Customs

[NadimAshiq]

Hello all

Does anybody know the customs rules for bringing back items from the states, i.e. can you only bring back so many items, or is it set at a monetary value??

The reason I ask is that my wife recently bought me a birthday present from the states and paid all P&P, however when it got over here customs charged £8 in VAT and Parceforce charged us another £8 for admin!

It is a great present butI was not happy in having to pay £16 for effectively nothing

I have been to Florida twice before without any customs issues, but would be interested to hear from anyone who has experienced any issues before

[blott]

You pay VAT and duty on everything imported unless it's VAT or duty exempt if it arrives by mail as the sender has to fill in a Customs declaration. It's not the same as bringing it into the UK yourself as you're allowed £145 of goods if you bring it back personally.

Try reading this thread which might help http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8166

[phaedra]

Hi Blott :)

Just to clarify, there is a limit of £18 under which no duty or vat is normally payable (unless it's for say cigarettes or tobacco products which are chargeable for any amount), it used to be £18 for goods and £36 for personal items.

The duty/Vat is calculated on the total price of the shipment (goods + carriage) and as a general rule of thumb if you have to pay it works out at about 25% of the total (including the duty collection fee added on by the carrier).

Most things that come via normal post (USPS or Global Priority) get by without being "caught" but if the sender uses a carrier such as UPS or FedEx etc. then they will always be liable for duty/Vat if it's over the £18 limit as the carrier makes a nice easy profit by charging the duty collection charge as well.

[Kickstart]

It's a rip off, what exactly is the administration charge. I got caught like this once and I have never used UPS for anything ever again, including a lot of business work I could have put their way.

By the way I'm sure everyone on this forum keeps to the customs limits of £145 for their personal shopping!

Has anyone here ever been caught out?

[steph_goodrum]

Time we've paid for things for our villa we never have £145 left to spend on ourselves. :D:D

[Nostromo]

But people, including my wife, buy clothes in the USA all the time! I am sure a lot of you people do it as well, since it is so much cheaper there. I doubt if everyone declares everything - we certainly don't. On our last trip, by wife bought me a designer Suede Jacket for $229 and I wore it as I passed through the Gatwick green channel. No one asked anything. I am sure that I am not the only one. USA regulars, including many of my patients, keep bringing back this or that from across the'pond'. So, is it not a bit silly and mean for the customs to charge £16 for a birthday present?

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by NadimAshiq
Hello all

Does anybody know the customs rules for bringing back items from the states, i.e. can you only bring back so many items, or is it set at a monetary value??

The reason I ask is that my wife recently bought me a birthday present from the states and paid all P&P, however when it got over here customs charged £8 in VAT and Parceforce charged us another £8 for admin!

It is a great present butI was not happy in having to pay £16 for effectively nothing

I have been to Florida twice before without any customs issues, but would be interested to hear from anyone who has experienced any issues before


[/quote]

I send hundreds of things back to the UK per year ....and no-ones ever had to pay anything extra........I've been doing this for 4 years......I fill out a form for customs saying its a gift....the price.......and thats it......

[Nostromo]

I think it is very very mean of the customs to bother hard working people like ourselves for buying a few extra gifts to friends or family or even to oneself from hard earned money while they don't do enough to catch drug smugglers and similar criminals who often get away with it.

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by phaedra
Hi Blott :)

Just to clarify, there is a limit of £18 under which no duty or vat is normally payable (unless it's for say cigarettes or tobacco products which are chargeable for any amount), it used to be £18 for goods and £36 for personal items.

The duty/Vat is calculated on the total price of the shipment (goods + carriage) and as a general rule of thumb if you have to pay it works out at about 25% of the total (including the duty collection fee added on by the carrier).

Most things that come via normal post (USPS or Global Priority) get by without being "caught" but if the sender uses a carrier such as UPS or FedEx etc. then they will always be liable for duty/Vat if it's over the £18 limit as the carrier makes a nice easy profit by charging the duty collection charge as well.
[/quote]

I'll have to say everything I send costs a dollar from now on just incase.......the cost of shipping to the UK is unbeleivable as it is....they wanted $100 to ship something back for my mother while she was over here......I hope she now nows how much I spend in shipping a year on gifts back to the UK......

[mr flibble]

Hi:)
Customs officers are enforcing the laws made by parliament
they do not have much discression to let things through.
I am sure that they do all they can to catch narcotic smugglers.
They operate with VERY limited resorces !!!! [msnsad] and would get more job satisfaction catching criminals than charging £16 tax.
I suggest that people blame the law makers not the law enforcers.
The numbers of passengers entering the u.k. every day is staggering.
Customs numbers have been cut drasticaly in recent years.
The government now want to reduce their numbers again with the merger
with the inland revenue.
You may or may not know that Customs seize vastly greater amounts of drugs than the police do.The reason being that importations have not been broken down into dealer amounts.
Nobody likes paying taxes but where do you think hospitals come from.
Regards
Ian[8D]

[Matt]

As Chrizy has said above, if goods are shipped in via DHL or any of those other carriers (can't remember their names[?][?]......guess who I work for:D) and the paperwork is filled out correctly at the point of origin then customs charges can be avoided.

Regarding the administration fees, this isn't for the carriers to 'make a quick buck', but is an advancement fee on the processing of your shipment through customs when there is a shipment to be declared. Also, in order to get your shipment to you as soon as possible the carriers pay customs on your behalf and just forward this charge onto the receiver.

Regarding the point of this thread, I got caught by customs years ago coming in from Boston with loads of stuff, and like a fool had all of the receipts for the goods in my case as well, so couldn't get out of paying extra by saying that the goods were mine and I'd had them for ages.

I got whisked away to another room and held until I came up with the money to pay for the extra duty charges. I had to get someone to come over to Gatwick with the money as I didn't have any on me.

My Ma also got caught once, and they confiscated her goods AND made her pay the duty charges. She was unaware, but Customs CANNOT make you pay duty and confiscate the goods it is either one or the other!!! We had this confirmed by Customs, but couldn't do anything about that incident in the end as we had no evidence of it happening.

So...be aware

Matt

[mr flibble]

Hi Matt,:)
If goods are freely declared then duty is payable.
However if they are not declared then they are liable to confiscation AND you are liable to a fine in lieu of court proceedings.[msnsad]
Goods can be restored however for smaller offences.
Sorry to be heavy but they didn`t act illegally
Ian[msnwink]

[sandra777]

I can confirm that the above £145 limit is correct. Would like to add that Customs officers have been told they face serious disiplinary action if they don't enforce these rules to the letter.