Import Duty

bemcsa

bemcsa

Suspended / Banned
Messages
652
Name
chris
Edit My Images
Yes
Now that the pound has recovered a bit, imports from the far east are beginning to look more attractive. However if you have to pay vat and import tax on top, the savings can easily be lost.

If anyone has recently imported lenses from the far east, have you actually been stung for import duties? If you have, how much? Are smaller lenses more likely to slip through and does it make any difference which companies or countries you buy from?
 
import tax and vat will increase the amount you need to pay to about 20% and you may need to pay another £11 brokerage fees.
 
All of my recent purchases were charged, and I feel there's been a directive to maximise this source of income for the Govt coffers.

How to minimise (legally)?

Instruct the seller to declare the selling price not the total incl shipping.

Ask for a normal mail service, not a courier. The couriers charge £20+ collection fee (plus VAT on top) whereas Royal Mail/Parcel Force should be about £8. The couriers also send the bill maybe a fortnight after delivery. They regularly base their calculations on an absurdly high shipping cost e.g. £95 for a 500g package. However, if this is brought to their attention they may waive the whole fee ;)

Ask the sender to split the packages if the items are comparatively low value and cheap to post, but over £18 total value.

Duty payable depends on the class of goods and country they're from. Reckon on 5% (though should be less). VAT at 15% is charged on the total of item value + shipping. Couriers will charge VAT on top of their collection fee.
 
Have a look at Digitalrev, on ebay. This is an exract from their terms and conditions.

No VAT Listings

Our "No VAT Listings" is similar to the "All Inclusive Listings" except you may be charged VAT directly upon delivery. Should Customs & Excise deem that the product is subject to local import tax or duty, the courier would at delivery request payment for this before releasing the goods. This is NOT postage or handling but rather payment collected on behalf of Customs & Excise. DigitalRev has no control over what the charges may be and cannot influence the amount chargeable. Simply send us the customs receipt and customs fee sticker and we will reimburse you in full for any import tax/duty/fee charged. You can send it by fax or scan and email, and will we pay you the total amount on the receipt within 24 hours
 
I realise that you may have to pay around 20% in vat and import tax as well as a fee to the courier, but there do seem to be quite a lot of people saying that they have not had to pay anything. Maybe the bill is in the post ;)

So other than the bat cave which seems to have a customs and excise officer posted outside, has anyone else had to pay or not pay?
 
I got a lens the other week from the US and got stung with import tax. I had to go to the delivery company and stump up another £40 ish. It was still a lot cheaper that getting the lens in the UK, never mind the fact I couldn't find a UK supplier for the lens I wanted. :)
 
You can try one stop digital . Their price are pretty good and they avoid tax by reducing the value of the lenses.
 
I had to pay taxes etc on a lens from Digital Rev. They refunded in less than a couple of days after emailing them a scan. Not sure who the courier was off the top of my head - maybe DHL. But I didn't have to pay anything on delivery. They sent me a bill about a month later.

It's always best to make sure you pay up and keep proof if you ever intend to take any cameras/lenses abroad. You can still get hit for taxes on return if you're unlucky.
 
thyreus4 said:
You can try one stop digital . Their price are pretty good and they avoid tax by reducing the value of the lenses.
Click to expand...

No, they avoid tax by under-declaring the value of the goods, which will get you a big slap on the wrists if you're caught.

With DigitalRev you can also opt to pay the tax up front and get the full amount declared on the customs form, which is what I did when I bought from them - saved a lot of hassle at this end...
 
Its rare for a camera lens to legally get through, because on the declaration, "camera lens" will be written, and it doesnt take a TP member to know that you would be hard pushed to find any camera lens for under 18 pounds!

I heard they will be increasing the VAT limit soon to 1XX pounds, anyone know when that is? I thought it had already happened, but clearly not...?
 
what if a friend buys the lens for me and send it as a gift of no commercial value ? do i have to pay import duty and vat for that as well ???
 
If customs are doing their job - yes. The body, lenses and other accessories will attract duty at different rates so its hard to make assumptions.

Much of the accessories you get with that package will be utter tosh though, the cheapest most useless stuff you'll bin within weeks.
 
B16 VAS said:
I'm looking to buy a D90 on Ebay from America (I like in the UK)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nikon-D90-Dig...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1690|293:1|294:50

Will I get charged 20% ontop of the payment in the Ebay ad?

Please help as I'm looking to buy it urgently :) thank you
Click to expand...

Dont forget you will have little or no warranty with this and if something goes wrong you would have to ship it back to the US and rely on the ebay seller to process the warranty repair for you so probably not worth the risk IMHO
 
£800 for just the camera and lens kit is ridiculous though :(

going NY in December is it worth buying from there do you think?

Also are the USA models different from the rest?
 
It might be worth visiting BHP in NY http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ which is the largest camera store there, thing is you will still get hit by NYC state tax which I think is about 8.25% on top of their price (price will be £630 for body only) , then you also face the risk of getting hit with import duty when you fly back if you go through red channel, if you go green and get caught then the risk is even greater!!!
 
Ive been looking at getting nearly £1000 (saving nearly £350) worth of stuff from HK, but worried about tax.

OSD do refund your tax as i have done that before, but not sure what would happen if it goes wrong.
Ive also looked at DigitalRev (£30 cheaper than OSD), but they dont do the VAT free promotion on the stuff i want, and they seem to have a very good after sales service (local handlers ect).

So its a toss up for me as im not spending another £350 for getting the kit in this country.

Any advice ??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top