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[ubereglu]

Hiya,

 

I'm thinking about buying a pair of crocs from an American website as the style I'd like is not currently on sale in the UK and I was just wondering if anyone knows of a website or how to calculate excise duty on goods from the US.

 

Hope you can help,

 

Liz

[MedusA]

To be honest, if I'm buying something from the US, I usually put it's a gift on the order (if it IS for a gift) and then it doesn't get charged for duty.

 

Can't help with a site to calculate duty. Sorry.

[Shirl]

It should still be charged duty because if the sender isn't gifting it to you (or someone else) then duty should be paid. I've ordered loads of stuff (including a pair of crocs) from the US and never been nabbed. I do know that Royal Mail charge something silly like £8 just for asking for the VAT.

Edited April 8, 2008 by Guest

[Omletina Kyckling]

I don't have a calculator for you, but I've had to pay before on some shoes I bought from the US - they were about £60 I seem to remember and the total I had to pay to get them on top of that was £15 - the actual duty was only about £8 but you then have to pay Royal Mail on top of that for an administration fee as Shirl has said.

 

I've had lots of stuff from the US and only had to pay once, but most of my stuff is sent by a friend and she marks it as a gift.

[Shirl]

Here found this link http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014&propertyType=document#P106_9098

[superjules]

I bought 6 pairs of crocs from Taylors in USA before Christmas and didn't get charged, so hopefully you won't have to pay.

[Egluntyne]

My son ordered some books from the USA a while back.

 

He was flabbergasted to receive a bill for over £40 a few weeks later.

[hillfamily]

It seems to be very hit and miss if you do or don't get charged :?

 

I have had goods sent from the USA, Australia and NZ.

 

The parcels from Australia and NZ were clearly marked that they were purchased goods but I was only charged on the goods from Australia (about £15 including post office handling fee) even though the parcel from NZ was worth 3 times more

 

The parcel from the USA was very small and very close to the allowable value for imported goods so I think that's why it might have got through

[Guest]

Its luck of the draw sometimes whether or not you get charged but as Shirl said the Post Office add an £8 handling fee. I got copped when I bought my troikas and the excise was only a coule of quid but the PO fee made them a bit pricey!

[Mrs Webmuppet]

I think there is a threshold of £15, in that if the item is worth less than £15 you don't get charged. This is the reason why when you order items like CD's from Tesco's Jersey etc they send each item separately to get round this.

 

There is an HMRC advice line you could ring - 0845 010 9000 its really for VAT but they deal with other stuff as well.

[Jules.]

On Easter Monday hubby ordered a camera from the US. The price was thet same in pounds as it was in dollars

It arrived before 9am TWO days later via UPS, but we got stung with a £35.02 duty to pay.

It was still loads cheaper than buying it form the UK, & we couldn't fault the delivery time.

[WitchHazel]

There are three charges that you may have to pay.

 

Firstly, there may or may not be a percentage of DUTY to pay. The percentage depends on what it is you are buying, and HMRC will be able to tell you this. This usually takes two phone calls, one to a number to find out the classification that the shoes come under, and a second to another number to tell you what the rate of duty is. Sometimes the duty is 0.

 

Secondly, you will usually be charged VAT at 17,5%. This is charged on the declared cost of the item+postage+duty. It's very unfair, but yes you do have to pay VAT on the Duty and P&P too.

 

Thirdly, thePost Office will levey a handling fee, because they collect the money from you and give it to the Revenue.

 

if you're buying a low value item then it's worth taking a punt. If you're looking at a higher value item, it's definitely worth finding out the duty implications first. They are usually very helpful.

[ubereglu]

Thanks for your help on that. It's been quite helpful.

 

Well what I want to buy costs $22.99 + $15 P&P. However according to one of the people who work for the website in order for people to have to pay less duty they mark the value of the package at half the price. So now I'm confused, as reading through the government literature if the item you're buying has a value of less than £8 excluding P&P you don't have to pay duty. However I still might be charged by Royal Mail...so maybe I'll wait until they're available in the UK.