Import tax question

[Whiternoise]

I'm going to order a DS Lite Navy from a shop in the East somewhere, it costs about 160USD, so 80 quid seems a nice price. Not including postage, will i have to pay any customs charges? - i'm also ordering a flash cart, so i don't know whether that adds any extra.

Thanks

[ikonia]

you SHOULD pay import tax on it of around £20-30

[Whiternoise]

Ok.. i suppose that the way that the postage works (they ship with a number of companies, the most prominent being FedEx and DHL) - the postage is about £20, and they must have to fill in forms and whatnot which adds in the tax (VAT?)

[ikonia]

no, that won't include tax.

Most postage couriers send you a letter after delivery or before delivery telling you the tax you will have to pay to get the item

They normally pay the tax and then don't deliver the item until you pay it (or charge you at the door step) others deilver it then add the tax on post delivery and send you a seperate bill.

Its hard to know what the tax will be so its never included in the shipping.

[kalniel]

They may fill in the forms, if you give them the value of the item and type of item. Otherwise customs will bill your receiving address. I think you're exempt custom duty, but will still have to pay the 17.5% VAT.

[ikonia]

why would he be exempt from customs duty ?

[Stoo]

Because duty doesn't apply to that sort of item.

Most of the time it's just VAT + handling on electronics items.

[Whiternoise]

So i just pay the asking+postage?

Great

(I think VAT is included in the price)

[ikonia]

asking+postage+vat

from what stu's just said.

Stu could you define "this type of thing"

as I've paid import tax on "electronic" items.

[Clunk]

I also paid vat+ import duty on a Sub I imported from the US. Overall it worked out at roughly 21.5% on top.

[Saracen]

Because duty doesn't apply to that sort of item.

Most of the time it's just VAT + handling on electronics items.

There's a hugely complex array of rates (by which I mean many thousands of rates), and the rate that applies to a given product can be quite difficult to establish. The only way to really be sure is to get a ruling from Customs.

For instance, digial cameras are duty free, while 35mm SLRs are charged at 4.9%, and video cameras can be up to 14%. A display that only takes a computer signal is 0%, but one that takes a video signal is 14%. Many computers are 0%, but some types are 3.7%. Or at least, those were the relevant rates on the last summary I got.


With any given item, there's a decent chance a one-off will slip in, but if it doesn't, you take the value of the goods, add any shipping charges and then charge duty (at the relevant percentage) to that total. Then, with that new figure, add VAT (usually 17.5%), and then add a flat-rate handling fee to that.

A common rate for many items is about 4%, so a fair guess would be :-

- goods £80 (assuming that that includes shipping, etc).
- duty 4% = £3.20 = 83.20.
- VAT = 17.5% = £14.56 = £97.76.
- handling charge (approx £15) = £112.76.

But the actual total cost could be a fair bit above, or below, that figure.

[Skie]

Consoles are usually 4%

While its true computers are 0%, consoles aren't considered computers (even though sony are always trying to get the EU to recognise the playstation as one, heh)

One oddity though is that sometimes you can get $200 'gifts' through without any charges. I bought a Roomba from ebay and didn't have to pay a penny extra.

[Whiternoise]

Ok, i'm going to order it tonight.. (adding a DS Lite in, so that bumps the price up to about 156GBP including Fedex delivery. So hopefully the most i'll have to pay is about 200.. (bit annoying but what the hey).

[MD]

it will be 22.5% now all in on top of the value. Depends if the store markets the market price or the trade price, I beleive they have to put the cost of replacement, so you might be better off asking if they can mark the trade value on it.

Matt.

[kalniel]

Consoles are usually 4%

While its true computers are 0%, consoles aren't considered computers (even though sony are always trying to get the EU to recognise the playstation as one, heh)

It *used* to be the case that consoles paid customs duty. This is what Sony objected to and tried to claim that the playstation was a personal computer. They lost, but I think consoles were changed to by 0 duty vat recently as well (as I think the Sony case was only about back payments).

I am guessing that the DS-lite is classed as a console, but that was abitary by myself - they might be classed as a hand held entertainment device as far as I know

[Whiternoise]

Is there a big DB somewhere with all the rates on?

I checked the customs site and that just says call em up (0845 number - no thanks!)