Payment of VAT and/or import tax on an item being purchased privately from France

Mayor1001

I am considering buying an item from an English resident in France. The item was originally supplied by an English company and VAT was charged and paid on the item at the time of purchase. The cost of the item is approximately £17k. This is a private sale and purchase and commercial companies are not involved. 
As VAT was originally charged by the supplier and paid by the purchaser, am I now going to incur a VAT charge if I bring the item back to UK? Do I have to declare the importation of the item to HMRC? 

DullGreyGuy

Are you buying it in person or having a courier transport it?

The courier will automatically declare it and if you are transporting it then you'd need to go through the Red channel and then pay the Importation Duty and VAT.

What VAT the original purchaser paid is irrelevant, if they were already in France when they bought it then its likely to have been French VAT not UK (not that it matters)