custom tax?

seph

hi all, can anyone tell me what is the tax situation as regards items bought online and delivered to your door from overseas and are there exemption limits. Also is there a way to avoid this tax............someone told me if you get the sender to write gift on the parcel you wont be taxed ?

any info appreciated.

nesf

I've been charged once for import duty. That was on a package from thinkgeek.com delivered by UPS. Funny thing is that on larger packages from Amazon.com I was charged nothing.

*shrugs*



Alot of companies will refuse to write gift on packages iirc.

Creamy Goodness

some sellers on ebay will be happy to write gift or marketing sample on your product but beware if marked as a gift the max value you can claim back is $50.

most established internet shops (like thinkgeek/amazon.com) will not mark things as gifts as it's illegal.

to avoid custom taxes and do it legally, it's simple, just buy within the european union and the only tax you'll have to pay is the VAT of the country that you bought it from (eg. germany 12% england/scotland/wales 17.5%)

mad m

Well lets say I have a brother-inlaw in states and I bought something and sent to him,then in turn he send it to me.Would this be a much better situation or would it still go through the same rigmaroll as stuff delivered directly from sites to ireland.

Thanks

dublinguy2004

Cremo wrote:

some sellers on ebay will be happy to write gift or marketing sample on your product but beware if marked as a gift the max value you can claim back is $50.

most established internet shops (like thinkgeek/amazon.com) will not mark things as gifts as it's illegal.

to avoid custom taxes and do it legally, it's simple, just buy within the european union and the only tax you'll have to pay is the VAT of the country that you bought it from (eg. germany 12% england/scotland/wales 17.5%)

Yes, buy within European Union (including countries that don't use the Euro currency) and you don't pay VAT (unless of course you buy a car or a motorcycle, in which case you'd be liable not for VAT, but good 'aul VRT).

If you do buy outside the EU kindly ask the seller to mark the package as being a 'gift'. This way customs are most unlikely to open to have a look inside. If you buy something that is brand new, I'm not sure if the seller can legally describe the goods in the package as a gift without getting into trouble either in their home country or in Ireland. Anyone know the legalities of marking a package as a 'gift'?

I've often bought goods new from America and I'd say about 80% of the time you can get away without paying tax, but expect a call from DHL Ireland or UPS Ireland or whoever calling you up over the phone demanding the appropriate excise duty (21 or 22% of the declared value I think).

Creamy Goodness

Mad M wrote:

Well lets say I have a brother-inlaw in states and I bought something and sent to him,then in turn he send it to me.Would this be a much better situation or would it still go through the same rigmaroll as stuff delivered directly from sites to ireland.

Thanks

still will be the same and as far as i know some american sites are weary of international card orders being deliveried anywhere except the bill payers adress.

mad m

@Cremo

Sorry forgot to say it will be brother inlaws credit card with his Usa address.
Thanks for help

Creamy Goodness

mad m wrote:

@Cremo

Sorry forgot to say it will be brother inlaws credit card with his Usa address.
Thanks for help

ok, but still if he sends it to you he'll need to mark it down as a gift to avoid tax.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

ambro25

Or you might get invoiced for Import/VAT duty by the carrier, but the parcel never arrive :mad: (see my other thread about DHL for the little story)...

Rule of thumb, is if the seller sends by USPS/Air Mail, most likely you'll not be charged (as all handled by An Post on arrival in IE and they don't seem to care where the stuff's come from), but if sent by UPS/DHL, you'll get taxed (as they have their own internal systems to flag up the tax liability, from the shipping manifests).

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Gone West

Cremo wrote:

most established internet shops (like thinkgeek/amazon.com) will not mark things as gifts as it's illegal.

Quite right. It is an offence to try to evade this tax. Such things shouldn't be discussed on boards, and are against the charter.

CrowdedHouse

As someone else said when you are sent goods from outside the EU,if it comes via the 'couriers' ie Fedex/DHL/UPS they are very conscientious about applying VAT & Duty.Seems to be more of a hit and miss affair with the normal postal service.

Sponge Bob

There is a tax relief on goods FROM OUTSIDE THE EU called Small Package ( Small Parcel) Standard Relief. Its €22 for a purchased good and €45 for a gift . Thats because the admin costs of recovering tax on these items would be greater than the tax that can be recovered. Thats why CD wow charge less than €22 per item, post individually , and use postage. (the courier costs are included in the €22 IIRC )

The Revenue themselves explain it clearly, Full details are here

BrianD

dublinguy2004 wrote:

Yes, buy within European Union (including countries that don't use the Euro currency) and you don't pay VAT (unless of course you buy a car or a motorcycle, in which case you'd be liable not for VAT, but good 'aul VRT).

