Reply With QuoteI think its a bullet that needs to be bitten. Probably a 'ways around it' but they are unlikely to be advised
Evening gents.
Someone has offered me a nice piece, but it means shipping from the US to here. My main worry is the dreaded charge UK Customs could/will impose. I remember getting a £150 bill when I purchased a Kobold a few years back, and recently was charged £14 for my earphone cable coming back from repair!!
Is there any way around it, or am I just going to bite the bullet?
Thanks
Adam
I think its a bullet that needs to be bitten. Probably a 'ways around it' but they are unlikely to be advised
The extra charge will be circa 20% of the total price plus postage, I won't elaborate or explain why or else Mark will jump in to correct me and we don't want that. If the price from USA is no longer cheap after the extra 20% is added to the cost + postage then the item is no longer cheap and you should look elsewhere, locally or within the EU for instance where the extra fee isn't applicable. it is as simple as that really.
Repairs are not due customs, duties and VAT. I work for a US company & in such cases the vendor should have advised a RMA (returned materials advice) number, this allows the item to be returned for repair & not incur (already paid) VAT & duties after repair & return.Originally Posted by adam164
z
Last edited by zelig; 9th August 2017 at 19:34.
I bought around £200 worth of pens from the US recently and about a month after delivery I got the dreaded FedEx invoice for £70!
The retailer put the actual value on the box, so I got stung for the full amount.
I had hoped i'd got away with it.
Even though I knew I might very well get the bill, it was still sickening to See!
Yes you will be charged 20% VAT on whatever the shipper declares as the value (see what I did there?), plus a small charge by the courier company.
No way round it.
Simon
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Noooo you have given a specific but not quite completely full answer. I can hear Mark on his way now. Incoming in 10,9,8,7......
It's an area open to interpretation, and depends on whether the repair is FoC or chargeable.
With goods that are repaired free of charge under a guarantee or warranty you can claim total relief from the Import Duty and VAT. However you may be asked to produce proof of the guarantee or warranty.
If you are charged for the repair then strictly speaking you may be held liable for the Duty and VAT on the repair charge.
If the vendor decides to replace the goods, rather than repair them, then VAT (though not import duty) is potentially payable on the full customs value of the replacement goods.
Another reason why customs and trade compliance remains a dark art......
Correct - I meant to say this is true for warrantied repairs ( which I'd assumed the case above)... & Which we dealt with more often than out of warranty repairs.
z
20% VAT yes... But don't forget the £14'ish admin cost for the kick in the teeth.
So for a service, e.g. resoling shoes from a US manufacturer, the customs charge is only for the price of the service? I have a few pairs of american made shoes and was very nervous about being charged VAT on the cost of the shoes + repair / resole.
...and this is in Watch Talk because...?!
Simon
"Watch Talk...and this is in Watch Talk because...
Simon
Primarily for discussion of watches and accessories but no hard and fast rules"
I got that when I got a watch back from being repaired in Switzerland, told them to poke it.
"Oh no - not again", thought the bowl of petunias . . . HHGTTG, Douglas Adams.
Got my DHL
Import VAT and/or duty statement to hand, from yesterday's payment.
The VAT was £12.26
The DHL fee (or Advance Payment, as they refer to it) was £10.74
This was an import from Hong Kong, where I thought things always 'slipped through' from.
Caveat: I am not a customs broker.
If the shoes are being returned for re-soling, which I presume is an advertised and chargeable service, then you should only pay VAT on the services/materials used in the US to re-sole the shoes along with the round-trip freight costs and duty charges, i.e. not on the value of the shoes themselves. See section 2.8 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/public...cessing-relief
Of course if they deem the shoes irreparable and send you a new pair instead then ignore the above.....
Also strictly speaking you should also apply in advance for authorisation of Outward Processing Relief (OPR) before the shoes are exported, determine the correct Customs Procedure Code, complete the Customs Declaration form accordingly, get the repairer to fill out the correct documentation, etc, etc.
Personally I would just take them to my local shoe repair shop....
I wonder what would happen if you traded a watch with someone, say in the US?
If no money changed hands would you still get stung?
Everything has to have a declared value (in the above scenario you are still paying, just with a watch instead of money), so yes, VAT would be applicable.
If you do a swap with someone and manage to spoof an RMA situation - get them saying that they could not fix it so they sent you another watch of similar value then perhaps you skyve VAT,
but is it really worth all that effort?
Apart from potentially being fraudulent, I doubt that would work.
If the vendor replaces the watch that was sent for repair then whatever the value declared (whether new or used) would still be VAT-able. So for customs purposes replacing a watch, whether with a new one or with one "of similar value", is largely immaterial.
The reason for this is that Duty and VAT were paid on the original watch sent back for repair, but they have not been paid on the replacement.
Its very tempting isnt it to try to fiddle revenue and customs with all sorts of "clever" scams (none of which they will ever have seen before..) given the illegality evading customs duty and VAT and the penalties involved my advice is dont even think of it; as said earlier on in the thread before closing the deal work out the additional costs and just factor them into the price (dont forget the shipper admin fee) and decide if its still a good deal, sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised and wont receive as big a bill as expected due to the tarif being applied being different to what you thought.
Keith
HMRC are good at spotting the low listed value trick and sources that UK buyers buy from.
I used to import a fair number of items from Hong Kong (one or two a month) ten years or more ago and to start with charges were unheard of. By the time I stopped they were nearly 100% applied. Low valued items were held and the seller or receiver contacted to provide an accurate price - And items confiscated (or randomly high values applied) when unreasonable values were given.
As others have said always add on 22% (or so) to the price (or 20% plus the known import handling fee if you know who the seller will use) to cover the charges and work out if it's worth buying at that price.
If it isn't, buy here at the dearer price or gamble, but don't moan about being 'stung' - Everyone else is paying VAT, why shouldn't you?
I never cease to be amazed that so many people can be righteous about mild speeding and yet tax avoidance passes with nary a comment... They're on a par (4 MPH isn't the difference between life and death, before someone offers that...) in my view - If you choose to do either and get caught, suck it up, don't moan.
M
On a lighter note...............
Back in 1980, I bought a GMT-Master from Botlek Stores in Europort, for the grand sum of £208. I think retail in UK was upwards of £550 at the time.
Watch got delivered to the ship, and placed in the bond, which was sealed for the duration of the ship being in port.
Ship sailed from there to Tilbury where I was leaving the ship. I got the watch from the bond during the short sail.
On arrival at Tilbury, I went to see the customs guys in the Chief Steward’s office and they ran through my customs declaration…….
When they got to the Rolex, they asked to see the watch. I dutifully retrieved it from my cabin, and showed them it:
“How much was it?”
“£208”
“It’s a nice watch, but I don’t think I would pay that for it……….”
“Well, I bought a few other consumables in that price, so the watch might have been nearer £150?”
“Mmmm – still, it’s a lot to pay for a watch?”
“Well, with the exchange rate- the true cost might have been closer to £120?”
“Yeah – that’s what I would expect………. £20 duty”
My £228 bargain………… :)
Got the receipt for tax/duty.
Al
Hahahahaha.
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The main reason that stuff comes in from Hong Kong (and other far eastern countries) without being caught for VAT is mainly because vendors basically lie by default on customs declarations and Border Force don't have the resources to look beyond the declaration in most cases.
In the rare event that vendors tell the truth then it is likely that the correct taxes will be charged, unless you were very unlucky to have one of the very, very few packages that was more thoroughly investigated.
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