Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

I'm thinking of buying some bits and pieces for my car from America as they seem to be much cheaper over there.

Does anyone have experience of the import process and what kind of taxes/charges are involded? Is vat payable for example?

Cheers

4x4chris

i think its a bit hit and miss, if customs get hold of it you will have to pay import tax... and possibly VAT as well?

16vmarc

My brothers Cannondale was declared as used when he shipped it over.

_RIP_

I thought I was lucky importing from Alaska. The DHL guy never asked for any cash on the doorstep (obviously ) but a week later I received an invoice from DHL asking for the duty owed

pugoetru

The legal bit goes like this
you will pay duty of X % on the purchase price PLUS 17.5% vat

plus clearance fees from the carriers co may be a few other things depends on the items!

BUT if they are low value items they may go through with no duty atall

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

What is the X % and if I asked it to be marked as used parts will this make a difference?

v8voodoo

Roughly it's a bit like this...

If it comes over via DHL, UPS etc, and it's car parts, you'll be looking at about 3.5% import duty and 17.5% VAT. To make it clear it's worked out as follows:

Parts: £200
Shipping & insurance: £80
subtotal: £280

+ 3.5% duty (£9.80): £289.80

+ 17.5% VAT (£50.72)

TOTAL COST OF PARTS, SHIPPING + IMPORT TAXES = £340.52

Hope that makes sense

Nige.

2000TLondon

The best way to avoid duty is for it to be labeled a gift, I believe.

I've just moved over to the states from London.

Sounds like there could be a business opportunity there!?!

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

Cheers v8voodoo, very clear now.

Can't believe you get charged on the shipping too.

Lee247

My other half got stung for about £120.00 in vat etc on a guitar he bought in the states

pugoetru

one word of caution regarding being marked as a gift If CUSTOMS BELIEVE IT IS NOT A GIFT they can sieze it AND THERES PRETTY MUCH NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

I have had the pleasure of customs seizing goods and it took 4 months to get them back and this was through no fault of mine

If your goods are marked as gift when they are not they WILL keep them

new or second hand you pay duty on purchase price they don't care!!

Lum

If it's marked as a gift, it means bugger all if the value of the item is over £38, you still get hit for tax.

OTOH, if you get it marked as a replacement part, you could get away with it as the VAT has already been paid (I've not tested this one, someone told me after I got hammered for charges on my replacement turbo)

Basically customs is pretty random, but your safest bet is standard post as you ALWAYS get hit if you use a courier in my experience

Little Miss WRX

Good example as that is pretty much how it works in short, I work in the international trade and have seen jusdt about everything that people try to get away with. Very rarely does anything actually work.

Labelling as a gift does not work as customs go by the declared value and shipping costs. If it is under a certain value (not sure what it is in the UK I would assume GBP1000.00?) you can declare it yourself else you are really best using a broker.

Also labelling as second hand does not always work and if they think you have undervalued it they will hammer you. Customs have their own way of working out the value of goods and they know that all the time people are trying to dupe them. You can try that at your own peril, I would heavily advise against it.

v8voodoo

Me too, that's why I've a good idea of how it all works..!

Little Miss WRX

One of the best career moves I made transferring from domestic to international. I'll never look back.

Funkii Munkii

The amount of Duty you pay is dependant on the commodity, the customs tarriff breaks "car parts" into many sub catagories so I couldn't tell you the rate you could expect to be charged I'm affraid but for engine parts it's anything between 1.7 % and 4.2 %, if you let me know what it is I can get the Duty rate for you.

Oh did I mention I work in International trade

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

Another thing to point out here - if you ask the people you buy it from to mark it as a gift, and it isnt, and customs twig, the seller can get a huge fine for avoiding duties - and ( although it doesnt happen often ) so can the buyer.

The important part about the OP's post is 'things SEEM cheaper over there'.

Customs are wise to people buying off the internet now, so are pretty hot on all the old fiddles that used to work. If you personally import from the USA anything of value, then taxes are payable, otherwise it is smuggling.

Other thing to remember - if the item is faulty or wrong, its not as easy to get sorted as if you have bought in the UK.

IMHO the only things worth importing from the USA are very cheap items ( under the duty threshold ) or very expensive things where the cost of shipping / duties can be offset by the saving. 95% of stuff ends up not being much cheaper than if you bought it in the UK, plus if it is heavy and cant be shipped airmail, then it'll go surface mail which can take up to 3 months to arrive.

For most things, the small amount you save from buying overseas is offset by the long wait, hassle if it goes wrong, not knowing exactly what its going to cost in total until it arrives etc..

NotoriousREV

I had this problem except they waited for over a month before sending the invoice. In the meantime I'd already paid the HMCE myself. Took months of telling DHL to **** off before they finally agreed to stop bothering me

Little Miss WRX

Well, technically you can do it via air, one of my clients airfreighted over rock breaker parts which aren't exactly light, but it will be at a considerable cost compared to seafreight which as you say can take up to 3 months to arrive.

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

Cheers FM,

It's a Garrett GT30. With all the add on's it works out to roughly £870, somewhat cheaper than the £1300 - £1500 odd that they seem to go for over here.

stiscooby

Not that it will help you much with what your getting but I have ordered a few things from the states and have always been charged import duty and VAT but even after this the items have always still been a fair bit cheaper than what the same item costs over here.

E.G. I got 2x 1/8th scale Nitro Trucks from the states just over a year ago total order was $939 inc shipping from the states to the UK. I then got charged just over £50 in total for import/VAT. The sender did mark it up as a "toy model kit" I suppose technically they were, but I am not sure if customs checked or not?? Anyway I still ended up saving nearly £300 in total on these two items after all costs, so was well worth doing.

There is a web site someone off here pointed me to when I was looking into doing the above, where you can go through and find the item/category which your item comes under and it will tell you what the rate will be........... I will see if I can find it, if it will be any use to you?


EDIT - Here we go, don't know if this help you but you can try - http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_c...archap?Lang=EN you need to search for the TARIC code (just hit the browse button and you can go through the different categories.

Funkii Munkii

Hi Playsatan

There is nothing in the customs tariff specifically for Turbo's or any engine part starngely, so we reckon it comes under "other,other" which carries 3.5% Duty.

All the best

FM

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

Cheers FM, time to get the credit card out.