Importing Lenses

kevin brown

kevin brown

Suspended / Banned
Messages
50
Edit My Images
No
Here's the problem/question. I ordered lenses from BHphoto in New York and it's currently on it's way to South Africa where I live. The problem is that the lenses will only arrive after I leave for a 10 day vacation amongst you cheery folks. I'm thinking of having the shipment diverted to the UK. What import duties& vat would be due? Would I as a South African citizen be liable to pay the vat or would I have to claim it back on leaving the country?
 
The normal Duty is 6% and VAT is 15% on the total, if you can claim anything back it would be just the VAT but I think you may need to puchase in person to do that.
 
I paid 7.5% import and 17.5% vat on a lens from New York last year. Hope that helps.

Kev.
 
Interesting question. Visitors to the UK can reclaim VAT on purchases, but I don't know if you have to buy the goods in the UK, or if proof of payment to Customs & Revenue would be sufficient.

I have dual British/SA citizenship and spend time in both countries, and I've often been tempted to try to reclaim the VAT on purchases when I was leaving one of the countries, but this might just add complications to my life. It's complicated enough already so I've never actually tried to do this.
 
Interesting figures re. the duty - what tariff code are you using on the import declaration? In the CCTV world, we use 90021100, which donates 2.9% to HMRC.

We've been able to re-claim duty before on re-export, but I will need to check with our freight agents to get the low down, as we export outside the EU so infrequently.
Hope to get the definative for you later this afternoon.

Cheers, Bradders.
 
No definative answers from our freight agents yet - will let you know as and when.

Cheers Bradders.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top