VAT on Royal Mail import charges?

[KevM]

I've just paid £12.47 (£8.00 Royal Mail fee plus £4.47 VAT) on a package from the US.

My wife paid $26.42 for the goods on 5th July, which translates to about £15.40 using the 0.583 USD/GBP rate from xe.com on the date of payment.

So, it's a fair cop the import exceeded the £15 threshold, by less than 3%.

VAT at 20% on imported goods, fair enough.

£8 to collect the payment - and then to charge VAT on the value of the goods and the fee - ouch!

I've been lucky with import charges in the past, but very few seem to slip through the net these days. Obviously there's no leeway applied on the threshold, or it's less than 3%.

 

[andersonec]

Did you not get hit with their infamous 'Handling Charge?'

Royal mail are the pit's. I made a little six inch square pocket watch display box, now having spent all that time making the thing I made sure it was well packaged, four layers of bubble wrap, two layers of corrugated cardboard all in a cardboard box, next day delivery and insured at a cost of £13,,,yes you guessed it, damaged in transit, the claim resulted in a standard letter stating it was not packaged well enough, I up-scaled it to the next level and got the same response so I wrote a nice long letter to the CEO (Moya Greene) lo and behold I got my claim sorted.

I recently made some Swagger Stick Display stands and sent them by courier, large box, next day delivery, £9. They picked it up from me (Lincolnshire) at about 4 pm, I got a phone call at 10.30 the next morning to say they had arrived,,Chatham Kent!!!! safe and sound.

Andy

 

[rafezetter]

If I had written to Moya Green each time I had an issue with RM and their claim system - she and I would be on first name terms and xmas card lists.

Frankly I think it's **** that it takes that level of upscaling your complaint to get it done - but then I guess they make even more money then on the re-send fees and the "we won't pay you" losses.

I made my feelings clear on another thread - many parts of RM is both corrupt and broken - about the only thing that does work is the frontline PO people (most of the time).

 

[JimB]

I really wish I hadn't read this post. We don't pay GST (our equivalent of VAT and it's only 10%) on imports costing less than $1000 I think the figure is. The argument is that for such small amounts it would cost more to collect than it's worth. However, if collection fees are charged that argument might fall down.

 

[JimB]

On the packaging, we have recently had a small consignment (about 3 cubic metres) of family memorabilia shipped from the UK. It contained a couple of items of furniture plus lots of glass, picture frames vases etc. I didn't insure it as it really had little value except to us. It arrived safely with not one item damaged, and that's after a 12,000 miles trip by sea and being transshipped somewhere in the far east.

 

[rafezetter]

I really wish I hadn't read this post. We don't pay GST (our equivalent of VAT and it's only 10%) on imports costing less than $1000 I think the figure is. The argument is that for such small amounts it would cost more to collect than it's worth. However, if collection fees are charged that argument might fall down.

Why do you wish you hadn't read it? Surely it means Aussies enjoy a better system over there...

What really gets my blood boiling is the small guy gets hit with VAT on a paultry sum, because heaven forbid we take advantage of the GPB / dollar / yen / whatever exchange rate and buy from abroad direct, while the 1% rich pay nowhere near what they are supposed to amounting to billions....

 

[JimB]

Rafezetter, the reason I wish I hadn't read it is that we now have a government that is searching for money and I thought the exemption was safe. Now I realise it isn't and I've something else to worry about. Yes our system is better than yours and probably means that even with postage I can buy quality UK made tools cheaper than you can.

 

[sneggysteve]

If anyone wants full details on vat and import charges then see the HMRC Public Notice 143. Royal Mail charge details are shown in section 3.5. You should bear in mind that if goods are sent by the other couriers (eg TNT / DHL etc) then their charges are much higher. Post the link below into google for details.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPort ... e=document

 

[devonwoody]

It was all a political move by a previous government to deter imports on items from the USA in particular and the internet sales expansion. We used to import many things from the states ten years ago via internet at prices 50% less than retail here. So they were RM controllers and set the thing up.
At my age I don't buy things much more, I am full up. :wink:

 

[JimB]

Retailers over here keep whinging about unfair competition but so far it's always been pointed out (by woodworkers) that they would buy from the home retailers if the markups weren't so high and clearly unrelated to the overseas price.

 

[Harbo]

Not just tools, JC did a review on the American Corvette Stingray - $34000, £64000 over here - that's a lot of transport costs?

Rod