FedEx & debt collection agency pursuing me for tax already paid,

sunshinestar46

Hello, I’m hoping for some advise please.
I purchased an item from Alibaba on 4th November 2024. It came to less than £135 so tax was automatically added at checkout, the tax was $18.00, which I paid. The order was delivered by FedEx after a week or so and that was that.
At the end of November I received a letter from FedEx to say I owed £15.96 tax. I contacted them by email straight away & told them I’d already paid it at checkout. I didn’t hear back from them until February 2025. Their response was that they’d paid the tax on my behalf and I now owe them.
I sent them proof that I’d paid the tax at checkout, in the form of invoices, payment receipts etc. FedEx emailed back to say that the “seller was at fault” and that “the seller had to pay the tax” they gave me a letter of authority to give to the seller for them to accept liability. I sent this to the seller and presumed it would be sorted out. I told FedEx I had given the seller the form & could that put a note on the account to confirm this. They said yes. 

This week, I have received a letter from a debt collection agency giving me 7 days to pay the money owed to FedEx which has now doubled!
please can somebody advise me on this, I’d really appreciate any help anyone has to offer!
Many thanks!

RFW

sunshinestar46 said:

Hello, I’m hoping for some advise please.
I purchased an item from Alibaba on 4th November 2024. It came to less than £135 so tax was automatically added at checkout, the tax was $18.00, which I paid. The order was delivered by FedEx after a week or so and that was that.
At the end of November I received a letter from FedEx to say I owed £15.96 tax. I contacted them by email straight away & told them I’d already paid it at checkout. I didn’t hear back from them until February 2025. Their response was that they’d paid the tax on my behalf and I now owe them.
I sent them proof that I’d paid the tax at checkout, in the form of invoices, payment receipts etc. FedEx emailed back to say that the “seller was at fault” and that “the seller had to pay the tax” they gave me a letter of authority to give to the seller for them to accept liability. I sent this to the seller and presumed it would be sorted out. I told FedEx I had given the seller the form & could that put a note on the account to confirm this. They said yes. 

This week, I have received a letter from a debt collection agency giving me 7 days to pay the money owed to FedEx which has now doubled!
please can somebody advise me on this, I’d really appreciate any help anyone has to offer!
Many thanks!

First, the debt collection agency will not effect you or your credit profile unless they/FedEx take you to court, which they very likely won't. If they did you can show all the details to a judge and you'd likely win. They also have no right to increase any amount, that's just them chancing it. It could increase if they take you to court and you lose, but that's really unlikely. Keep hold of all the details of the payment and the breakdown of where you prepaid the tax.

Second, you can tell the debt collector that the amount is disputed and that they should not contact you, they may then restrict their correspondence to a scary looking letter every month, probably for about 3 or 4 months.

Have you contacted the seller and/or Alibaba to verify that the tax wasn't paid?

sunshinestar46

RFW said:

sunshinestar46 said:

Hello, I’m hoping for some advise please.
I purchased an item from Alibaba on 4th November 2024. It came to less than £135 so tax was automatically added at checkout, the tax was $18.00, which I paid. The order was delivered by FedEx after a week or so and that was that.
At the end of November I received a letter from FedEx to say I owed £15.96 tax. I contacted them by email straight away & told them I’d already paid it at checkout. I didn’t hear back from them until February 2025. Their response was that they’d paid the tax on my behalf and I now owe them.
I sent them proof that I’d paid the tax at checkout, in the form of invoices, payment receipts etc. FedEx emailed back to say that the “seller was at fault” and that “the seller had to pay the tax” they gave me a letter of authority to give to the seller for them to accept liability. I sent this to the seller and presumed it would be sorted out. I told FedEx I had given the seller the form & could that put a note on the account to confirm this. They said yes. 

This week, I have received a letter from a debt collection agency giving me 7 days to pay the money owed to FedEx which has now doubled!
please can somebody advise me on this, I’d really appreciate any help anyone has to offer!
Many thanks!

First, the debt collection agency will not effect you or your credit profile unless they/FedEx take you to court, which they very likely won't. If they did you can show all the details to a judge and you'd likely win. They also have no right to increase any amount, that's just them chancing it. It could increase if they take you to court and you lose, but that's really unlikely. Keep hold of all the details of the payment and the breakdown of where you prepaid the tax.

Second, you can tell the debt collector that the amount is disputed and that they should not contact you, they may then restrict their correspondence to a scary looking letter every month, probably for about 3 or 4 months.

Have you contacted the seller and/or Alibaba to verify that the tax wasn't paid?

Thank you for the reply. Yes I contacted the seller explaining the tax hadn't been paid, they told me to contact Alibaba which I did, I also gave them letter of authority and explaining everything but it was a waste of time, either they didn't understand or they did understand and fobbed me off.
I've contacted the debt collection agency explaining that I have already paid the tax at checkout, I've sent them all the evidence but haven't had a response yet.
I just can't see how I can be pursued for a payment that I've already paid, it's down to the seller surely?
Many thanks

DullGreyGuy

In a market place scenario like eBay, Amazon, Alibaba etc its the market place that is responsible for collecting the taxes and passing it on to HMRC. They should inform the seller that this has been done and give them the relevant information to put on the declaration which the courier can then use to clear the parcel as prepaid. 

The probability is that Alibaba have done what they should have and the seller have failed to complete the customs forms correctly. 

When the rules were changed in the UK around VAT on imports it was a big mess that was inevitably going to happen for people importing things for personal use or micro businesses... the £135 threshold will mean any business of any size are unlikely to be frequently impacted. 

Things like the postal act which gives couriers the right to clear customs, charge you a fee and collect both from you weren't updated. Its therefore left this mess where you as an importer are liable for import costs but things can get disconnected and so the liability is paid twice by two different companies of which one you've prepaid and the other one now wants repayment. 

RFW

DullGreyGuy said:

Things like the postal act which gives couriers the right to clear customs, charge you a fee and collect both from you weren't updated. Its therefore left this mess where you as an importer are liable for import costs but things can get disconnected and so the liability is paid twice by two different companies of which one you've prepaid and the other one now wants repayment. 

I think you've nailed it there. It was always a messy system anyway and they've managed to make it worse for the consumer. It probably raises more money in tax revenue though so I doubt anyone will do anything about it any time soon.

I have never heard of a case ending up in court, and have followed it for a few years, that's not to say it can't happen. It was a different issue but essentially the same problem that I had a few years ago and it was several payments that a debt collector was chasing me for on behalf of a courier. I wanted it to go to court as I had a good case and didn't think I could lose. They just gave up chasing after a few months. I'm fairly thick skinned about receiving and ignoring letters and appreciate it can be a worry to some. I suspect the couriers get enough extra from those who pay to be able to write off those who don't. 

The other thing I don't understand is why most couriers ask before delivery and why that can't be an industry wide policy. Asking, in some cases, several months later seems an odd way of doing it.