Taxed for 2 CDs from the US!!
 

Just got delivery of 2 CD's and was charged £18.70 for tax!!!

The CD's were only about $15 a piece.

Is this normal??

Only normal if you get caught.

That's some bad luck.

A mate of mine bought a leather jacket from US ebay and he was hit with a higher tax bill than he paid for the jacket.

I was once taxed for a CD i bought, but it was only about £2 I think. I've had other cd's from the US and not been taxed so your situation confuses me a little (easily done!)

You have been over taxed. They have converted it wrong. You can call customs and excise and have forms sent out and claim the money back. Record names and times of all phone calls.

I did it. It takes time but it's your money. Mine was a value of $100 NZ dollars but they converted it as US dollars so it was way out.

Have a look here.

http://www.sloanefox.freeserve.co.uk/importukduty.htm

By the calculations on that website and assuming you paid around a fiver postage, with an exchange rate of about 1.8 USD to the pound:

Total payment by you = £21.76
Import tax @10% = £2.18
VAT @17.5% = £4.19

Therefore your total tax is around £6.40. (import tax + VAT)

Note i've guessed the import tax rate - I think I've guessed on the high side.

As taken from here(see section 3.3 Can I get relief from duty or VAT on any goods?)


You should have only been taxed IF the value is over £18 ($32.64). This figure is EXCLUDING DELIVERY.

Suggest you speak to C&E.

The bailiffs popped round when I didnt pay the VAT on a chip I bought in the US.

I forgot to bring it home, and my Dad (who lives out there) posted it to me.

My mum was not pleased, but I was only 12 at the time, and £13 was a lot of money to me!

Damo

For future reference - get them sent individually. It'll cost slightly more in postage but as they are individually worth less than 18GBP you will not get taxed on them - same thing as CDWow do when you order multiple discs.