# Import taxes



## Elliott19864 (May 11, 2008)

I am going to buy something from the states, it's around $900 which equates to around about £550.

What would the tax be? And what's the rules on gifts? I have heard of people being made to pay tax on items labelled as gifts.


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## markbob917 (Aug 31, 2010)

Sister lives in the states and has regularly sent stuff over we have only ever been charged once and it worked out to be £40 on a package that was probably worth £70 but i think that was c&e over estimating. Should be something on customs website or gov.uk maybe?


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## awallacee30 (May 4, 2011)

Check 2.2 and 2.5 on this link...

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014&propertyType=document

A lot of it will depend on how the invoice is interpreted this end. My advice would be to have it marked as gift with a nominal value of $50. You're likely to get charged VAT plus a clearance fee but that will take sting out of paying the full Duty/VAT on £550. Bearing in mind that Duty will also be charged on the VAT and the freight charges so it pays to give it a low value if you can.

Trying to convince the company overseas to knock you up this kind of invoice may prove difficult though.

Hope that helps


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## 335dAND110XS (Dec 17, 2010)

It's a tough one - I've had loads of things sent without extra charges but then got stung badly on an RC car - cost about £100, got charged over £40!!

Currently waiting for a torch from Hong Kong - it was a bit cheaper to buy from there (£58 instead of £80ish here) but if I get clobbered, it'll probably be more! A bit of a lottery IMO.


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

my brother got a package from the us, it was worth £800 (film props..) and it got hit with another £85 worth of customs charges.
that was about 5 years ago.


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## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

You'll get import duty, vat and a £14 handling fee from parcelforce or similar.

Vat is paid on the whole value of the invoice Inc shipping.


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## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

ive not done it for years, last one i did was 22% (vat & duty) + £10 paperwork. but obviously that was 17.5% vat

use to order all my detailing stuff from the states via autopia, had half a dozen or so order around the £100-£200 mark, and never got stung on any of them


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