Overseas purchase

[Bill Reed]

Would any one know if this purchase will get Tax or Duty and Handling?

Its from china and 5 small PCB`s , Bill is in £`s and £15.98p

Shipping options, DHL £13 and £11 for 2-4 and 4-6 days... FedEx £8 for 6-8 days OR Royal mail air mail £4 for 12-16 days

Main question as above what extra`s will I get charged?

Secondly I am in no rush at, willing to wait for RM option BUT is that a good service? are courier better option? Would use FedEx if so.

Any info or recs would be brill, Thanks

[jrman]

Unlikely you will get hit for Duty (value too small) but you likely will and should expect to pay UKVAT (20%). The cut off point for no VAT is around £15 including shipping. The handling charge will be subject to the shipping option chosen. I think the days of no UKVAT on Chinese sourced goods has gone.

Edited By jrman on 13/01/2021 16:14:41

[Nigel R]

Cut off point for no VAT was £15, now there is no cut off point. You always pay VAT.

Legally, HMRC position is that your seller has already had to register with HMRC for VAT and already has charged you for it; if they have not they cannot sell into the UK.

Best of luck working out what will actually happen.

 

Edited By Nigel R on 13/01/2021 16:25:09

[Mike T]

Yes, the old £15 'small fry' concession has been eliminated. While bigger suppliers like Aliexpress and Banggood may play ball, I suspect that at some point, some poor sod is going to pay "VAT" to an ebay supplier, then get hit by a bill from RM/DHL/whoever because there is no record of any tax having been remitted!

[Bill Reed]

I did recall,somewhere on the site saying " vat paid by us" but I thought that nonsense but it could be correct then.

Any views on best carrier, RM or courier? in no rush BUT would like to think it will not get lost! RM at moment not great in my area.

[Brian Sweeting 1]

RM will charge an £8 handling charge on top.

[Nigel R]

If the supplier has genuinely registered for VAT there should be no customs handling, the whole point is to offload the handling problem on to the supplier.

[kc]

It begins to seem not worthwhile buying direct from China etc - maybe that's the intention!

[Terry Plumridge 1]

I am thinking of ordering from Hobby King, EU warehouse, to my address in Austria. Hobby King clearly state that their prices do not include VAT so I will have to pay that, fair enough. But will there be other charges such as import duty. It is coming from a EU warehouse to an EU address !

I appreciate that many of you are no longer in the EU but may have past experiences from the pre brexit days.

Thanks, Terry.

[Nigel R]

The EU warehouse is in the EU, your address is in EU - you are neither exporting nor importing, not sure why you expect any charges?

You will be paying VAT at the EU warehouse location rate (netherlands, 21.5%?)

[kc]

When you buy from Hobby King you don't get a VAT invoice and I think that's because you are actually buying from China by buying online. Only the shipping is from UK or EU. None of the items I bought from UK or EU warehouse last few years ever had VAT invoices.

[FlyinFlynn]

Posted by kc on 15/01/2021 13:03:57:

When you buy from Hobby King you don't get a VAT invoice and I think that's because you are actually buying from China by buying online. Only the shipping is from UK or EU. None of the items I bought from UK or EU warehouse last few years ever had VAT invoices.

I believe this is wrong. you ARE buying from China, even if it is shipped from the UK warehouse, HobbyKing somehow get away with.....or rather got away with flouting the rules (bonded warehouse?). You don't get a VaT invoice because HobbyKing don't pay the VaT. This could all have changed in the last month ......who knows?

In the past, I have bought 20 odd small packages of PCB's from China (JLCPCB) . I have always had them shipped postal services as they were the cheapest option and I have never had any extra charges, VaT, Import duty or anything else added. In my experience you are much less likely to get extra charges if you use postal services, if you use FedEx or UPS they are geared up to issue VaT invoices and are not shy about handing them out, even two weeks after delivery, however, I have not had any delivered since Brexit so...........

[Andy Stephenson]

I just bought some specialist foam cutting wire from the US which came direct to me via the postal system and there were no extra charges applied. The total value invoiced including postage was $34. The package did, however, have a customs label which said "Value $1.00" Naughty or what but I'm not complaining.

A.

[MarcoF]

Posted by Andy Stephenson on 17/01/2021 11:28:38:

The package did, however, have a customs label which said "Value $1.00" Naughty or what but I'm not complaining.

A.

That's fine until the package goes missing and you receive $1 as reimbursement for the lost package.

[Andy Stephenson]

I'm prepared to take the risk, after all who would want to steal a package if they thought it contained only $1 worth of goods.

A.

[Phil McCavity]

People will steal anything regardless of the claimed value if it looks or feels attractive, they know how it works and how packages are undervalued to avoid paying VAT. That makes the low claimed value package just as attractive as the higher values with the bonus of knowing there is no risk of an investigation.

[Mike T]

Posted by Andy Stephenson on 17/01/2021 11:48:07:

I'm prepared to take the risk, after all who would want to steal a package if they thought it contained only $1 worth of goods.

A.

Somebody who knows that the value on the customs dec. is almost always understated?

[Andy Stephenson]

They obviously didn't care enough to check into it.

[kc]

We had all this discussion several years ago about VAT and whether we are buying from China when we get items shipped from a UK warehouse. When there was a supplier called Giant Cod I tried to insist on receiviing a VAT invoice and eventually they said you cannot have a VAT invoice because you are buying from China. This was when everyone knew they shipped from Cornwall.

I imagine that the Government has realised that there were some legal loopholes and have changed the whole system this year. it might, or might not, have anything to do with Brexit and might be more to do with taxing online business. If only they had done this years ago we might still have local model shops..........

[David Hazell 1]

Has anyone tried an order from HK UK Warehouse since Jan 1? Just wondering if VAT is now being added from UK to UK despatched items?

[SIMON CRAGG]

For what its worth last week I received 4 x 6s Lipos from CNHL, and EDF items from Bangood China.

Both post free, no tax, VAT, customs nonsense or anything else.

Just cardboard boxes delivered to my door in ten days.

Job done.

[Daithi O Buitigh]

What I have noticed fairly recently from Banggood is they are now charging shipping across the board. Up until a fairly short time ago, slower delivery was free - you only had to pay (optional) insurance.

However I'm still trying to work out how shipping from the EU affects us here in Norn Iron

[Nigel R]

So are the government.

[FlyinFlynn]

Posted by Andy Stephenson on 17/01/2021 11:28:38:

The package did, however, have a customs label which said "Value $1.00" Naughty or what but I'm not complaining.

A.

Except, as the importer, it is your responsibility to ensure the value placed on the customs docket is correct. In law, however absurd you may think it is, that makes you guilty of tax evasion. ...you might start complaining if HMRC did consider you had acted in such a way as to deliberately attempt to defraud them. I understand HK no longer ask you to indicate online what value you want placing on the docket, something that would indicate premeditation to defraud should you request $1.

[Andy Stephenson]

There was no prompt to suggest a value and I made no request for one and I'm sure the HMRC have better things to do than chase up a tiny amount of duty.