Paying overseas countries VAT/Tax for products

joshnator1

Hi all,

If I purchase an item from an overseas shop and have to pay that countries VAT/Tax and it is then shipped to me. What value is added to the customs form? Is it the value of the item without the tax or the item value with tax.

Any advice would be grateful.
Thanks 

Sandtree

The form should declare the price you paid and the cost of P&P including insurance.

In many countries you wont pay local sales tax on export purchases but in some countries you will in which case the price including sales tax would be entered.

If the total package price is under £135 then the seller pays the UK taxes (unless they are excise goods - alcohol, tobacco etc) whereas if its over then its your responsibility

joshnator1

Thanks for the information. I use a proxy shipping service and it's the first time I have bought from a store overseas that has added tax, as most of the time I purchase items privately from person to person so I was not sure.

Sandtree

joshnator1 said:

Thanks for the information. I use a proxy shipping service and it's the first time I have bought from a store overseas that has added tax, as most of the time I purchase items privately from person to person so I was not sure.

So yes, if they think they are shipping it in country then they'd have to apply their sales tax unless its in the USA where rules tend to be state level and hence why such forwarding companies are set up either a) in states with preferable rules on sales tax or b) in states with a large immigrant population where specialist/targetted services are appreciated (like those aimed at Latin America in Florida)