Robbed by H.M. Customs

[vanman]

I've just recieved a beautiful Burke & James 5x7 (with reducing back) from a vendor in the U.S. I don't mind paying V.A.T. on the camera if I have to BUT the Customs charged V.A.T. on the postage and packing (which came to $90-60). This is low, sneaky and an overall vile practice. Beware when importing goods from outside the Common Market despite the fact that the exchange rate is in our favour.
Vanman.

[Joanna Carter]

Yes, not nice but, from the following HMRC document :

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPort ... P123_10306

Inclusion of postage charges in customs value - Article 165 of EC Regulation (EEC) 2454/93 requires all postal charges levied up to the place of destination in respect of goods sent by post to be included in the customs value of the goods. However, this does not apply to gifts other than those sent by Express Mail Services.

I've just got stung myself, this time

[keffs]

...This is low, sneaky and an overall vile practice.....

Wouldn't it be just great if we didn't have to pay taxes. Just imagine it ......

Steve

[Richard Kelham]

Wouldn't it be just great if we didn't have to pay taxes. Just imagine it ......

Yeah, just think: no army or police to protect us from our enemies, no roads or other transport infrastructure, no free schooling, no free health care, no unemployment benefit. No civilisation. Wonderful.


Richard

[vanman]

Vanman didn't write "wouldn't it be great if there were no taxes" read it again. I stated that I didn't mind paying V.A.T. on the camera if I had to. All that I'm objecting to is being ripped off by Customs by being charged on the postage and packing for this item. The packing was quite substantial and the item arrived in perfect condition thanks to this, it must have cost a fair amount BUT all I'm going to do with it now is dump it. It's also my understanding that V.A.T. is a Eurotax and mainly goes towards subsidising peasent farmers in France, Spain and Italy so that they can dump their cheap inferior products onto our supermarket shelves! V.A.T. dosn't pay for the police, that comes out of your Council Tax and Income Taxes.
vanman.

[IanG]

Vanman, I think the misquote was a board glitch.

You didn't just pay VAT you also paid import duty, 5% and then 17% VAT and I argued like hell with Customs & Excise when I bought my first 10x8 Agfa Ansco about the tax being added to the postage.

You were lucky though when I bought my second 10x8 camera the woman selling it thought it a good idea to put a higher value on the customs documents etc for insurance reasons, in case it was lost in transit. I had to pay tax on the extra $500 she added !!!!!!

Ian

[keffs]

Vanman didn't write "wouldn't it be great if there were no taxes" read it again........

It's also my understanding that V.A.T. is a Eurotax and mainly goes towards subsidising peasent farmers in France, Spain and Italy so that they can dump their cheap inferior products onto our supermarket shelves! V.A.T. dosn't pay for the police, that comes out of your Council Tax and Income Taxes.

Hey, chill a little - notice the smiley!. For what its worth, I do agree that you never wrote the above. Did I say you did? I had no intention of starting a tax debate, but ....

All governmant taxes goes into one big pot (AKA G Brown's back pocket, acording to the Daily Mail etc.), and then various payments made from there. So, yes it does pay for Police, roads, education, etc.

What is a Eurotax? The only connection with Europe that VAT has, is that, to simplify taxation throughout Europe, VAT replaced purchase tax in the UK. So, no, VAT is not levied by anybody other than the UK government. And VAT is payable on postage here.

Regarding the rather racist remarks about some of our fellow europeans, I must admit I do enjoy the odd glass of French, Italian or Spanish wine. Especially with French or Italian cheeses. Or some English Stilton with Portugese port. I am so glad that you are making a contribution so it does not cost me as much

Steve

[Tim Myers]

It is currently UK law that postage services provided directly by Royal Mail are VAT exempt - however those provided by any other supplier are standard-rated. You may not agree with this - but it is the UK law.

However (and in this case somewhat ironically), charging VAT on postage is against European Law, and the EU are aparently currently challenging the UK over their charging of VAT on postage.

[vanman]

Thanks Tim, thats a really interesting bit of info. If I imported goods from inside the E.E.C. would I have to pay V.A.T. on the postage then? Say Photoimpex for instance.
Vanman.

[Tim Myers]

EC shipments work in a different way; VAT is collected in the goods' country of origin, supplied at the VAT rate of the originating country. There should be no customs inspections / fees for intra-EU shipments.

I suppose it may be theoretically plausible that HMRC could extract their pound of flesh from this type of shipment, they're ruthless and would bankrupt you for a penny if needs be...

[IanG]

Tim's right I buy almost all of my film for Germany, its cheaper than the associated UK supplier and postage & packaging is less too.

The VAT is paid at source so there's no added charges.

But regardless of the extra VAT, and the import duty, buying from the US is easy and it's a bit like cherry picking, plenty to go for.

Ian

[Joanna Carter]

Thanks Tim, thats a really interesting bit of info. If I imported goods from inside the E.E.C. would I have to pay V.A.T. on the postage then? Say Photoimpex for instance.
Vanman.

Take a look at the HMRC document I linked to; you wil see that charges only apply to goods from outside the EC.

[buze]

First negociate with the seller of goods so he marks it down at about $50 on the export slip. Otherwise you get hit by Custons, VAT, and "administrative fees" from parcelforce (who hold your parcel hostage)
If the marked value is $50, the parcel passes between the links of the net. I know, I had a parcell worth $300 arrive like that this morning.

Otherwise, /anything/ you buy from the US gets snatched.

The sad thing is that you can order 1/2 ton of stuff from china and it will never be taxed like that...

[vanman]

Thanks buze, I've done that before but this bloke was understandably nervous and insured the parcel for his estimate of it's full value. I think that I still got a bargain. It was the VAT on the P&P that wound me up.
vanman.

[Tim Myers]

First negociate with the seller of goods so he marks it down at about $50 on the export slip.

That's fraud.