Customs charge demand from DHL re ?19.57 of Stewmac parts

[Jake]

Hi folks,
I ordered goods from Stewmac.com in the US, amounting to £19.75.
(That's pounds - not dollars)

DHL just sent me a demand for £10.32, being the total of the
following:
£1.19 customs Duty
£7.88 VAT
£1.25 Admin fee

I thought that UK customs didn't levvy any charge on items valued at
less than £25 or so. No?

However, I noticed on the demand note, that they have stated "Value
for customs purposes" as being £37.30, which is the sum of the invoice
value plus the "freight value".

Is this all legitimate, legal and in order? Seems fishy to me. I
expect I'll have to pay it if I ever hope to have anything delivered
by DHL again...

Thanks for any help or advice.

Jake

[Stewart Ward]

It works like this:

Order value + shipping + Admin fee = £XX

£XX x DUTY = £XX+

£XX+ x VAT = £Final cost.


Not what you wanted to hear I guess!?
--
Best regards,
Stewart Ward
www.award-session.com
Speakers, cables, amps & pedals, guitars, servicing.
2004 - 25th Year of Session amplifiers.

Post by Jake
Hi folks,
I ordered goods from Stewmac.com in the US, amounting to £19.75.
(That's pounds - not dollars)
DHL just sent me a demand for £10.32, being the total of the
£1.19 customs Duty
£7.88 VAT
£1.25 Admin fee
I thought that UK customs didn't levvy any charge on items valued at
less than £25 or so. No?
However, I noticed on the demand note, that they have stated "Value
for customs purposes" as being £37.30, which is the sum of the invoice
value plus the "freight value".
Is this all legitimate, legal and in order? Seems fishy to me. I
expect I'll have to pay it if I ever hope to have anything delivered
by DHL again...
Thanks for any help or advice.
Jake

[Jake]

On Mon, 17 May 2004 15:21:23 +0100, "Stewart Ward"

Post by Stewart Ward
Order value + shipping + Admin fee = £XX
£XX x DUTY = £XX+
£XX+ x VAT = £Final cost.
Not what you wanted to hear I guess!?

Thanks. The funny thing is (and I forgot to mention this) the package
did not bear any sign of having been opened by customs. There was not
HM customs sticker on it either. I'm inclined to suspect that DHL
sends these customs duty demand notes to every recipient of a parcel
they handle from the US, whether or not it was actually singled out by
customs and duty levvied by customs. Thnk of the money they'd make by
doing this. Maybe I'm being too supsicious/distrutful/cynical...

If they are demanding customs duty which they say they had to pay,
shoudn't they have sent a copy of the customs' duty receipt from HM
customs? I didn't receive any - just the demand from DHL with no
accompanying docs.

Jake

[Stewart Ward]

Customs rarely open packages, unless they're suspicious of the contents.

Their computer randomly singles out packages for 'the treatment' and you
were just unlucky this time. DHL have to collect their money for them
--
Best regards,
Stewart Ward
www.award-session.com
Speakers, cables, amps & pedals, guitars, servicing.
2004 - 25th Year of Session amplifiers.

Post by Jake
Thanks. The funny thing is (and I forgot to mention this) the package
did not bear any sign of having been opened by customs. There was not
HM customs sticker on it either. I'm inclined to suspect that DHL
sends these customs duty demand notes to every recipient of a parcel
they handle from the US, whether or not it was actually singled out by
customs and duty levvied by customs. Thnk of the money they'd make by
doing this. Maybe I'm being too supsicious/distrutful/cynical...
If they are demanding customs duty which they say they had to pay,
shoudn't they have sent a copy of the customs' duty receipt from HM
customs? I didn't receive any - just the demand from DHL with no
accompanying docs.
Jake

[news.freeserve.com]

The cut off is £18 I think.

As unnoficial evidence I just got stung with a package from Mouser in the US
that came to £18.80, a couple of weeks ago a package for £17.55 sailed
through.

