Import duty owed on Ebay USA item

[wemorgan]

Last month bought an item from a USA Ebay seller (£50 electronic switch). Almost a month later I receive a later from HM Customs saying I owe import duty before this item can be released. (Is is VAT?)

I've not yet read the letter myself, but the secretary at work has emailed me this news. Assuming she's correct this is news to me.

Can anyone please confirm that this is standard procedure or is there a waver I can complete?

I'm not bothered if I do owe £10 in VAT, or whatever, I just wished it hadn't taken them so long to tell me this. Also, was this just my naivety or is there some responsibility on the seller or Ebay to inform buyers of this duty? I've bought low value items from Ebay China sellers before and never had to pay additional taxes. PITA.

 

[horgantrevor]

no its import tax

thats why no one buys anything unless you have too in ireland they have been doing this for years a right pain

the price is a % of the value of the item

 

[bh13coupe]

I beleive it is VAT. Part of my job involves shipping high end IT kit abroad. If we know the goods are coming back to the UK I have to provide proof of shipment out of the UK to avoid the VAT when it returns. EG we have something made by a company based in the USA, we paid vat on it once, if I send it to the states to get repaired, I dont want to pay VAT on it again just to get it back in the country.

If it is a one way transaction u may have to give Mr Osbourne £10

 

[bh13coupe]

no its import tax

thats why no one buys anything unless you have too in ireland they have been doing this for years a right pain

the price is a % of the value of the item

it equates to around 20%

 

[npuk]

It is customs duty and vat. HM Revenue & Customs

 

[wemorgan]

It is customs duty and vat. HM Revenue & Customs

Thanks Nice concise HMRC documentation as always

 

[wemorgan]

it equates to around 20%

Glad it's no more. It's already an expensive piece of simple electronics as it is.

Any idea why I haven't had to pay such duty of Ebay China goods?

 

[Charles Morgan]

Absolutely normal.

I was once sent a case of wines to hold in store for a friend who was coming over to London from LA for a series of wine dinners. Unfortunately he left the sending to a wine merchant friend who estimated the value wildly too high and didn't label the wines as samples. I was then chased by the courier firm for a payment of £850 tax and duty, which I pointed out was nothing to do with me as I was neither the owner nor the consignor. In the end they were returned to the US with great inconvenience, but not until I had been chased three or four times a day with demands for payment by the courier firm. Never again...

 

[Dryce]

I'm not bothered if I do owe £10 in VAT, or whatever, I just wished it hadn't taken them so long to tell me this. Also, was this just my naivety or is there some responsibility on the seller or Ebay to inform buyers of this duty? I've bought low value items from Ebay China sellers before and never had to pay additional taxes. PITA.

It's *always* your responsibility unless the seller states explicitly that they included it and made arrangements to pay it - that's why HMRC is chasing *you*.

If you were selling something on ebay to somebody in US would you expect to pay their import taxes?

Low value small packages are generally exempt (last time I looked it was up to £17). Which is why smaller items from outside the EU are viable to import from China and HK. I suspect lots of people don't realise that as soon as the package value goes up they are liable.

Watch out for an additional admin fee added by the carrier.

 

[wemorgan]

Thanks all. This is a valuable lesson learnt.

 

[rf065]

Any idea why I haven't had to pay such duty of Ebay China goods?

Luck, it used to be £18 was the maximum value of goods you could import before duty was required. I think it went up recently, not sure of the currant figure.

I've purchased plenty of stuff from E Bay US without any duty, sometimes it is marked as a gift or spare parts and duty is not required. My son bought stuff on line from US & was hit with £130 duty. No way of knowing if you will be charged or not.

Russ

 

[A210AMG]

If the seller writes 'gift' value $10 would this not have got round this?

Most items from china come posted ad 'gift'

I got a letter what looked like a payslip after ordering a mac book laptop dock from America. Value $70 import tax £20

 

[st13phil]

It is customs duty and vat

Correct. And what most people don't realise is that you have to pay VAT not just on the value of the goods, but also on the duty payable, and on the carriage charges.

 

[Chrishazle]

I've also been caught with a £10 fee from the delivering courier company, on top of HMR&C's tithe!

 

[npuk]

Yes courier companies often add their own handling charge, even RM and Parcelforce.

 

[Stratman]

Royal Mail are particularly sneaky over this. They pay the duty and VAT on your behalf without giving you the opportunity to sort it out yourself and then hit you with a huge fee for doing it.

 

[wemorgan]

OK guys, go easy on the scare stories, I'd like to sleep well this evening without nightmares of selling a kidney to finance this Ebay purchase

 

[gaz_l]

Any idea why I haven't had to pay such duty of Ebay China goods?

You've never been caught before .

Anything imported from outside the EU is subject to duty but often the cost of collecting it outweighs the effort involved. So, for the most part, stuff just gets waved through. A percentage will get pulled up and that's what happened this time. Sometimes you'll get away with it and sometimes you won't.

HMRC's real efforts go towards keeping out contraband such as narcotics, weapons, etc. And quite right too. If you dodge a tenner in duty, the country is a little poorer but nobody dies.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[BTB 500]

My experience is that stuff from the US almost always gets hit for tax/VAT/handling. But I have never been charged for anything coming from Hong Kong or China.

 

[camerafodder]

If you want to be sure you are paying the correct import duty you can call HMRC and tell them what you are thinking about getting and from where. They will then go through their lists with you and give you a commodity code which will tell you how much duty is due in accordance to where you are importing from. The uk has different trade deals with different countries which means that duty can vary and sometimes is not applicable at all.