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    Customs Charges Questions

    Well a day doesn't seem to go by without this question being asked. I reckon the following details should be stickied up and placed in the Q&A board.

    -------------------------------------------------------
    Duty and VAT must be paid on all items with a declared value over a set limit will be taxed.
    For merchandise the limit is ?18
    For items marked as gift it's ?35

    To work out how much you will have to pay please follow the steps below:

    [NB: Purchase Price Abroad (PPA) = cost (inc. any local Sales Taxes) + postage, packing and/or freight + insurance]

    1. Look up the item?s Duty Rate % and VAT %.
    2. Multiply the Purchase Price Abroad (PPA) by the Duty Rate %. This gives you the amount of Duty to be paid. Call this AMOUNT A.
    3. Add AMOUNT A to the PPA and multiply the result by the VAT %. This will give you the amount of VAT to be paid. Call this AMOUNT B.
    4. Add AMOUNTS A & B together and that will be how much you have to pay.

    For example:

    You have to pay duty & VAT on some Compact Discs. The total cost of these CDs was ?100 sterling. Following the steps above:

    1. The Duty Rate is 3.5% and VAT is 17.5%.
    2. ?100 x 3.5% = ?3.50. This is AMOUNT A.
    3. ?100 + ?3.50 = ?103.50 x 17.5% = ?18.11. This is AMOUNT B.
    4. ?3.50 + ?18.11 = ?21.61.

    You would pay a total of ?21.61.

    The duty rate for games is the same as CD's- 3.5%.
    For the duty rate of other items check here and download the PDF with all the rates.


    On top of that amount you will have to pay an admin fee. This is dressed up as many different things but amount to the same thing- the postal agents fees for getting it through customs in the 1st place. The cost varies from each agent:

    Royal Mail charge ?4
    Parcel Force charge ?8
    Parcel Force with EMS ?13.50
    UPS charge ?11


    -------------------------------------
    If people can add the admin charges that the likes of TNT, UPS etc charge then that would be great.
    Last edited by bowser123; 06-03-2005, 09:30.

    #2
    Er, where do you get your information?

    Allowance from the US to the UK (where most people import from) is about $60 or ?30.

    I have ordered many PC titles from Gamestop.com and only ever paid tax on one item that totalled ?100. That tax was ?20. Other items that have cost in excess of ?20 when converted from US dollars to UK pounds have been tax free.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Daragon
      Er, where do you get your information?
      he is taking the stance that all items are merchandise

      and that value is ?18, gift value is around ?35

      even if you ask it to be marked as a gift, if customs believe that you have paid a penny for it, its no longer a gift its merchandise

      weird thing is recently my parcels from play asia have had a $60+ value marked on them and i havent been charged

      even one of my PSP's had a value of 30,000jpy (?148) and parcel force never charged me

      either they cant be bothered checking conversion rates or i've been very lucky

      if you go on holiday you are allowed something like ?125 in your suitcase - why cant it be the same with imported parcels

      Comment


        #4
        Well I looked it all up on Customs and Excise after I was charged ?7.50 on two occassions this week after my DVD's we're declared at $35. Yep, taxed for ?18.50 worth of stuff. 90% of that text is cut and pasted from what C&E said. The people at Mount Doom said the same.

        I think certain sites packages are targetted ahead of others or it's just luck why Buster got away with it this time and I got caught on stuff 50p over the limit.

        What Buster said is also right.
        ?18 is the threshold for merchandise, ie stuff you've bought.
        ?35 is the threshold for gifts.


        BTW, C&E also don't use the same currency conversion as say XE.com.
        They set their own rates at the start of the month, which can be found on their site. It's currently $1.86 to the ?1 they use, which is less than the $1.91 published on XE. I queried this as the currency value fluctuates, meaning there's a chance my packages weren't over ?18 when caught. They didn't have any of this argument.
        Last edited by bowser123; 26-02-2005, 13:07.

        Comment


          #5
          Thanks for the info Bowser. Moved and stickied.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by bowser123
            If people can add the admin charges that the likes of TNT, UPS etc charge then that would be great.
            UPS = ?11.00

            Comment


              #7
              UPS doesn't charge everyone though.

              Comment


                #8
                Great idea...I was getting pretty tired of all the customs questions.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Where can you find out the rates that C&E are using currently?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    C&E exchange rates

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Light
                      UPS doesn't charge everyone though.
                      Neither do Royal Mail or Parcelforce. Only if your package is liable for import duty.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Kubrick
                        Neither do Royal Mail or Parcelforce. Only if your package is liable for import duty.
                        I meant you can get off without paying the import tax if you're a student or traveller.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Light
                          I meant you can get off without paying the import tax if you're a student or traveller.
                          i doubt that as well fella

                          UPS will charge you exactly what the custom office asks for plus their little admin fee for releasing it

                          how do UPS know if you're a student and i'm sure if they come to your door asking for ?20 (?7 to customs) tell them you're a student and they will write it off, remember some of the fee has nothing to do with them and its out of their control

                          as for a traveller you would have to pay the full amount and deposit a refund request at the airport when you left the country

                          i know i lived in Gibraltar for 3 years

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Explain then to me how I've been getting games delivered by UPS for 2 years and never had to pay import tax?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Light
                              Explain then to me how I've been getting games delivered by UPS for 2 years and never had to pay import tax?
                              maybe you've been lucky or the value has been under the threshold

                              explain to me how mr customs at customs knows you're a student and you shouldnt have to pay tax

                              but everybody has to pay tax

                              95% of the stuff i get arrives no bother - think out of probably 60 parcels i've been stung 3 times and they have all been over the ?18 mark

                              Comment

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