Customs duty

[Bodger7]

Hi
I am thinking about placing an order with Timberbits in Australia and I am wondering what recent experiences people have had in relation to import taxes etc. I want to buy a chuck and large Cole/bowl jaws so the cost will be fairly high and the parcel will weigh about 6 or 7 kilo's. I read a thread from 7 years ago but I suspect that things may have changed since then. Any recent information would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Richard_C]

I recently cashed in some Cathay Pacific air miles, soon to expire and not very likely to use them on flights. My wife ordered a fit watch, UK retail about £90, me some fancy headphones UK retail about £110. Not the sort of thing we would normally buy but hey, free. Both sent from Hong Kong and delivered via the Post Office. They asked for email address as part of the process and clearly said import duty is a matter for the recipient.

3 weeks later hers arrived unheralded and with no complication or cost.

I got an email about mine, from Post Office acting as 'import agent' saying duty was due and had to be paid before they would deliver it. Process was painless, online reference number paid by card. Roughly £10 duty and £8 handling fee total £18. Arrived just 2 days after I paid up so swift.

No idea why we were charged for one not the other, both similar in that they were electronics, or how that £10 was worked out. That's what it was.

Royal Mail have info here:

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default ... n-2017.pdf

HMRC here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... e-uk-or-eu

Looking at the HMRC guidance, you could probably 'guess' the VAT reasonably well, but for customs duty if its over £135 - no idea but I expect you can find it somewhere on the HMRC pages. The £8 is a flat fee.

Value Added Tax (VAT) – Import VAT is charged at the same rate that applies to similar goods sold in the UK and applies to commercial goods over £15 in value, and on gifts that are over £39 in value.

The amount of Customs Duty charged will depend on the type of goods imported and the value stated on the customs declaration CN22/CN23 (converted to pound sterling using the rates of exchange for the month of importation as shown on the HMRC website).

The percentage varies depending on the type of goods and their country of origin. Duty is charged on:

the price paid for the goods, plus
any local sales taxes, plus
postage, packing and insurance

 

[sneggysteve]

Summarised perfectly Richard_C. I used to work for HMRC International Trade dealing with such enquiries. With the volume of parcels going through the system, some do get through without charge even if it is due.

The same charges apply if delivered by DHL / Fedex etc. etc. but they charge a higher fee, as opposed to £8 by Royal Mail, to clear customs on your behalf.

Here is a link to establish commodity codes and then duty rates - not an easy task I must say. https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff

Of course. this may be further complicated after Brexit?

 

[LaymarCrafts]

Bodger one assumes it is the Vicmarc? Chuck you are considering? are these not already available in the UK.

The Vicmarc website would list all its overseas agents.

 

[Sideways]

I believe that Simon Hope took over distributing Vicmarc

 

[Lonsdale73]

It's years ago now but I ordered something from the States. Even with tax and ID added it still worked out significantly cheaper than buying in the UK. Opened the door to the postie one morning who thrust the weighty package into my eager hands and off he went without asking for a single penny. "Bonus", I thought then opened the package to find they'd sent the wrong adaptor. "No problem," they said."We'll send the right one right away, don't worry about sending the other back to us." Week or so later, the postie's back with another - not so weighy package - worth maybe 4 or 5% of the first one, if that, and a bill for £18, about the same price as the item would have cost! £18 was still a lot less than I'd expected to pay on the original order so I was still in pocket but I was baffled how the dearer and bulkier package 'slipped through' without charge yet the lighter and (technically) free item incurred a charge. I still have all three items.

 

[J-G]

...me some fancy headphones UK retail about £110.
[...]

Adding VAT to £110 you get £132 add to that the £8 handling charge and you're already over the £135 limit. Then there's duty .....

At £90 the VAT only takes you to £108 so is still below the limit.

Oh yes.. They add the handling charge and Duty before calculating the VAT which is on the gross amount !!

Last year I bought a telephoto lens from Japan for about £240 and had this same issue BUT customs decreed that I'd paid about £400 so charged me VAT and Duty on their imagined figure !!!

I did complain and got a refund but preparing the rebuttal took quite some time with scanning documents etc. but it is always worth checking the customs documents in case they have inflated the cost.

 

[Richard_C]

Yes, I said UK retail about £110, so that would have been with the VAT ....

