Post Brexit Customs Charges

panvulcon

Brexit Custom charges 🤮  

... I ordered an item from France three weeks ago which according to the invoice included tax, shipping and handling fees. Now DHL have contacted me on behalf of Customs requesting i pay import vat and handling fees. 

Am I missing something?? Surly these fees should be covered as per the sales invoice, right?
Also, what happens if I do
not pay the fees, would the item
simply go back to the sender and I would receive a full refund?

I’ve been stung a few times with import vat since Brexit, enough to know nothing gets past without HM vat but surly when a company states these fees are included in the price they should actually be included.

custardy

Did you pay VAT on purchase?

MattMattMattUK

panvulcon said:

Brexit Custom charges 🤮  

A consequence of a stupid decision.

panvulcon said:

... I ordered an item from France three weeks ago which according to the invoice included tax, shipping and handling fees. Now DHL have contacted me on behalf of Customs requesting i pay import vat and handling fees. 

Am I missing something?? Surly these fees should be covered as per the sales invoice, right?

The invoice from the French company probably included French VAT, not UK VAT, although there is a chance they were registered and either collected them and transferred them to HMRC or that they have not completed the documentation correctly, that however is unlikely. Those fees should not be covered either "as per" or on the sales invoice, import duties, taxes and fees are ultimately your responsibility. 

panvulcon said:

Also, what happens if I do
not pay the fees, would the item
simply go back to the sender and I would receive a full refund?

That depends on their terms and conditions, they might sit in storage then be destroyed, you might get a refund, you might not. The legal terms of the sale and your consumer rights reside in France, UK law is not relevant to your consumer rights in this instance.

panvulcon said:

I’ve been stung a few times with import vat since Brexit, enough to know nothing gets past without HM vat but surly when a company states these fees are included in the price they should actually be included.

It depends what they actually said was included, vs what you presumed was included (eg. charged French VAT, which you might have presumed was UK VAT).

user1977

panvulcon said:

... I ordered an item from France three weeks ago which according to the invoice included tax, shipping and handling fees.

Are you able to point us towards their terms? As above I suspect you've simply misinterpreted, as it would be normal for them only to be paying French tax, and the cost of shipping and handling in order to get the item from their premises to you (which I presume they did) - not also deal with UK duties and customs clearance.

Sandtree

user1977 said:

panvulcon said:

... I ordered an item from France three weeks ago which according to the invoice included tax, shipping and handling fees.

Are you able to point us towards their terms? As above I suspect you've simply misinterpreted, as it would be normal for them only to be paying French tax, and the cost of shipping and handling in order to get the item from their premises to you (which I presume they did) - not also deal with UK duties and customs clearance.

Any items that are exported do not normally attract local tax and so paying French Tax is allowable but not required.

If the order is under £135 then the French company is legally required to collect UK VAT, if its over £135 then its the OP's responsibility