FedEx/Control Account pursuit of VAT not owed

CPStars

Hi

In December I ordered goods valued at £128.80 from Poland on Etsy and because the goods were valued at less than £135 the VAT was paid directly to Etsy (£29.04) who remit back to HMRC. I have an Etsy invoice that details this.

The parcel was delivered by FedEx and it was written on the parcel that VAT was paid. I have a picture of this.

Since then I have received communication from FedEx demanding payment for VAT that they paid on my behalf (£32.16 - calculated to include the delivery cost of the item) the plus their disbursement fee (£9.65). I contacted FedEx providing them all details that show VAT was paid but they insist that it is owed because the sender of the package completed their FedEx documents incorrectly. I did not make payment.

Some weeks later I begin receiving aggressive letters from Control Account seeking payment for the above sums totaling £41.81 plus additional control account fees. Again I provide my evidence to control account that the VAT was already paid, that I am not a customer of FedEx and have not contracted them to provide brokerage services and that the fees proposed by control account are illegal per the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act, Consumer Contracts Regulation, Fraud Act etc. 

As the letters continued to arrive I felt extreme pressure from Control Account so I contact Etsy who refunded the VAT paid and made payment for this sum to ControlAccount. I advised them as follows:

I am making payment for the VAT FedEx claim I owed. I received a refund from Etsy of the VAT I had already paid because it was easier to do this than to reason with FedEx/Control Account that the money was already paid

I am not making payment for the clearing administration charge of £9.65 (disbursement fee) or the Control Account fee of £3.75 because I am not a customer of either FedEx or Control Account. I have never employed or contracted either to provide me a service and will not be held accountable for services or service charges I have not solicited or agreed to. At no point have I ever agreed to such charges.

Under the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971 (updated in 2000), it is a criminal offence for a company to bill for unordered services in the hope that the recipient will pay due to ignorance. Also, the Consumer Contracts Regulations (regulations 39 and 40) outline that a company must obtain consent / express agreement from the consumer prior to levying and / or billing for any charges.

At no point prior to receiving FedEx invoice xxx did I receive any communication of this advancement fee from any party. I therefore did not agree to, nor do I accept, these charges. The same is true of ControlAccount ref xxx.

Now, I continue to receive aggressive letters from Control Account with ever increasing fees and unexplained fees, totalling £33.40 and threatening court action.

I don't know what to do but do not want to give them money simply because they ask. Their behaviour seems criminal to me. What do I do?

DullGreyGuy

They have a statutory right to charge fees for collection of VAT which they do at the instruction of HMRC... it does nothing to help your case wrongly quoting legislation. In fact back in my contact centre days there were terms for customers who did this and they rarely were ever given goodwill as a consequence.

1) How much did you pay exc VAT in total? Was shipping free or something else? The £135 limit is for the package not the item so inc P&P

2) What currency was the transaction in?

3) What was the declared value on the customs declaration? 

At a guess they declared the contents for £128.80 and paid more than £7 in delivery and so FedEx have correctly charged VAT because the parcel total landed cost was over £135

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DullGreyGuy said:

They have a statutory right to charge fees for collection of VAT which they do at the instruction of HMRC.

Just to clarify this point OP, that does not include the made up fees that the so called debt collectors add on, they can not impose any fees that were not part of your original agreement (which you don't have) so can only add direct costs, which will be so low they won't able to issue small claims to recover them.

You should pay Fedex £41.81 in total, if Etsy didn't refund you that much you can ask for the difference, they might give it as goodwill (and if they don't a bit of noise on their social media might help)  

DullGreyGuy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

DullGreyGuy said:

They have a statutory right to charge fees for collection of VAT which they do at the instruction of HMRC.

Just to clarify this point OP, that does not include the made up fees that the so called debt collectors add on, they can not impose any fees that were not part of your original agreement (which you don't have) so can only add direct costs, which will be so low they won't able to issue small claims to recover them.

You should pay Fedex £41.81 in total, if Etsy didn't refund you that much you can ask for the difference, they might give it as goodwill (and if they don't a bit of noise on their social media might help)  

The legislation entitles the charge to cover the cost of providing the service, if you require extended credit terms and additional help being reminded you have to pay then an extra £3.75 doesnt sound too bad for it... in fact the total cost of sub £14 is less than many other charge without having to extend the credit terms

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DullGreyGuy said:

The legislation entitles the charge to cover the cost of providing the service

I agree they can charge the disbursement fee and that's fair enough (so was included in the £41.81 I said OP should pay), I haven't checked but I would assume the same legislation doesn't cover the debt recovery fees? 

DullGreyGuy said:
if you require extended credit terms and additional help being reminded you have to pay then an extra £3.75 doesnt sound too bad for it.

It doesn't but why pay it? They didn't ask nicely and have no way to enforce it.  

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

To be fair OP anyone can write "VAT paid" on the outside of a package, it doesn't mean much  

There should presumably be a proper customs declaration and possibly a code that shows VAT was paid to Etsy. 

tightauldgit

SKennedy0104 said:

Thanks for the responses, to reiterate my core point however - I had already paid the VAT via Etsy, FedEx are trying to get me to pay the same VAT twice. It was written on the package that I received from FedEx that the VAT was already paid. 

(Image removed by Forum Team)

I think the problem is that since the total value of the package is more than £135 Etsy shouldn't have collected the VAT and Fedex should have. So since you've got the refund from Etsy you are where you should be. Refusing to pay the Fedex fees seems like toys out the pram stuff. 

visidigi

The bit you are missing is this is the shippers fault. FedEx were told by the shipper to charge you for import duty. If they had marked this as bill sender for the taxes (the mention on the label is for transportation) you would have never been asked. 

FedEx did the job your shipper told them to do - I would not have spoken to FedEx or Etsy - I would have gone back to the seller and tell them to call FedEx and pay the charges. You can't expect the carrier to know you have paid Etsy (couriers doing collection and delivery are pretty much the only people who see a shipment label) - people working on clearance won't know or see blue pen on a label - its a digital process with all international couriers.

PragmaticMoneySaver

SKennedy0104 said:

Thanks for the responses, to reiterate my core point however - I had already paid the VAT via Etsy, FedEx are trying to get me to pay the same VAT twice. It was written on the package that I received from FedEx that the VAT was already paid. 

(Image removed by Forum Team)

You might want to also obscure the barcode that contains all the data you have tried to blank out!

It also contains the declared value on the customs paperwork which in this case is USD 196  for "handmade jewelry"(sic) which is over £135 and explains why HMRC charged VAT on import and Fedex dutifully paid it on your behalf.

powerful_Rogue

Just to put your mind at rest OP, here is the legislation allowing FedEx to collect the VAT owed.

Duties (whether of customs or excise) charged on imported goods or other charges payable in respect of postal packets to which this section applies (whether payable to a postal operator or to a foreign administration) may be recovered by the postal operator concerned and in England and Wales and Northern Ireland may be so recovered as a civil debt due to him. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/26/section/105

DullGreyGuy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

DullGreyGuy said:
if you require extended credit terms and additional help being reminded you have to pay then an extra £3.75 doesnt sound too bad for it.

It doesn't but why pay it? They didn't ask nicely and have no way to enforce it.  

Very reasonable compared to the £15 it was deemed reasonable for banks to charge for unauthorised overdrafts/exceeding credit limits etc.