So it attracted VAT but not customs duty as far as I can see.,

 

[Bodger7]

Thank you to everybody who has replied. I have looked at the HMRC site and found it rather difficult to follow but I will persevere with it. Yes it is the Vicmarc 120 chuck that I would like to buy. Price in Australia A$315 including delivery which equates to about £160. Price in UK £245 plus delivery which leaves about £85 plus delivery costs difference. I appreciate that taxes could swallow that up so it may not be financially viable. If that proves to be the case then I will rethink my plans. My own experience of buying abroad is limited to very small purchases from China when I suspect that the value was so small that tax was either not payable or not worth the bother of collecting.
I look forward to hearing any other experiences.

 

[SVB]

Can’t add to the import duty debate but would say that if we are able, given current climate, buying local via UK dealers does feel like the right and good thing to do. May be a couple of quid more but long term is a worthwhile collective investment.

 

[Richard_C]

Don't forget the % your card issuer will add for foreign exchange transaction. typically 2.75 to 3%. Your £160 likely to become £170 at real exchange rates and with card fee, so the gap narrows.

 

[Max Power]

I recently bought the Vicmark 150 chuck and a couple of sets of extra Jaws from Timberbits as it wasn't available over here. Vat was around £80 and import duty £15 ish, payable to DHL once it was in the country

 

[Bodger7]

Thank you Max. That pretty well confirms my guesstimate as to the likely charges. It looks as if the fairly relaxed situation of a few years ago has unfortunately changed.
Richard, as far as bank charges are concerned my bank (Nationwide) do not charge me anything for foreign transactions using a credit card.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

We have taken delivery of a sunsail - a huge triangular canvas shade thing that are all the rage in oz, apparently. The duty on that was about €30, from australia, but I have no idea of the purchase price as it was not mine - i'm just helping out a friend.
Something like this:

Not sure if I am helping or not...

 

[Bodger7]

Well I now have the answers. I placed the order with Timberbits and the total cost for a VM120 chuck, 485mm bowl (Cole) jaws, a set of clamps for using the jaws for off centre turning and a spare set of jaw screws was £271.02 including shipping. I had to pay £73.37 to DHL to cover taxes and their fee but I haven't yet got the breakdown of those costs. Enquiries of HMRC reveal that items worth less than £15 attract no import duty or VAT, items worth more than £135 attract import duty (at 1.2% for these particular items but rates vary depending on the goods imported) and all items costing over £15 are liable to VAT at 20%. I tried to have the items separately assessed but HMRC told me that it is the value of the entire package that decides the rates of taxation which seems fairly logical. I believe that the value for HMRC purposes will include delivery charges.
My order was placed on 4th May. It was dispatched on 5th May and travelled from Sydney via Singapore and Leipzig to Heathrow and then to my local sorting office before delivery to me. The estimated delivery date was 12th May but it arrived by 11 am on the 11th. So 7 days from order to delivery. I was impressed.

 

[Deadeye]

1.2% duty is very good.
Part of the skill is in picking the most favourable, yet defensible category.
The wooden elephant I imported 30 years ago could have been "wooden items other", "artworks", "furniture", etc. (or similar) and the duty ranged from 0% to 40%.

 

[Richard_C]

For any of you fascinated by such things, the Government has just published its tariff rules post transition, so imposed from 1 January 2021.

https://www.gov.uk/check-tariffs-1-january-2021

If we don't get a trade deal with the EU - and it looks like the Government is setting the negotiations up to fail with blame attached to "them" - anything from the EU will attract global tariffs. Things like drills 2.0% which won't add much to the sorts of thing we buy.

"Work Holders for lathes" - presumably that includes chucks - drops from 1.2% to 0%, you will be ecstatic to learn that tariffs for the import of live asses (animals, not posteriors) will be simplified. I can't understand why the duty for an ass will be 6% and a mule 10%, I'm sure someone does. Meanwhile live domestic buffalo pay duty at 10% plus £77 per 100Kg. Better get yours on a diet if you plan to ship them in next year.

Why does it have to be so complicated? Does the Department of Trade have scores of people working on each group of imports? Do they get back from the pub after Friday lunch and say - "hey, let's have a laugh and make people weigh their buffalo to work out the duty".

 

[triker64]

You obviously do not work in the civil service, there is only a skeleton staff on Friday and no boses either. So yes daft rules can sneek in but if you look they have just used an old policy and updated it.