Reply With QuoteYes VAT to pay as the Swiss aren't in the EU
The one in Germany you are paying the Tax locally in Germany which is why it might be a bit more but none to pay when it comes into the UK
I’ve been eyeing up a watch being sold by a Swiss dealer on Chrono24.
If I pay about £8,000 for the watch what will I be stung for in customs duties, VAT etc..?
There is a similar watch for a bit more being sold by a dealer in Germany. Would there be any customs or VAT on top of that one?
Cheers
Jack
Last edited by FazerBoy; 14th December 2018 at 17:03.
Yes VAT to pay as the Swiss aren't in the EU
The one in Germany you are paying the Tax locally in Germany which is why it might be a bit more but none to pay when it comes into the UK
Go pick it up
That’s actually not a bad idea - I hadn’t thought of that! I suppose I could wear it back.Originally Posted by langdalematt
How would I get all the boxes and papers back though? I wonder if a Swiss dealer sent an empty watch box to me whether HMRC might want to dig further...
How risky would this be in reality...?
^^^ this ^^^ or ask him to travel across the border into the EU and post it from there. Pay him for the fuel costs.
@ the empty box: after you've picked it up, you can take the box to the local post office, wrap it up and send it to your own address. No need to ask the guy to do it for you.
It’s too risky to bring it with you on the plane. I usually cross the border either on foot or skiing via Alps just to make sure.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Yep, I was thinking of having him write up the invoice in invisible ink as well!
Until March anyway.
20% VAT @ 8000 = 1600 GBP???
Take the car, go down there. Take a normal route into S., pay the watch, put it on and drive back a day later. And as said: bring the empty box to the post office and ship it to the UK.
Menno
It depends where in Switzerland is. For example, if it is in Basle, you just get a bus to Mulhouse which is in France, and then a flight to uk. Same in schaffhausen where you get with a direct trail from Friedrichshafen aiport (Germany).
Many swiss citizens often take a short trip to Germany or France just for shopping, and I had a dealer from Sissach shipping me watches from a little village just behind the border with Germany
Last edited by Franco; 14th December 2018 at 20:34.
Better! Witht the strong Swiss currency, 'abroad' must be pretty cheap for them. So there's a lot of traffic over the border. Makes it easier.
Good man, just make shoe to use one of these if you’re crossing the border on foot. No one would suspect a thing.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
My cousin is bringing a Tudor for me from Geneva over Xmas…. Any digging around and the watch belongs to her - which it does, until she gives it to me :-)
The big box may take some explaining though!
Charter a plane and fill it with VAT-free.
And whatever you do, make sure you don't plaster the fact you are planning tax evasion all over a public area of a website known to have HMRC employees amongst its userbase.
IMHO I'd get the German one to be safe.
'They' only go after serial offenders.
#justsaying
Fas est ab hoste doceri
If you add up all the various monetary and logistical hassles associated with the Swiss one, the German one seems much more sensible.
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I paid a ridiculously large amount of income tax this year so on the moral front I have no problem with evading a modest amount of VAT. If they catch me I will take the penalty on the chin!
Each to their own, Fazer-boy.
As long as you never, ever, criticise anyone elses financial morality. Or take the high ground on anything, ever again.
Personally I would rather pay what is owed to ones Country; than be completely unable to take the moral high ground again.
Damn, you can't even read the Daily Fail and tut at immigrants/council tenants/pregnant teenagers (delete as appropriate) anymore if you go out of your way to deliberately evade Value Added Tax...........
Just saying.
Enjoy your purchase.
What many people forget is their journey through customs isn't just a one off, whenever you travel with that watch on, they would have every reason to question where/when you got it from so you'd have that worry for evermore.
You could always do it legally and reclaim the Swiss VAT on export and pay UK VAT on import (assuming it is new) making the difference 11% but where’s the fun/stress in that ?
Of for a real saving claim back Swiss VAT but smuggle it in.
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I have no intention of actually doing this for real. My initial post was simply trying to ascertain what the situation was in terms of liability for VAT etc.
If I buy the watch for sale at the Swiss dealer I’ll pay the VAT.
But does the aforementioned high ground actually exist in the swamp which lies to you and use your tax pennies to bomb some poor folks thousands miles away back into the Stone Age for no other reason than stealing their country natural resources?Each to their own, Fazer-boy.
