Import Tax

[taxdodge]

Hi!

Well, judging by the nick, yes I am trying to dodge import tax.

I am getting 6 Sony psps sent over from the USA. They are actually coming from a relatives home by FedEX (Not a business), and they are even being wrapped for xmas (as they are xmas pressies).

But I dont really fancy paying import tax etc. Now I will be putting the commodity code on the side of the box, which I believe to be 8471 3000 00 (Small Portables including laptops and notebooks) or possibly code 8524 9910 00 (Computer Games).

The box will be marked as 'Personal Christmas Gifts' and even each item is wrapped and labelled to the recipient of the pressie!

Am I still due to pay import tax on personal gifts? I have looked at the customs and excise website and now feel like a Barrister or Judge! After reading all that I could not find anything applicable, it certainly does not deserve an award for plain speak anyway.

Any clues?
Thanks

[5lab]

yes you should be. importing £1000 of electricals, you should be pushed for both import tax and vat

[directhex]

they don't hold back - if it costs more than £17 it's subject to taxes, whether it's gift-wrapped or not.

[eldren]

Heh, nice username. Alternatively, if one declared a bogus package value, would they be allowed to open gift-wrapped items if they suspected the value were false? Or do they x-ray packages to determine contents?

[schmunk]

Heh, nice username. Alternatively, if one declared a bogus package value, would they be allowed to open gift-wrapped items if they suspected the value were false? Or do they x-ray packages to determine contents?

Yes and yes.

[Oakey]

Of all the people you really don't want to mess with, Customs and Excise is one of them.

Anything over the value of £18 is subject to Duty and VAT. Gifts are exempt if they're less than £36

You can't pretend that the contents are worth less than they really are otherwise you aren't going to have any insurance on shipping. So effectively all your PSP's could get stolen, and you'd get a measly sum back because you claimed the contents were worth less than £36 each.

by the way, what you're wanting to do has a name, well a few actually; smuggling and tax evasion / fraud.

[schmunk]

(former) C&E are very trigger-happy with litigation, unlike (former) IR.

[mattyp]

As above over £18 is subject to VAT and over £36 for a gift.

Also you will have to pay any duty on top, if those goods have a duty attached to them.

As well as courier fees for being so kind as to pass the parcel through customs and pick it up from them(generally about £10)

[taxdodge]

Thanks for all your replies. I took the liberty of contacting Customs And Excise this morning. As they are christmas presents, the only thing I will have to pay is VAT on the declared value as they are Christmas gifts.

I found some useful information here:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...ument#P66_5556

Which states:
2.7 Do multi-gift consignments qualify for the customs duty waiver and import VAT relief?
(i) Where a package contains gifts that are clearly intended for several people eg members of the same family, the waiver of customs duty, and relief from excise duty and import VAT applies to each individual person provided each recipient's goods are:

individually wrapped and
specifically addressed to them and
declared separately on the customs declaration
within the allowances specified.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Each item is already gift wrapped.
Each item is 'refubished' purchased from an Electrical secondhand merchant, including receipt.
The customs declaration will be completed.
The individual value declaration at $95 per unit.

So as they are not within the allowances, I only have to pay VAT on the individual declared item.

And for anyone elses future reference, the PSP commodity code for importing is: 9504 9090 00 (games), as confirmed by 3 Customs and Excise personnell.