Tank

[He11cat]

Looks like its here ...
Knew I'd get thrashed for import tax .
But VAT on the import tax ?
Then £19 on top for a letter to say please pay .

Used to be £12.

I was expecting a bill .. But annoys me VAT on a Tax ffs
And as for near £20 for a letter to say come and pay.
If I didn't see the breakdown I wouldn't moan . Knew I was going to get hit so shouldn't moan really.
Let's just hope it's ok

[Funkatronic]

afaik vat is charged on landed cost which includes the duty im afraid

[urbanfireblade]

Does seem a bit harsh.

[buzzbomb]

Welcome to the UK tax system...:hissy:

[Nottsbiker]

Didnt know you'd pay VAT on a secondhand 'gift' - effin governement!

Viva la revolution!

[He11cat]

Thought that was most odd ! Tax on a tax .
Oh well....

[He11cat]

He didn't mark it gift .... He's a business .

[Nottsbiker]

Bugger! I'd have had it shipped to my family in San-Francisco and got them to post it to me ;)

[Capo]

Tax on Tax is prevalent
If declared as a gift and was subsequently found to be otherwise, you would face punitive action.

[Zimbo]

Fuel is taxed, and you pay VAT on the tax as well as the fuel ....

[SunEye]

According to HMRC:

For a gift from outside the EU Customs Duty is payable if the value of the gift exceeds £135, but will be waived if the amount of duty is £9 or under. Import VAT is payable if the value of the gift exceeds £40.

To qualify as a gift:
It must have been sent from a private person outside the EU to a private person(s) in the UK.
The Customs Declaration must be completed correctly.
It must be for the use of either you or your family.
There must be no commercial or trade element and it must not have been paid for by the recipient either directly or indirectly.
It must be of an occasional nature only - for example for a birthday or anniversary.
If it's perfume or toilet water it must be within the allowances. If the allowances are exceeded than charges apply on the excess.

For something not marked as a gift from outside the UK Customs Duty will be charged on goods with a value that exceeds £135 and you will have to pay import VAT on goods with a value that exceeds £15.
Customs Duty is waived if the amount of duty calculated is £9 or under.

[He11cat]

It wouldn't be worth me or the chap being caught.
I expected a hefty wack on duty.
VAT was a surprise and the £19 to send me a letter from Parcel force is crap.

I said before I was sent a t shirt and it wasn't worth much yet got pulled up.
The cheap t shirt ended up costing over £40 with handling fees.

I knew I would have a hefty bill and accept that and fine about duty..
But all the admin fees pee me off :(

[He11cat]

Well at least I have my new vase :)
Just got to get a key made for the petrol cap as it doesn't have one :(

[gary tompkins]

He didn't mark it gift .... He's a business .

Wouldn't have made any diffence

Duty and vat is calculated on shipped value of items, so marking as gift makes little difference. Anything imported from outside the EU valued at over £35 was eligable for VAT, but that's limit's recently been reduced to £15. You also have a handling fee added on by the carrier. I've just picked up an item shipped in from the USA today. Value on customs declaration was $55 + shipping, and I had to pay £22.44 including VAT + Parcel Force handling charge.

[He11cat]

Ouch !
Well got a big box .
I'm used to lugging boxes with steel tanks in.
Braced myself picked it up ...... How light is that!!!
Oh gawd il probably open the box to find a box of bubblewrap :)

[Nickj]

The £19 is to cover the costs of shifting the parcel from the courier company to the post office collections office. You can sometimes get away with that one, there's tons of info out on the web about this.
And yes it's a bit of a con.

I'd paid for an express delivery from the States and the courier was able to collect the tax on delivery, 10 days after it had arrived in the UK a letter fetched up. It's a 60 mile round trip from here to collect :(
I've got away with the PO costs more than once.

You can refuse to pay and cite sections 83, 84, 104 and 105 of the postal Services Act, 2000.
Sometimes works.

What does work is to have the parcel/package marked as 'goods to be custom cleared by importer'. Then they are just held by HMRC who send yiu a form, you fill the details and they advise you how much the import tax is. Once paid the parcel is released for delivery. You only save the PO charges but it's generally quicker.

[He11cat]

Thanks Nick :) I'm glad they stopped it because I had a large glass chandelier from germany sent over and they threw the box over the wall despite having fragile on it!
You can imagine the noise when I picked up the box.
If city link get anything now I have about a 60 mile round trip to get my stuff :(
I've paid and have a big light box. :)