it will come back to haunt me, and I would have to cough up this cost. Is this fair?

wealdroam

buru wrote: »

In February 2017, I had a international parcel delivered to my office address. This was purely for convenience. But it turned out to be a costly mistake.

The contents of the parcel were personal effects couriered by family, and not purchased goods. It was labelled as gift, and its valuation less of than £34. However, because it was addressed to a business address, HMRC - Customs apparently charged VAT. Now the courier, FedEx, apparently paid the tax and delivered the parcel to the intended recipient (myself) at the said office/business address.

My troubles started last week (end of June 2017), when there was a communication from a debt collector - Control Accounts PLC, with an invoice of £58.98. This cost is said to be for an unpaid invoice of £18.62 from Federal Express Europe Inc., plus late payment fee of £40, plus interest of £0.36. Now this letter from Control Account PLC was addressed to the business address, with the business name as the customer; and my name (recipient) from the original address omitted. It took about a week for this communication to be linked to me, after traveling between 3 different offices at my work place and then followed by a phone call to Control Account PLC.

I followed this up with FedEx with the invoice number on the letter from Control Account PLC., and Fed Ex promptly forwarded the copies of the invoice in question. Clearly, the original invoice also did not have my name on the address, and I did not receive the original invoice. Blissfully unaware of the existence of any such invoice, the copy invoice came as a shock. Upon further enquiry, FedEx clarified why I am liable for the tax on the parcel. Any other requests/queries related to the invoice are met with a deaf ear by FedEx.

I raised the issue of their letter and original FedEx invoice having the name of the original recipient on the parcel being omitted with Control Account PLC on their online query form. The reply I got was to make a phone call to their premium phone number (calls cost 2p per minute). With no other choice, I called. The attitude I got was - you have no business calling this number other than to pay the money owed. Apparently, such communications would only be address to the business and not the contact originally named in the address on parcel, and the business should pay up all costs raised in their invoice by Control Account PLC. The operator considered me as a representative from the company and was happy to accept payment for the original invoice from FedEx. I was happy to pay the said amount owed in the original invoice from FedEx before the premium call ends. To add insult to injury, credit/debit card payment has an additional charge which came to over £2. The operator confirmed that a new invoice would be sent to the business for the late payment fee of £40, with a caveat that no interest will be charged for the time being. Obviously, it will come back to haunt me, and I would have to cough up this cost. Is this fair?

You should be able to claim back from HMRC the VAT wrongly charged.

Have you looked into that?

dj1471

You can indeed claim the VAT back if it was incorrectly charged, but it seems unlikely VAT was charged purely because it was sent to a business address; most likely the contents were inspected and deemed not to correspond to the declaration.

What were the actual contents, what value was declared and what was the true value?

When you say personal effects, are these your possessions? Were they previously exported from the UK? If so there are special arrangements that need to be made when shipping them to receive VAT relief, I don't think you can claim retrospectively.

sheramber

you are due to pay VAT on gifts with a value over £39. That value is to include any shipping charges and any duty due.

However, 'gifts' must be for a special occasion and between persons, not companies.
since the parcel was addressed to a company address Customs have charged VAT.

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/gifts
4. Gifts
To qualify as gifts, goods must be:

described as gifts on the customs declaration
for a birthday, anniversary or other occasion
bought and sent between individuals (not companies)
intended for personal use

buru

Thanks for the suggestions. Of course the VAT is chargeable as the rules of HMRC are clear in this respect. The post code was a business address.

But my problem is with the address on the invoice from FedEx claiming the VAT and their service charge. The recipient's name in the original address on the parcel was excluded on the invoice from FedEx. My query to FedEx as to why the original recipient's name was excluded was not answered. But the operator on the control accounts was of the firm opinion that - it is a standard practice to address such invoices to the business; and the contact named in the original parcel doesn't count; and it is the business's responsibility to clear the dues. Considering the size of the business, the letter without a contact can get lost; which in this case, the original invoice from FedEx was not delivered to the recipient originally named on the parcel.

visidigi

buru wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions. Of course the VAT is chargeable as the rules of HMRC are clear in this respect. The post code was a business address.

But my problem is with the address on the invoice from FedEx claiming the VAT and their service charge. The recipient's name in the original address on the parcel was excluded on the invoice from FedEx. My query to FedEx as to why the original recipient's name was excluded was not answered. But the operator on the control accounts was of the firm opinion that - it is a standard practice to address such invoices to the business; and the contact named in the original parcel doesn't count; and it is the business's responsibility to clear the dues. Considering the size of the business, the letter without a contact can get lost; which in this case, the original invoice from FedEx was not delivered to the recipient originally named on the parcel.

Standard practice to address a business invoice to the business, otherwise the businesses would complain that the invoicing is no not centralised.

From a business perspective businesses don't want to invoice individuals who order.

To be fair, you ordered an item for personal use to work. in those circumstances I would have put the name of the person c/o company name on he shipment, that way you would get the desired individual invoicing to a business location.

shaun_from_Africa

sheramber wrote: »

you are due to pay VAT on gifts with a value over £39. That value is to include any shipping charges and any duty due.

As with the £15 personal import allowance, shipping charges are only included for VAT if the intrinsic value of the goods themselves goes over the limit.
If goods are valued at £15 (or a gift is valued at £39) then the shipping charges are not added to the value.
However, if the goods are £15.01 or above and £39.01 or above for gifts then the shipping charges are added to the value for VAT charges.

DigForVictory

Pitfall for me would be unemployment - job very specific that official address is a place of work not a parcels received depot. Can't really argue.

jumpedtheshark

dj1471 wrote: »

When you say personal effects, are these your possessions? Were they previously exported from the UK? If so there are special arrangements that need to be made when shipping them to receive VAT relief, I don't think you can claim retrospectively.

Just wanted to pick up on this. My OH left his wedding ring in a hotel overseas, who shipped it back via Fedex. Hotel made a mistake on the paperwork, and we were initially charged import duty, tax, etc. Fedex invoiced us, and we queried it. We had to speak to couple of different advisers at Fedex and fill out some forms they emailed, but were able to correct the mistake and did not have to pay any of those charges. So in my own experience, a retrospective claim was possible.