Not true. You will be charged the VAT rate that is prevailing in the country of purchase. After that the goods are in "free circulation" and you don't pay any customs or duties within the EU. The only exception is where you are registered for VAT and then the goods can be invoiced VAT exempt.

Gone West

You can get a lot of info from www.revenue.ie and customs are ok to approach as well. If you ask them a question they will tell you yes or no bout been caught for tax.

props to nukem for that, by the way.

dublinguy2004

BrianD wrote:

Not true. You will be charged the VAT rate that is prevailing in the country of purchase. After that the goods are in "free circulation" and you don't pay any customs or duties within the EU. The only exception is where you are registered for VAT and then the goods can be invoiced VAT exempt.

A case of misunderstanding. Of course you pay VAT in the country you buy the goods from, you're not VATed again by Irish customs as long as you buy within the EU. i.e. If you buy goods in the US you pay both US tax and Irish VAT, but if you buy goods within the EU you only pay tax once.

Basq

ambro25 wrote:

Rule of thumb, is if the seller sends by USPS/Air Mail, most likely you'll not be charged (as all handled by An Post on arrival in IE and they don't seem to care where the stuff's come from), but if sent by UPS/DHL, you'll get taxed (as they have their own internal systems to flag up the tax liability, from the shipping manifests).

Does anyone have any idea how Amazon.com sends (just standard delivery) items? I presume it's USPS / Air Mail..

Just spent €83 on 2 fairly large DVD boxsets which will be shipped together. I checked the box not to indicate price... but if i do get charged (quite likely, i'd say).. how much extra am i looking at?

Creamy Goodness

well if amazon.com is the same as amazon.co.uk they'll send by regular post.

but if i remember correctly when i ordered off amazon.co.uk and they charged 21% vat.

i don't know how much you're looking at if you get charged, probably €20 or less

Basq

Cheers for that Cremo!

Cancelled the order of the 2 together. And ordered each seperately with gift wrapping - they work at around the €40 mark each. Possibly lessen the chance of being charged import tax (.. sorry, am going dreadfully close near breaking the Charter rules ..) so not gonna go any further!

nesf

Cremo wrote:

well if amazon.com is the same as amazon.co.uk they'll send by regular post.

but if i remember correctly when i ordered off amazon.co.uk and they charged 21% vat.

i don't know how much you're looking at if you get charged, probably €20 or less

I use amazon.co.uk regularily, I'm charged 21% VAT on DVDs, but no listed VAT charge on books.

*shrugs*

I assume that British VAT is already added to books and that's why it isn't listed seperately.

Edit: It seems like books may have 0% VAT in the UK. It's a variable rate, 0%/17.5%. I'm not sure which books qualify for which though.

OFDM

nesf wrote:

Edit: It seems like books may have 0% VAT in the UK. It's a variable rate, 0%/17.5%. I'm not sure which books qualify for which though.

Books to Ireland are charged 0% VAT. e-Books and everything else is charged at 21%:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/502578 - Charges
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/502576 - Info on VAT

"Under EU VAT legislation certain Books items are not eligible for reduced-rate VAT and in those cases the standard VAT rate will apply."

nesf

Cheers OFDM

Nukem

Tax is a strange and wonderful thing .......NOT
My dad was just done for a motorbike part that is second hand that came from the states! He explained the situation and had the relevant documentation that it was indeed second hand and damn the customs women was a fire breathing bit*h - she nearly hung up on him! (not nice when he just asked why and he had a legit claim)

Be careful!!!!!!!

Nukem

LegacyUser

Didnt want to start another thread;

Bought a baseball jersey offline around a month ago, retail value US$59.99, when they added the shipping it came to just over a hundred dollars. Received the item, grand, got a letter from FedEx yesterday saying I owed them a grand total of EUR€36.22 for Duty/Tax charges.

Breakdown:

Duty 9.80
VAT 19.22
Admin fee 7.20

Was mad, but should've realised. My old dear said just dont bother paying it, and I also spoke to a friend who's a senior manager in UPS (different company I know) and she said they'd probably just write it off if I didnt bother.

Has anyone experience of ignoring this charge?

Highlander

bruachain wrote:

Didnt want to start another thread;

Bought a baseball jersey offline around a month ago, retail value US$59.99, when they added the shipping it came to just over a hundred dollars. Received the item, grand, got a letter from FedEx yesterday saying I owed them a grand total of EUR€36.22 for Duty/Tax charges.

Breakdown:

Duty 9.80
VAT 19.22
Admin fee 7.20

Was mad, but should've realised. My old dear said just dont bother paying it, and I also spoke to a friend who's a senior manager in UPS (different company I know) and she said they'd probably just write it off if I didnt bother.