Post by Jake
Hi folks,
I ordered goods from Stewmac.com in the US, amounting to £19.75.
(That's pounds - not dollars)
DHL just sent me a demand for £10.32, being the total of the
£1.19 customs Duty
£7.88 VAT
£1.25 Admin fee
I thought that UK customs didn't levvy any charge on items valued at
less than £25 or so. No?
However, I noticed on the demand note, that they have stated "Value
for customs purposes" as being £37.30, which is the sum of the invoice
value plus the "freight value".
Is this all legitimate, legal and in order? Seems fishy to me. I
expect I'll have to pay it if I ever hope to have anything delivered
by DHL again...
Thanks for any help or advice.
Jake

[Brian]

Post by news.freeserve.com
The cut off is £18 I think.

I thought it was £18 and just found these excerpt from a much longer webpage
(http://www.sloanefox.freeserve.co.uk/importukduty.htm)

"Import Duty is usually percentage based. It averages at between about 5%
and 9% - but with extremes in some cases between nil and 85%.

Customs assess the amount of Import Duty to be paid based on the declared
value of the goods, PLUS the transport costs to the country of destination.

VAT (Value Added Tax) is then added. The value for VAT purposes is therefore
the declared value of the goods, PLUS the transport costs to the country of
destination, PLUS the Import Duty"


"Tax Free Allowances

Current concessions and exemptions from Duty and VAT

GOODS OF £18 (22 euro) OR LESS IN VALUE (excluding postage, packing and
other miscellaneous costs). This does not include alcohol, tobacco products,
perfume or toilet waters."

I'm sure you could get these details from the government website, but I bet
it wouldn't be so easy to understand!

Brian

[Larry Synes]

Post by Brian

Post by news.freeserve.com
The cut off is £18 I think.

I thought it was £18 and just found these excerpt from a much longer webpage
(http://www.sloanefox.freeserve.co.uk/importukduty.htm)
"Import Duty is usually percentage based. It averages at between about 5%
and 9% - but with extremes in some cases between nil and 85%.
Customs assess the amount of Import Duty to be paid based on the declared
value of the goods, PLUS the transport costs to the country of

destination.

Post by Brian
VAT (Value Added Tax) is then added. The value for VAT purposes is therefore
the declared value of the goods, PLUS the transport costs to the country of
destination, PLUS the Import Duty"
"Tax Free Allowances
Current concessions and exemptions from Duty and VAT
GOODS OF £18 (22 euro) OR LESS IN VALUE (excluding postage, packing and
other miscellaneous costs). This does not include alcohol, tobacco products,
perfume or toilet waters."
I'm sure you could get these details from the government website, but I bet
it wouldn't be so easy to understand!

And next tim eyou order something from abroad then be sure
to weigh up whether or not to split it into several orders such
as to pre-empt excessive charges.
You should also be careful to describe the goods to your best advantage...

As a query, if he had ordered the stuff from the EC, would he have
avoided these exorbitant (anti free trade) charges?

[David Barlow @ work]

There are no import duty/VAT charges for transactions within the EU
(apparently we have signed an agreement with all the other countries).

Just do what I did and wander through Heathrow with a Tom Anderson in a
gigbag on your back!

Dave

[William Black]

Post by news.freeserve.com
The cut off is £18 I think.
As unnoficial evidence I just got stung with a package from Mouser in the US
that came to £18.80, a couple of weeks ago a package for £17.55 sailed
through.

And I got one for $200 from UPS two weeks ago and no charges at all...

Customs and Excise are obviously either really undermanned, or. more
likely as they've just lost loads of VAT work to the Inland Revenue and have
loads of people with nothing to do until their hugely generous redundancy
system cuts in, just hitting people at random in an effort to try and make
personal imports difficult.

[Brian]

Post by William Black
And I got one for $200 from UPS two weeks ago and no charges at all...

I once had a package from the States via Fedex and the VAT/Import duty bill
arrived two months later...

Brian

[JayKay]

I also had this unexpected charge when I ordered from StewMac, and as in
your case, Jake, it certainly pushed up the cost quite a bit. Now I get
a friend to bring back items from the US when he travels back home and
this has caused no problems to him at all. He orders from StewMac using
his US address then just carries the items back in his luggage. At the
moment I am awaiting Fret tang nippers which are much cheaper from the
US than from UK suppliers.
John Kelly

[Rick Booth]

Post by Jake
However, I noticed on the demand note, that they have stated "Value
for customs purposes" as being ?37.30, which is the sum of the invoice
value plus the "freight value".

Which is how it works, yes.

Post by Jake
Is this all legitimate, legal and in order?

Yes.

- rfb