Import Costs

There is much talk of price comparisons between UK and other countries - not surprising given the differences.

But does anybody know the current additives for imports?

I seem to remember reading somewhere (and a quick google confirms this, but with the usual Revenue qualifications that makes it almost unintelligable) that Duty was 3.5% and VAT was 17.5% giving approx 21% additive.

But I also remember reading that certain photographic equipment (ie digital cameras, but not film cameras or lenses etc) were exempt from Duty but not VAT.

Have we any experts out there who can explain in simple English.

Perhaps someone who has recently incurred these charges could share the pain with us.

Your figure of 21% is quite correct - my father works for HM Revenue & Customs and I've confirmed this many times over. It is also confirmed by many of my recent imports.

In addition you will also need to factor in the handling fees that are often imposed by the likes of Parcelforce when handling Customs fees. I believe you should factor in approx £10-15 - OK on high value items but a real sting on items under £100 in value.

You also need to watch asking companies or private sellers to list the item as "gift" - if the item is opened and inspected you could easily be held accountable for making a false declaration.

HTH

Will

Everything we import incurs VAT (unless the value is very small). VAT is payable on all landed costs, which means the item itself, the shipping cost, and the duty (if any).

Duties (except on baccy and booze) are now generally so small that they make very little difference to the equation. 3% is about as high as they go.

So if you add 20% to the cost of an import plus shipping, you may be a little bit in hand, or a little bit out of pocket, but not by much either way.

Beware of agents' handling fees when you import something. That can easily cost you £10 or more.

G

Unless of course you import from Europe, then you pay no extra import duty or VAT, just postage. And things can be cheaper in Europe.

From the point of view of duty and VAT, you can't "import" from Europe. It's the same, single, market.

G

Well, I was not so far off then but what about the exceptions?

I have a PDF (can't remember where from) that lists for Import Duty

Digital Still Cameras - Nil
35mm Film Cameras - 4.9%
Lenses - 4.2%
Camcorders - 4.9% - 14%
WebCam - 4.9%

Of course, as George says, VAT would still be chargeable on all these.

As far as I recall it was the "Digital" bit that exempted the digital cameras because there was a crossover with some other Digital (non photo) kit that was exempt and HMG thought it too difficult to sort it out

Is that still the case?

There were suggestions that digital still cameras with the facility to record movie images might be classed in the same category as camcorders.

You can see from your list how convenient tax collectors would find that...