Customs Charge

psychic_kitten

I purchased some 3 items of clothing from the US, totaling a value of $118.00 ($146.00 including shipping and taxes). This translated into approximately £110.00 for the whole order.


I received a card asking for a customs charge to be paid before they would be delivered - £66.


Firstly if anyone is able to guesstimate how the charge has come to be 60% of my order, that would be great.


But my question is more whether the high price is likely to be because the paperwork sent with my order did not declare what should be paid correctly, and I'm being penalised as a result?


Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

visidigi

Who delivered it? There will be a handling fee as part of the charge, then there is the duty on the order and the 20% tax.

When levied this is on the goods and the postage charge.

BoGoF

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

forgotmyname

Value of goods declared at postage?

psychic_kitten

visidigi wrote: »

Who delivered it? There will be a handling fee as part of the charge, then there is the duty on the order and the 20% tax.

When levied this is on the goods and the postage charge.

It was sent via USPS, but the card is a Royal Mail card.


Having looked at their guide to duty/tax, it says items received from non-EU countries with a value over £15 up to £135 is subject to import VAT but not customs duty. So on an order of £110.00, that should be £22.50. Then an £8 handling fee from RM.


Do you think the remaining £36.00 odd is due to incorrect postage on the sender's part?

baza52

psychic_kitten wrote: »

Do you think the remaining £36.00 odd is due to incorrect postage on the sender's part?

your the Psychic, you tell us:beer:

KeithP

Are the figures you mention in your opening post for the 'value' of your order the same as those declared by the shipper?

It is the shipper's declared value that HMRC work on, unless the declared figures are suspiciously low.

psychic_kitten

KeithP wrote: »

Are the figures you mention in your opening post for the 'value' of your order the same as those declared by the shipper?

It is the shipper's declared value that HMRC work on, unless the declared figures are suspiciously low.

As daft as a question as this might seem - what is regarded as the "value" of the order? Because I used a discount code - is the value what I paid, or the original price?

Gavin83

psychic_kitten wrote: »

As daft as a question as this might seem - what is regarded as the "value" of the order? Because I used a discount code - is the value what I paid, or the original price?

To be honest this is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the price the seller declared on the customs form, they could have put the original price, the discounted price or even just a totally random price. It's also possible they've put the amount in dollars, left off the $ and customs have taken it as pounds, although that still doesn't add up.

oldagetraveller

I recently got stung, 1st time ever, for a charge. It was a tablet p.c. from China. £3 + £8 due to RM (handling my charge) and HMRC. The seller declared a value of £20 but possibly what interested U.K Border Force was the contents described as "TABLETS".

mattyprice4004

Give them a call and ask for a breakdown - unfortunately it's a little difficult to guess why the charges are so high.
Could be underpaid postage, misdeclared value, or both