talkmagic.co.uk

I'm pooing my pants for when my massive order from the US comes through. No one even tells you about these things!

I think that you only get about 8 working days to stump up before it gets returned to sender

I have never been charged import tax, and i have had 100's of items sent to me all differant values over the years. I have never really given it much thought, and i do believe in paying my taxes. Is it up to the buyer to declare or the customs to charge?

The seller must fix a Customs Declaration label to the parcel indicating the contents and value. For small values a simple Green Label is usual but for more involved shipments a sheet roughly A5 in size is stuck on and again this has to be completed with all the relevant details - without these declarations, the overseas Post Office or carrier wouldn't accept the shipment in the first place. The information on the declarations is what the UK Post Office/Customs and Excise or the Carrier's own clearance staff will use to determine the right import codes and tariffs and make any charges which result. If it's a busy time and the parcel is small then very often no charges are levied but that's just the luck of the draw and you could get charged next time for the same kind of parcel. There's a minimum value under which no charges are levied as it would cost more to collect than the VAT and duty but that could be a variable arrangement. At the moment books are exempt from VAT and duty but this may very well change. A book of card sleights shouldn't attract and duty but a DVD of the same card sleights probably will.

There would be one H--- of a protest if the EU ever manage to force us to charge VAT in books in the UK - a "tax on knowledge". They have tried, so far unsuccessfully.

Barry

Sadly other countries do charge VAT on books. In South Africa it's 14%....

Sorry to change the subject a little bit but I thought it would be better to post here.

I recently had a huge order delivered that cost about £190. FedEx man comes to my door, I sign, lovely. Anyway, the next day I have a message left on the answer machine saying the package is at Stansted and I need to pay 56 quid import tax from America??

This could be a different order because I've ordered a few things recently from the internet but only one of them to my knowledge is delivered by FedEx. The bloke on the message didn't leave a number to call.

I thought I paid import tax upon delivery? I'm lost! Any help is appreciated!

Fed-Ex at Coventry are on 08456 07 08 09 and they should be able to give you the contact details for Stanstead - the message should have included a consignment note number or other reference, probably Clearance Team A or similar impersonal grouping. Bear in mind that even if parcels are delivered and signed for it could be that they will still charge fees and duty by invoicing after the event and will chase payment quite strongly.

Cheers MandyRake I got the number from the webysite I'll give them a call tomorrow.

I was sort of hoping someone would say that if they didn't take it at the door then their not allowed to ask you for the money after. A bit far fetched but worth the hope

Trust me, Fed-Ex, like DHL and UPS never give up on chasing payments!

Mandrake wrote:Trust me, Fed-Ex, like DHL and UPS never give up on chasing payments!

But... beware... if you get the stuff delivered to another address, UPS and FED EX will chase the DELIVERY address, and NOT the billing address.

I have had this happen.

Also, I have two or three UPS/FexEx invoices which I've tried to pay, and got nowhere, and they've never red-lettered me.

Odd.

Well I just rang them up and paid for it over my card. Never ever going through FedEx again, heard too many bad stories about them. Plus the man on the end of the line had the most boring voice in the world and he had to give me a 30 digit number. He thought it would be a good idea to tell me each digit one by one. Helpful man.