Customs Duty Survey to UK

[ben_pike]

I am interested in how likely I am to be charged duty when importing

Canon equipment for personal use from the US to the UK. I will

probably buy from reputable US retailers as listed on Photo.net, but

was interested to see how many people ended up paying import duty on

their purchase. To be completely specific, I am looking at importing

a canon 17-40F4 L. Please share your experiences.

[straightarm]

Whilst I have not bought anything as expensive as the lens you're thinking about, I've twice bought from Adorama. Adorama used UPS to ship the goods and I ended up paying duty, VAT and a handling fee. I simply wrote out a cheque to the UPS delivery driver when he delivered the goods to me.

 

As a rough guide you need to allow about 20-25% over the published price to cover the additional costs of getting the goods legally imported into the UK.

 

Hope this helps

 

Simon

 

In black and white everyone's a hero!

[straightarm]

Further to the above, the reputable shops like Adorama & B&H use reputable shipper like UPS & FedEX, who offer package tracking. It is therefore very likely that you will be subject to duty & VAT.

 

Some of the sharp operators from the far east who sell on eBay try to defraud the customs by putting falsly low values on the packages or claim that they are gifts. If the Customs find them you could have a whole load of trouble.

 

Simon

[ben conover]

Hi, I just spent $680 on Adorama gear. When it arrived in Ireland I had to pay Euro 125.00 import tax, about 20%

 

You will be charged import tax at U.K. rates if buying from Adorama.

[ivan_dzo]

i often import and you nearly always end up paying 20%. They charge 8gbp for the privelage of collecting the money! Small amounts you often get away with, and occasionally larger amounts (especially if its through parcelforce rather than couriers). Factor in 20% and you won't be disappointed.

[fmueller]

I have never imported anything into the UK, but I suspect that the situation would be similar to other coutries, where customs doesn't charge tax/duty willy-nilly on randomly selected shipments. There is usually a certain cut-off rate regarding the declared customs value. Below the cut-off, you don't have to pay tax/duty, above you have to - and customs catches pretty much 100% of the shipments that are above the cut-off. In Australia I know for sure that the cut-off is A$250 and above that value you have to pay 10% GST on the value of the goods plus the shipping costs. In Germany I believe the cut-off is Euro 90, but I am not 100% sure about this value, and what you have to pay if you are above the cut-off seems to be more complex than in Australia. If you ring HM Customs and Excise (www.hmce.gov.uk, phone: 0845 010 9000), I am sure they will be more than happy to inform you about the situation in the UK. Finally, keep in mind that only the value that the shipper puts on the customs declaration counts to determine whether or not you are above the cut-off and how much you will have to pay. Reputable mail order houses will put nothing but the sales price on the customs form, but if you have friends or relatives in the US, they might honestly believe that a lens is worth less than what you paid...

[basscheffers]

I have never been able to get away with not paying, usualy not saving much of anything over the lowest price (no, not Jessops!) you can find over here.

<p>

The cut-off is very low, GBP17. Fine for CDs and film and the like, but no use for photo gear.

<p>

To calculate what to pay, take the sale price + shipping. Add 5% for duty and 17.5% on top of that total for VAT. Lookup the exchange rate on xe.com and devide by that. Then add 3% that you credit card companay will charge above the mid-market rate found on xe.

<p>

That means about GBP500 for your lens from B&H, which is GBP30 MORE than ordering it from <a href=http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_4_409_40910&products_id=98401>

7dayshop.com</a>!

[steve coburn]

According to the <a ref=http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/dds/cgi-bin/tarchap?Lang=EN > TARIC web site </a>I believe you would need this TARIC code 9002110090 or 9002110050 which carries an import duty of 6.7% and then 17.5% VAT on top. This is on the entire price, including the shipping charge. I believe that you don't pay the duty if it comes to less than £7, and you only have to pay the VAT if the total value is less than £18. <a href=http://www.hmce.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&propertyType=document&resetCT=true&id=HMCE_CL_001454> (HMCE website) </a>