Import tax.

[Frank S]

I am thinking of putting in an order for about $90 Aus. to Timberbits.What sort of import duty would I be liable for ?Has anyone had any experience of this, please.
F.

 

[woodyturner]

I am thinking of putting in an order for about $90 Aus. to Timberbits.What sort of import duty would I be liable for ?Has anyone had any experience of this, please.
F.

I have been dealing with Dave at Timberbits for quite a few years and have never paid any duty and had orders much bigger than yours

 

[Walter Hall]

My experience of ordering from Timberbits is the same as Woody's but in the unlikely event that the package is picked up by HMRC when it passes through customs you will be charged VAT at 20% on the value of the items. There is no import duty chargeable. The carrier will also charge an admin fee for paying the VAT.

 

[EnErY]

ill go with same comment as woodys never been called to pay anything
regards
Bill

 

[Steve Jones]

Likewise when I've ordered but I do know folks on here who have had to pay duties etc

Steve

 

[woodyturner]

You will pay duty on most American sites plus a charge of about £8 from the post office

 

[Mike.S]

... in the unlikely event that the package is picked up by HMRC when it passes through customs you will be charged VAT at 20% on the value of the items. There is no import duty chargeable. The carrier will also charge an admin fee for paying the VAT.

My son's just received a t-shirt from USA (ordered online). Original cost was $20 ish but Customs identified it and added £3 odd VAT but real killer was £8 Admin charge added by Royal Mail. The attached label said VAT was due on anything worth over £15.

 

[Gary Morris]

I think it's like when you walk through customs, the officers pick people at random. I've just received some scroll saw blades from the US. About £34.00, they were delivered as normal.
I remember another post on a very similar subject and I deduced the same.

Gary

 

[Frank S]

Thanks,guys, I shall give it a go and see what happens.
F.

 

[Neil Farrer]

Frank,

Lets start by differentiating between Import Duty and VAT.

Import duty becomes payable when the consignment is above about £135 and is a variable rate according to what it is. Currently pen parts get a taxation levy of the lower rate of 3% but dont take this for granted. If the exporter has not put the UK codes on the product which they are not bound to do, the interpretation of whats in the box is gown to the man from the revenue. However, 90 Aus dollars should avoid that. However for future information if an order exceeds this value and does become liable for import duty, this amount is added before the VAT Levy, so you pay 20% VAT on the 3% or more import duty. Fair isn't it?

If you purchase $90 AUD then Timberits will ship it free by snail mail and it will originate from Singapore and is unlikely but not certain to escape the revenue. However, if you should, and I used to, order frequently more than the $200 AUD limit, timberbits will ship it TNT - this is not a good idea, or it wasn't after the latter part of last year when TNT had a visitation from the HMRC. TNT are a trusted partner (of HMRC) and are, as the name implies, trusted to collect the duty on behalf of the HMRC. Ouch that hurt when they sent me back dated bills to the tune of £400. I had happily got away with it for a couple of years and then the tax man visits TNT, so now I don't use the free airfreight shipping over £200 AUD purchase price, I buy around £100 at a time and get it surface mail. By the way, the price that the Royal Mail will charge for collecting a customs payment is nothing - TNT charge £35 a time!

Best of luck.

Neil

 

[Walter Hall]

By the way, the price that the Royal Mail will charge for collecting a customs payment is nothing - TNT charge £35 a time!

Best of luck.

Neil

Not so Neil; Royal mail charge a handling fee as stated on their website:

http://www.royalmail.com/customer-servi ... ges-to-pay

 

[woodyturner]

Sorry Neil got to disagree with you on that one they charged me £8 handling fee twice for packages from USA

 

[Neil Farrer]

By the way, the price that the Royal Mail will charge for collecting a customs payment is nothing - TNT charge £35 a time!

Best of luck.

Neil

Not so Neil; Royal mail charge a handling fee as stated on their website:

http://www.royalmail.com/customer-servi ... ges-to-pay

You're right Walter, bad choice of words on my part - what I meant to say was if you think £8 is enough, TNT charges £35!

 

[Walter Hall]

Ah right, I see what you meant. Royal Mail's £8 is nothing compared to what TNT charge. True enough.

 

[andersonec]

Not exactly timber, well maybe it is, I used to have a retail plant nursery and I imported Japanese Maples from New Zealand, bearing in mind the grower had been growing these for about five years, started by grafting them, grown on for approx four years, prune them, lift them, clean and dip the roots, package them in a large box (coffin they called it) and ship them to England, I used to spend about £1,600.
To get these things out of the airport at Heathrow added another four hundred pounds, taxes 'handling fee' etc. etc. one quarter the price just to get them out of the airport and into my van and they did next to nothing except fill in some forms, I then had to pay DEFRA to inspect them, uninvited I might add.

Andy

 

[Melinda_dd]

Never paid extra for timberbits... lots of orders received