Import Duty-Brexit Benefits

troutfisher

troutfisher

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I have just had a delivery of a Motorola phone bought direct from Motorola with a £50.00 discount
The carrier has tried to charge £45.00 import duty which makes the phone dearer than the same product bought from a UK supplier, it is not made clear during the purchase that the product is liable for import duty.
So this is just a heads up to say make sure when purchasing check if import duty will be charged or you could end up paying a lot more than you bargained for.
 
If you buy anything from eBay, which is located in the EU, you'll now have 20% added to the final sale price in VAT - a heads up.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Its a £15 case that is not even available elsewhere. I don't mind VAT on that but not RM charges or anything else that would tripple it.
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The rules for RM are stated here: Fee to pay card: Additional postage & customs fees (royalmail.com)

This is the relevant section....
What happens to mail coming from countries outside the UK?*
All mail that enters the UK may be examined by Customs. Letters, postcards and parcels containing only documents are usually exempt.
If you’re receiving a parcel from a country outside the EU it may incur Customs charges.
Any parcel assessed as being liable for Customs charges will also incur a Royal Mail handling fee of £8.
Any goods imported into the UK over the value of £15 are liable for import VAT.
Gifts between private individuals over the value of £39 are also liable for VAT. Goods and gifts over these values may also be liable for customs duty.
You no longer have to pay Customs duty for goods up to the value of £135. However, you will still be required to pay import VAT and excise duty where applicable.
Please note: These limits don’t apply to alcohol and tobacco goods. You may be charged both excise duty and import VAT on these goods.
It’s not permitted to send alcohol and tobacco products into the UK from another EU country unless prior arrangements have been made to account for the excise duty.
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Welcome to internet shopping from the 90's. The onus is not on the retailer to make the customer aware of import duty. It is down to the customer to do their own due diligence for any fees or tax on receipt. This includes Tax, Duty and Brokerage Surcharge (admin cost). The latter is nessary because the courier BULK pay all the cost up front to HMRC for you and then recover the cost from the recipient. HMRC do not have the man power to individually chase each parcel for it's VAT and duty. We all know how difficult it is to contact HMRC on a good day and imagine every person in the UK that has a parcel every day trying to pay and process each parcel's duty and tax for release. The whole system would collapse. Therefore the courier pays it upfront (they basically have an account with a lot of money in, and then the courier becomes the taxman for HMRC, a bit like a shop collecting VAT when you buy something.

You can ask them to remove this brokage surchage but you cannot recover any tax and duty. It's not the courier trying to charge you. It's HMRC already charged them and now you need to pay them back.

Checking the origin has ALWAYS been a factor when i buy online, that is EVERYWHERE, including Amazon, yes, CHECK the seller's origin on Amazon.

If you are old enough you would have remembered Play.com that sold Region 1 DVD from the States which got round the loophole in VAT as they were based in Jersey. This was in the early 2000's.

LongLensPhotography said:
I wonder what will happen if I try to buy something like this from China https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
Its a £15 case that is not even available elsewhere. I don't mind VAT on that but not RM charges or anything else that would tripple it.
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My experiences is something like that usually slip through unnoticed.
 
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This will make you wince.

RD18gdV.png
 
yep basically if the EU supplier supports the new VAT scheme they can charge you upfront for it and they then send the tax direct to the HMRC.
If however small companies just don't do that then its get collected on your doorstep.
 
Rapscallion said:
They will add 20% for goods up to the value of £135
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not exactly true, if the value of the goods below £135 you don't pay duty (just vat and excise duty)

You no longer have to pay Customs duty for goods up to the value of £135. However, you will still be required to pay import VAT and excise duty

you will pay VAT on anything about £39
 
That's how it is for us in the EU buying from the UK now sadly. It's the couriers dumping the extra fees on top for having to deal with customs. I completely forgot and did my monthly order from a UK supplier, £29 inc postage but when it got this side I was charged €25 on top by UPS because they had to go through customs. There will be a hard knock effect to this, courier told me that he's had to explain to many people why they're being charged fees on top - and almost all of them said they're done buying from the UK. I think it'll also see Irish traders spike their prices, taking advantage. Only saver is that it's a flat fee afaik, so if I'd done a double order I would've been charged same - and it would probably work out still cheaper than buying over here [for these particular goods at least]
 