Has anyone experience of ignoring this charge?

Well you can ignore the charge but Fedex wont be delivering your baseball shirt anytime soon. They would have paid this money already to customs so will be looking to get it back.

Highlander

Highlander wrote:

Well you can ignore the charge but Fedex wont be delivering your baseball shirt anytime soon. They would have paid this money already to customs so will be looking to get it back.

sorry just re read that you already got your jersey. Cant see them writing it off as they would already have paid out to customs, surprised they didnt collect COD

Gone West

You *could* avoid payment. They will most likely write it off. Solicitors letters cost more than the amount in dispute.
However I would strongly advise against it;
Its highly immoral and unethical to refuse to pay money owed (stealing, anyone?)
Also, dont expect fedex to deliver you anything else for a long time. Their systems will have you red-flagged as a non-payer and will automatically hold any parcel that gets posted to you through themselves. They wont release the parcel until you pay your arrears.(plus interest)

LegacyUser

Update:

Just spoke to FedEx, very nice about it. Explained to them I had trouble paying €30 tax on a commodity that is only wort around €50. The customer rep. has noted that the invoice is being disputed, and they have someone looking into the breakdown of the tax/duty charges in percentiles. They're going to call me back and we'll take it from there. It looks like the taxes were applied to the whole amount, which, when you include shipping or around €35, came to almost €90. I explained I had no problem paying tax & duty as long as it was on the value of the item, but not on the whole lot including shipping.

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep you posted.

bru

OFDM

I got a large package from the US the other. Value marked as $100. Sent through USPS, delivered by An Post and no custom charges whatsoever. It only took 8 days from time of posting to arrive to me too.

Request USPS when at all possible for stuff from the USA. Thank God GLS don't have the USPS contract anymore.

wayne040576

As mentioned a few times, it is typically the courier services that hit you for VAT. I suspect they get commission of some sort (can anyone verify this?) so they will nearly always charge it. I once got an item worth $5 sent to me using a courier service. The bloke delivering asked me to pay $2 VAT. Most of the big US online stores will ship by regular mail but they won't sell electronics outside North America. If you buy something through ebay from outside the EU, you should always assume that you'll have to pay something. A lot of the time you don't. I got a PSP about 2 months ago and was suprised the courier never asked me to pay anything, only to get a bill from them about three weeks later.

Another thing, if you order runners (Nike, puma etc) from outside the EU and it comes through a courier service, expect them to be held for a few weeks. They sometimes hold them until a rep from the shoe manufacturer inspects them to see if they are fakes. This is to prevent people from selling fakes on the streets etc.

samo

Sorry to bring this thread back up but just trying to check something in relation to customs...probably a very stupid question but I'll ask anyway!!

I purchased a drill off a UK website for approx £200 sterling and this is considerably cheaper than over here (same drill costs about 600 euro or thereabouts!)....as it was purchased in the UK am I right in assuming that going by the info on this thread - if it was purchased within the EU then the VAT liability will have been covered by whatever I paid to the UK company - so therefore I wont have to pay customs duties etc when its delivered??

wayne040576

samo wrote:

Sorry to bring this thread back up but just trying to check something in relation to customs...probably a very stupid question but I'll ask anyway!!

I purchased a drill off a UK website for approx £200 sterling and this is considerably cheaper than over here (same drill costs about 600 euro or thereabouts!)....as it was purchased in the UK am I right in assuming that going by the info on this thread - if it was purchased within the EU then the VAT liability will have been covered by whatever I paid to the UK company - so therefore I wont have to pay customs duties etc when its delivered??

You shouldn't have to pay anything more. Just make sure that they shipped from the UK. Sometimes, sites will list themselves as being in the UK but they actually have the items shipped from Asia. That is how they sell them so cheap. In that case you would have to pay tax.

samo

wayne040576 wrote:

You shouldn't have to pay anything more. Just make sure that they shipped from the UK. Sometimes, sites will list themselves as being in the UK but they actually have the items shipped from Asia. That is how they sell them so cheap. In that case you would have to pay tax.

Nice one thanks for that ...have done a bit of searching and found that as you say above - it should be ok! Shipping definitly seems top be from UK as well, so looking good!

Irishmaster

I order off CDWOW for my games and my last few games are in customs. Apparently CDWOW get their stuff to us from Hong Kong. They are shipped separately and cost me about 50euro. Should they be sezing them and charging me extra??? Its pissing me off too. I thought there was a certain amount you could buy without being charged it. My last game that came i got a 17euro charge on it by customs and today i find out that they have stopped my other game too. Now im really peed off. Oh yeah, dont ever order off cdwow. They are very bad!

jor el

Wrong thread.

Right thread