Custom Tax Duty

[Powerbus786]

Hi everyone, just quick question regarding Buying or Selling Cues overseas, do we as a U.K. buyers or sellers have to pay any form of tax, or is it applied to certain countries only, confused.?

[SouthPaw]

I believe you may have pay custom tax when buying from certain countries only, the seller as a rule is not taxed as far as i know...

[RGCirencester]

Buyers in the UK will have to pay import vat.
The threshold for a purchase is £15, I believe it is more for a gift.
Royal mail / couriers will also add on say £10 or something extortionate for the privilege of collecting the tax if it is not paid in advance.
You can be lucky and get away with it and lots of company's in China in particular Mark items as gifts when they shouldn't.

Buying from and sending to Europe should not incur any tax.

[Alex2004]

Hi,
If the country you are buying of selling is part of the European union there is no VAT or import duty to be paid.
If exporting to another country that is not part of the EU the customer pays the duties that is based upon the commercial invoice amount declared.
When importing from a non EU country you will be liable for VAT at 20% of the declared invoice amount + 2.7% duty and approx £10-£15 admin fee depending on who the carrier is.
Hope this helps

[RGCirencester]

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/tax-and-duty.htm

Official page

Its the couriers take that really hurts on low cost items
Day The total is £16 they add 10-15 on for the privilege of collecting 3...

[mythman69]

Here in Australia we only have to pay GST tax on items imported worth more than AU$1,000 . . .

: )

[Terry Davidson]

In Canada, I will pay approx 25% in customs duty, tax (GST) and courier 'admin fee'. I always ask the seller to declare a lower value and pack the item well.

Weirdly enough, if it's shipped via post and I get it via Canada Post sometimes I don't pay anything but with the couriers I pay all the time and they never miss, even if the package is valued below $50.

Terry

[jim evans]

ive just paid £28 vat and import duty on some wood £150 worth ,it goes on value of items imported

[ADR147]

Hi,
If the country you are buying of selling is part of the European union there is no VAT or import duty to be paid.
If exporting to another country that is not part of the EU the customer pays the duties that is based upon the commercial invoice amount declared.
When importing from a non EU country you will be liable for VAT at 20% of the declared invoice amount + 2.7% duty and approx £10-£15 admin fee depending on who the carrier is.
Hope this helps

this is bang on, and you should make sure you do pay it because the punishments for getting caught dodging import duties are very harsh indeed. i have a friend who served 3 of 5 years for importing 25 playstations and not paying tax on them!

[Maverick54]

Bought a couple of cue sets from China. Some of the sellers early customers had left bad feedback and complained they had been required to pay tax on receipt of the goods. The seller added a note to his listings to state he had now resolved the problem and all later feedback from UK customers was fine.

This convinced me it was OK to purchase. When items arrived they had labels on them stating the package contained samples only and I didn't have to pay a penny.

[ADR147]

Bought a couple of cue sets from China. Some of the sellers early customers had left bad feedback and complained they had been required to pay tax on receipt of the goods. The seller added a note to his listings to state he had now resolved the problem and all later feedback from UK customers was fine.

This convinced me it was OK to purchase. When items arrived they had labels on them stating the package contained samples only and I didn't have to pay a penny.

yes but this is tax fraud and if caught even once you are in a world of ****e!

[mythman69]

this is bang on, and you should make sure you do pay it because the punishments for getting caught dodging import duties are very harsh indeed. i have a friend who served 3 of 5 years for importing 25 playstations and not paying tax on them!

Wow - that is very harsh!

[ADR147]

Wow - that is very harsh!

sadly in this country you can abuse a child and get 18 months but you steal £500 from the taxman you will get 2 years minimum!

[RGCirencester]

yes but this is tax fraud and if caught even once you are in a world of ****e!

Yep I don't trust those Chinese sites that Mark things as gifts either.
They might get away with it but it's still illegal.

A guy at work bought all his camera stuff from China. Ignoring all the problems with warranties when you buy grey imports I wouldn't do it. He wouldn't believe me when I told him it was illegal, said he'd never been charged tax.
In my book if you know they are trying to get away with it when you order surely your implicated?
Ordered some things from hobbyking China recently. Stuck to the £15 limit. When it arrived it was marked as a gift but if I ordered again I'd still stop at the 15 limit not the higher gift limit or expect to pay tax. They shouldn't be making purchases as gifts.

[ADR147]

Yep I don't trust those Chinese sites that Mark things as gifts either.
They might get away with it but it's still illegal.

A guy at work bought all his camera stuff from China. Ignoring all the problems with warranties when you buy grey imports I wouldn't do it. He wouldn't believe me when I told him it was illegal, said he'd never been charged tax.
In my book if you know they are trying to get away with it when you order surely your implicated?
Ordered some things from hobbyking China recently. Stuck to the £15 limit. When it arrived it was marked as a gift but if I ordered again I'd still stop at the 15 limit not the higher gift limit or expect to pay tax. They shouldn't be making purchases as gifts.

I will send things as gift to people i know etc, ie from the forum but i would not risk importing cues as gifts!