Ordered before Brexit & paid VAT, UPS trying to charge custom fees

DG24

Hi all,

I feel like I’m hitting my head against a brick wall at the moment…

Back in November of last year I placed an order for something from bax-shop.co.uk

Now, I knew that Bax Music are a company based in The Netherlands, but their U.K. site indicated they’re registered in Kent. Sure enough, they appear on companies house under: 

BAX-SHOP.CO.UK LIMITED

Company number 09873196

Anyway - I placed the order pre Brexit, in November 2020. Unfortunately I’ve had to wait a LONG time for the item to be back in stock, but finally this week I was told it had been dispatched - apparently from the Netherlands.

UPS told me it was scheduled for delivery today, but last night the status changed to “Your parcel is delayed due to a Brexit related disruption.”

I asked UPS what the deal was, and explained to them that I’d placed the order with a company registered in the U.K., so I’d already paid VAT at the point of sale - which was made pre Brexit.

Despite all of this the UPS employee insisted that “the label of your package was created on 04/06, this is why it has import fees.”

So now i’m being told that I need to pay customs fees on top of the VAT I’ve already paid?? Despite my order being with a U.K. registered company prior to Brexit??

I have no idea what to do - I’m awaiting a response from Bax-shop.co.uk, but they’ve never been speedy previously, and in the meantime I feel anxious about the fact I have a reasonably expensive order that I may have to pay a whole lot more customs fees on to actually get… none of which feels right to me.

Any help or advice would be much welcome!

David713

Even though the goods are coming from outside of the UK, there still shouldn't be any import duties to pay as the order and payment date mean that when you placed the order, the old rules covering imports from the EU still applied so even if the actual import into the UK was after the 1st Jan this year, there shouldn't be anything to pay.

Do you have a receipt showing the actual date that you paid for the item?
If so, contact UPS and send them a copy of this receipt along with the info shown here:

Changes to VAT treatment of overseas goods sold to customers from 1 January 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Transactions before 1 January 2021

The new rules will apply to all sales that have a time of supply for VAT purposes of 1 January 2021 or later.

For example, if an order is placed and payment received from the customer on 31 December 2020 then the new rules will not apply, even if dispatch and delivery take place after 1 January 2021. Therefore, for imports the consignment will remain subject to import VAT (unless it is below the Low Value Consignment Relief threshold of £15) and supply VAT should not be charged. For goods already in the UK at the time of supply the VAT liability will remain with the seller rather than the OMP.

visidigi

Shipper fault. They needed to complete the paperwork properly.

Courier can't be expected to know the sale date if the shipper doesn't tell them clearly it was pre-brexit.

I wouldn't have much to do with UPS on this one...

DG24

Thanks both.

I’m still waiting for a response from the seller (Bax-shop.co.uk)… in the meantime UPS customer service aren’t being helpful at all. 

I’ve quoted the gov.uk advice on transactions made prior to Brexit but I keep getting this sort of reply:

“the label was created on April 6th. Any package that travels internationally is subject to duties, taxes, and a brokerage fee.”

It’s all getting very frustrating and the tracking status has changed to:

“Held in Warehouse

UPS is holding the cargo at a secure facility, pending instructions and agreement.”

So I’m feeling a bit stuck at the moment, and neither UPS or the sellers are helping…

Obviously I still want the order. I managed to bag a great deal, so I really don’t want the parcel to be returned and have the order cancelled. 

But if I continue to get nowhere, could I/should I try to claim a custom charge waiver from HMRC?

(I’m unable to post links apparently - but the gov.uk page I’m looking at is guidance on refund and waivers on customs debt)

Once again, thanks so much for any help with all of this!

GrumpyDil

The problem is that Ups can't do anything to sort this out. It's the sender that needs to sort it. 

sheramber

I think worst case scenario is you pay custom charge and claim refund from HMRC

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/refunds-and-waivers-on-customs-debt

visidigi

if UPS clear it and you claim it back you wont get their fee back. Get the shipper to sort this to get the cheapest solution.