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Cagey75 said:
That's how it is for us in the EU buying from the UK now sadly. It's the couriers dumping the extra fees on top for having to deal with customs. I completely forgot and did my monthly order from a UK supplier, £29 inc postage but when it got this side I was charged €25 on top by UPS because they had to go through customs. There will be a hard knock effect to this, courier told me that he's had to explain to many people why they're being charged fees on top - and almost all of them said they're done buying from the UK. I think it'll also see Irish traders spike their prices, taking advantage. Only saver is that it's a flat fee afaik, so if I'd done a double order I would've been charged same - and it would probably work out still cheaper than buying over here [for these particular goods at least]
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That will change from 1/7/2021 when the EU also requires sellers to register with the EU for VAT - As I've said in a previous thread we have only implemented an EU wide VAT change, which the EU have decided to delay from 1/1 to 1/7.

At the moment we are in a double VAT situation, where purchases are incurring local VAT and then VAT on importation. This will get sorted out over time, as sellers get used to the procedures that they have to follow.

Higher value items (>£135) will be sold exc VAT and VAT on importation applied in the usual way, as happened with goods from China/Japan etc at the moment. - and I suspect @Raymond Lin package above.

I suspect that we will see small traders taking to local platforms like eBay, Amazon, Etsy, etc which give them access to overseas markets and will handle the VAT to HMRC/EU (as appropriate) for them
 
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Mr Bump said:
not exactly true, if the value of the goods below £135 you don't pay duty (just vat and excise duty)

You no longer have to pay Customs duty for goods up to the value of £135. However, you will still be required to pay import VAT and excise duty

you will pay VAT on anything about £39
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Which bit of my post isn’t true?
:confused:
 
Raymond Lin said:
...
My experiences is something like that usually slip through unnoticed.
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It would have before Jan 1st, but AliExpress now add 20% at the point of sale on transactions up to £135.

Mr Bump says this isn’t quite right but not sure what part is wrong as this is what happened to me when I have ordered from AliExpress recently. It was a small order and 20% ‘tax’ was added at checkout.
 
Rapscallion said:
It would have before Jan 1st, but AliExpress now add 20% at the point of sale on transactions up to £135.

Mr Bump says this isn’t quite right but not sure what part is wrong as this is what happened to me when I have ordered from AliExpress recently. It was a small order and 20% ‘tax’ was added at checkout.
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Did you get any further charges on receipt?
 
Mr Bump said:
This, there is no cieling

They will add 20% for goods up to the value of £135
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AliExpress do only add the 20% up to £135. Try and place an order and you will see that once you get over £135 the don’t add the 20% at checkout. I think it is then collected by the courier, but haven’t placed an order of that value so am not sure.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Did you get any further charges on receipt?
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No. It was two small orders one approx £10 and the other £20. Though I never have had any additional chargers when ordering from AliExpress. The largest order has only been around £30
 
Rapscallion said:
It would have before Jan 1st, but AliExpress now add 20% at the point of sale on transactions up to £135.
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that's definitely what they're doing - i've had at least 5 different orders all happen that way so far. Again, nothing over the £135 value, so can't vouch for what happens I'm afraid.

LongLensPhotography said:
Did you get any further charges on receipt?
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3 of the above orders have arrived, no additional charges. Two still stuck on the slow train overland as they contained batteries and the seller didn't want to risk the wrath of the airlines... Curiously, that slow train is far faster for the section in China and Kazakhstan than it seems to be once it hits "europe"
 
Just an update on this saga.
The Motorola web site states quite clearly that the price shown includes VAT and shipping is free.
I complained to them and was told pay the UPS bill and we will refund the cost, so it seems to be a mix up at UPS end, so it is definitely worth checking when buying anything if VAT is included in the price so you know if you get charged on receipt.
 
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