Import vat.. is it charged per parcel?

dez55000

hello all, im new to the forum it seems like a useful tool.
Can anyone help me with this ebay quandary, i ordered some work trousers via ebay from the usa each pair was £13.99 including postage and insurance so under the £15 import vat threshold
On arrival to the uk they have ended up in the hands of a company named 'customs clearance limited' , this company are telling me i most pay import vat on the parcels values have been declared as (by the sender) as:

£9.72

£9.70

£8.14

£9.72

I always thought import vat was charged per parcel? according to customs clearance limited  'HMRC rules mean we have to combine all together of on the same flight manifest, so this is why you have to pay a charge on your shipments as they have come into the UK as linked shipments'

Anyone have any experience with this? Many thanks and wait to hear

soolin

Technically they are correct, it is to prevent people avoiding paying duty and tax on a large order by having each part sent separately. It isn’t really my field though so if these were entirely different orders placed at different times then it might be worth arguing that they shouldn’t be combined. 

dez55000

Okay soolin, many thanks for your reply mate
The orders were placed across a space of 2 days so i may have a case to argue here i think, If vat is due though i will obviously pay what is due, its just i asked 'customs clearance limited' to send me the hmrc legislation that mentions 'linked shipments' and they sent me this 

(Please not as i am a new member i cannot post links so a screenshot will have to suffice cheers)

My only gripe is that the above guidance is hardly black and white and hard to understand for a novice such as myself

And it also appears to be aimed at businesses which i am not
Many thanks for all your help!

MrsStepford

This is weird IMO. I ordered a piece of wall art from Texas via Redbubble and didn't have to pay tax but it arrived from Germany. I've ordered stuff from Amazon France and not had to pay tax ever. £15 seems incredibly low. I've ordered books from Amazon US and not had to pay tax. In fact once they took a tax deposit, then refunded it. Suggest if buying from a non-EU country, you check whether you are paying their local sales tax. You shouldn't have to, for export. That brings the price down. 

Spoonie_Turtle

MrsStepford said:

This is weird IMO. I ordered a piece of wall art from Texas via Redbubble and didn't have to pay tax but it arrived from Germany. I've ordered stuff from Amazon France and not had to pay tax ever. £15 seems incredibly low. I've ordered books from Amazon US and not had to pay tax. In fact once they took a tax deposit, then refunded it. Suggest if buying from a non-EU country, you check whether you are paying their local sales tax. You shouldn't have to, for export. That brings the price down. 

£15 is the current threshold (other than for gifts - for which the threshold is currently £39) for items from outside of the EU, but the plans are to do away with that at the beginning of 2021, so import VAT will be charged for everything unless it's a zero-rated item.

As for the OP, I don't know. I have heard of it happening in other countries within the EU, but I've not experienced it here. Mind you, when I've bought several items at once they've come via Royal Mail, to my residential (and my only) address. I wonder whether the company deal with business imports usually, so follow guidance for businesses? I don't know. You could ask HMRC but it'll probably take a few days to get a reply to an online enquiry.

dez55000

Hi all thanks for your help and input it is greatly appreciated I purchased 2x pairs of trousers at £13.99 one day and another 2x pairs at £13.99 the day after they are telling me these are all linked together somehow so i must pay vat for the 4 items added together.. whats odd is this very same company (ccl) have cleared multiple shipments of £13.99 t shirts before with no issues or vat demands.

It does seem odd that there is no mention of these 'linked shipments' on the .gov website it only states that the threshold for import vat starts at £15..
I've asked them to invoice me for the vat so i can at least get the items.. if it turns out no vat was due i shall make a claim with hmrc

thanks

dez55000

im going to enquire with hmrc now spoonie_turtle
thanks!

martindow

Do you think the American company put all of the orders together?  They could have realised that you had made several orders and they linked them.  They could well have put several customs declarations - one for each individual order - on a single packet.  This would then be treated as linked transactions.  It seems vanishingly unlikely that anyone at the UK sorting office would notice parcels going to the same address and certainly not four of them.

dez55000

martindow said:

Do you think the American company put all of the orders together?  They could have realised that you had made several orders and they linked them.  They could well have put several customs declarations - one for each individual order - on a single packet.  This would then be treated as linked transactions.  It seems vanishingly unlikely that anyone at the UK sorting office would notice parcels going to the same address and certainly not four of them.

Hi martin.. Each of the 4 orders was in a separate bag with a separate tracking number, the company (customs clearance limited) is telling me because they arrived on the same plane they are 'linked shipments'

Fishy?

Thanks

MrsStepford

My question is, are you buying: (a) from a US company which ships to the UK direct, (b) a US company which uses a shipper for international orders (Sears does this) or (c) paying for an accommodation address in US which American companies ship to, which then forwards them. C probably would hold items and ship weekly as one consignment. 

dez55000

MrsStepford said:

My question is, are you buying: (a) from a US company which ships to the UK direct, (b) a US company which uses a shipper for international orders (Sears does this) or (c) paying for an accommodation address in US which American companies ship to, which then forwards them. C probably would hold items and ship weekly as one consignment. 

Hi mrsstepford..
A. i think these items where purchased on ebay uk in £GBP and shipped to the uk via DHL.
The customs clearance company is saying as the items came on the same flight manifest (same plane) they are saying the shipments are linked as opposed to being 4 items valued at £13.99
Thank you:)