As long as you never, ever, criticise anyone elses financial morality. Or take the high ground on anything, ever again.
Personally I would rather pay what is owed to ones Country; than be completely unable to take the moral high ground again.
Damn, you can't even read the Daily Fail and tut at immigrants/council tenants/pregnant teenagers (delete as appropriate) anymore if you go out of your way to deliberately evade Value Added Tax...........
Just saying.
Enjoy your purchase.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Each to their own, Fazer-boy.
As long as you never, ever, criticise anyone elses financial morality. Or take the high ground on anything, ever again.
Personally I would rather pay what is owed to ones Country; than be completely unable to take the moral high ground again.
Damn, you can't even read the Daily Fail and tut at immigrants/council tenants/pregnant teenagers (delete as appropriate) anymore if you go out of your way to deliberately evade Value Added Tax...........
Just saying.
Enjoy your purchase.
Last edited by langdalematt; 15th December 2018 at 08:45.
To the OP or anyone else interested: google “public notice 1” this wil take you to a jointly created Border Force / HMRC leaflet that details exactly what you can bring in, what you can’t, what you have to pay duty on etc etc.
Damn it. You are right. How did I not see the connection? If only we all evaded VAT on needless luxury watch purchases then War would cease to exist.But does the aforementioned high ground actually exist in the swamp which lies to you and use your tax pennies to bomb some poor folks thousands miles away back into the Stone Age for no other reason than stealing their country natural resources?
I thank you.
I shall never pay tax again.
And I shall feel alright about it cos someone got bombed somewhere.
I am relieved.
For a moment I was thinking you were discussing tax evasion. But now I understand that you were only joking...
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Haha, that was funny.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Some of the Swiss dealers have an address in Germany that they register and post goods from there to avoid any VAT issue.
Well, at least you got there in the end...
Last edited by FazerBoy; 15th December 2018 at 15:36.
I use the LHC tunnel.
What bollox! Funny bollox, but bollox all the same...
Ask the dealer to remove stickers and keep the guarantee card.
Sadly not bolleaux. I travel extensively and have been asked to produce a receipt for a camera I purchased months earlier since it still looked new & I had the manual with it as I was still learning it's functions. Customs man wanted to know when/where I'd bought it. I've even had them ask me for receipts for cigs/booze within my limits which I never did understand since it wouldn't matter whether I'd paid £10 or £1,000 for the single malt in my bag, it would still be within allowances.
TBH, customs are not the sort of people I'd feck around with. Especially as it would cost me my job.
Customs stops and searchers are intelligence led, that's why you go through unmanned (in 99pc travels) customs corridor.
Just saying.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Does anyone else here always feel guilty going through customs, even when you literally have. Irving to declare.
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Irving? I meant to write “nothing”.
Although Irving Berlin in your suitcase! Wow, that’s worth declaring.
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When I used to travel competing (rifle shooter) we would go in the red tunnel just to annoy the staff. When they saw half a dozen of us coming with rifle cases, it was usually a quick “piss off, use the green tunnel”
I guess they didn’t want the hassle of paperwork (which they knew full well would be in order)
Just after you, it appears.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
1 off!
I started international commuting out of the EU in 2003 and only stopped in late 2016.
I wore multiple Rolex, multiple Omega, Audemars Piguet, Zenith and not once was there a sniff, even when I was checked for fags'n'booze.
There is a law that allows you to travel with personal valuables and so many people travel with expensive watches that HMRC don't have the manpower to check, or the inclination, or the rules on their side.
You could be unlucky, but you'd have a better chance of winning the Premium Bonds!
You’re not a very nice person, are you?
I simply don't like cheaters. If that makes me a not-so-nice person, then that's fine with me.
Night night.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
You know who shout 'Thief!' loudest don't you..
Fas est ab hoste doceri
What's the Russian word for glass houses?
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Racist scum?
Fas est ab hoste doceri
I don't know, you tell me.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Think about how you come across next time you decide to bring race in the conversation.
PS and you see, I haven't brought your ethnicity in the discussion which would make it even more disturbing.
Last edited by VDG; 16th December 2018 at 22:41.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
LOLZ.
LOLZ.
Hilarious.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
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