OMG Customs Tax on Postage!!!

[fitzsteve]

Yeah what a shocker! I just picked up my A1000 from Parcelforce as they were holding it for a Customs charge. It was a low value item but as Postage was $100 they have taxed me on the postage

I'm sitting at work just waiting to go home now and open my parcel lol, it's sitting in the boot(trunk) of my Car as I'm typing...

Booooooo to Tax!

Anyway 'Rant' Over

 

[Methanoid]

You don't want to post things like this... all it takes is one zealous HMRC staff member on this board and you get caught ... But your choice!

 

[slk486]

Booo indeed!

You don't want to post things like this... all it takes is one zealous HMRC staff member on this board and you get caught ... But your choice!

What? Package was already taxed :huh:


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[alexh]

Bummer. You didn't have "GIFT" set on the documents and you didn't use EMS. If you had there would have been no customs duty and no VAT to pay on the postage.

It is well documented that VAT and customs Duty is charged on:

The price paid for the goods + Any local sales taxes + Postage, packing and insurance (except for gifts sent by EMS).

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...Travel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014#P18_1594

 

[rkauer]

That's an international law, mate.

The taxes are always charged over the entire cost of the parcel. So they tax the price of the item plus the postage cost.

 

[Buzzfuzz]

Gift doesn't always work, certainly not with large items.
It's a drag and I've been taxed a few times too, yeah even if it was send as gift.

 

[slk486]

Gift doesn't always work, certainly not with large items.
It's a drag and I've been taxed a few times too, yeah even if it was send as gift.

And if they catch it they may require proof or just evaluate the price themselves, which can be cheap or VERY expensive icard (yes, I tried)

 

[fitzsteve]

Thanks for the info guys, I didn't know about tax on postage.

I'll bare that in mind for the future

In the mean time it's only £26 inc the handling fee I had to pay so a small price to have an A1000 all of my own

Lookin' forward to cheking it out later, plus I have a Rom adapter & some Fast Ram for it, and of course - there will be pics

Steve.

 

[Zetr0]

Customs Duty( TAX) is levied on EVERYTHING, it doesn't matter if it is marked GIFT or not.

They cannot charge you Customs Duty on the postage, you need to contact Customs on this, they can only charge you on the declared value of the goods (hence insurance value)

The only way to negate a customs charge is if the Item originated from the EU in the last three years OR a customer / product return.

 

[Bad_Ad84]

Customs Duty( TAX) is levied on EVERYTHING, it doesn't matter if it is marked GIFT or not.

They cannot charge you Customs Duty on the postage, you need to contact Customs on this, they can only charge you on the declared value of the goods (hence insurance value)

The only way to negate a customs charge is if the Item originated from the EU in the last three years OR a customer / product return.

Sure they can. HMRC website even says as much:

The percentage varies depending on the type of goods and their country of origin. Duty is charged on:

the price paid for the goods, plus;
any local sales taxes, plus;
postage, packing and insurance.

And yes, gifts are taxed too - but the allowance is higher, so you dont get taxed as much or cheaper items not all that (where they would be if declared as something else). Also, postage cost ISNT factored in on gifts either.

However, the cost of postage is excluded from the calculation for customs duty on gifts except where the sender has used the Express Mail Service (EMS) as opposed to a standard mail service.

So yes, getting it marked as gift does help

 

[Ed.D]

I still don't get how the gov' can charge customs and taxes on second hand products ?!?!? They aren't imported from the manufacturer for sale in the UK/EU market.

 

[tokyoracer]

I still don't get how the gov' can charge customs and taxes on second hand products ?!?!? They aren't imported from the manufacturer for sale in the UK/EU market.

I don't get how our government can apply tax ontop of tax.

 

[UberFreak]

Same thing here, taxes are calculated on everything
Since "gift" never worked for me, I try to make sure postage cost is not printed anywhere on the package.

I've notices that packages from European countries very rarely have the postage cost printed on them, but USA ones always do.

 

[tokyoracer]

Same thing here, taxes are calculated on everything
Since "gift" never worked for me, I try to make sure postage cost is not printed anywhere on the package.

I've notices that packages from European countries very rarely have the postage cost printed on them, but USA ones always do.

Depends who it's sent by not where.

 

[jvdbossc]

For Belgium it is in practice:

If package is < 2 kilo and declared unter < 20 EU from outside eu

Pass OK

If packe is > 2 kilo and comes from eu

Pass OK

If package is >2 kilo and undeclared and comes from not eu

You pay!!! And you'll have to fill in forms and print paypall stuff or other proof to proof it's value!!

If package is >2kilo and marked as gift

...depends if over 2 kilo probably you'll have to say what it is in fill in forms.

If package is <2 kilo and declared over 20 eu and not from eu

you pay!


And at last even unther 2 kilo from outside of europe you should pay, but this is mostly not held.

 

[protek]

In Finland, for parcels coming outside EU and total value including shipping going over 43 € you have to pay customs. And after the customs fee has been calculated from value + shipping, it is added to the total and you have to pay VAT for the total consisting of value, shipping and customs. So you're practically paying tax for tax. :double

---------- Post added at 11:55 ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 ----------

Ok, I'm not engouraging anyone to do this as it is practically against the law but hypothetically, if you trust the seller, you'd make two payments: one payment of goods purchased for a "faulty" item, with a sales price of 0 and shipping fees, making sure that receipt specifies both sales price and shipping. The second payment, the actual sales price would be done via paypal gift. This way there would be no customs or it would be as low as possible.

Again, not encouraging anyone to try this. Just thinking out loud.

 

[thecellartroll]

You could always send a new capacitor to another country for repair. The other person can then repair that capacitor by adding the rest of the Amiga around it and sending it back. Repaired.

 

[AndyLandy]

I still don't get how the gov' can charge customs and taxes on second hand products ?!?!? They aren't imported from the manufacturer for sale in the UK/EU market.

Taxes are not charged on items. Taxes are charged on transactions. With that subtle piece of information, you can begin to understand precisely why they do what they do. When you buy an item from abroad, and you cover the cost of the item and the postage, you are charged a percentage of the transaction value.

Not that I'm necessarily agreeing with it or saying it's fair, but that's how things are done...

 

[MZ3540]

In Australia, customs won't look at anything with a declared value of less than $1000. Yeah, that's quite a high threshold and yes, it's awesome.

For you guys thinking about declaring a much lower value that the item is realistically worth, be very certain to find out if that will affect insurance.

Zetro has wrote about returns not being subject to customs tax a few times now... How does that work? As far as I understand, you need to make a claim later on and get the tax refunded to you. They may ask you to prove that VAT has already been paid on the item. That would mean tracking down the previous EU owner of the item and asking him/her for a copy of the tax receipt.

I will finish by stating that we all have it better than our Brazilian friend Rogerio, it's shocking the kinda crap he has to go through when importing goods.

 

[SpeedGeek]

Another sad sorry about the high cost of international shipping! Fitzsteve you have my full sympathy but regardless of where you live once customs has possession of your property you are completely at their mercy unless you have friends in high places.