New Import Duty/VAT Thread. Read Post #1 for Rules

Just saw the start of the thread on second hand goods.

davetherave wrote: »

Second-hand goods are liable to VAT at the rate applicable to new goods of the same kind

its a sick joke isn't it

rubadub wrote: »

If they didn't they would be open to fraud, people would be just labelling everything "2nd hand (in mint condition)" to avoid VAT.

I was quoted by a retailer just today that second hand goods in the UK don't carry any vat.

Suckit wrote: »

Then they will likely turn to the DHL type system where they charge you before you get the item, or destroy it. (If enough people do it.)

I had assumed that if you refused the item it would be returned to sender?
They instead might destroy it? so you still pay for it but never receive it?

If I were to purchase from Amazon.de and have it sent to the AddressPal UK location would I be charged anything? This particular product (Computer memory) doesn’t ship directly to Ireland.

AdressPal can cost you more than shipping directly from America as i have recently discovered,

I'm now going to go in to full detail on my experience for the benefit of others to be aware,

I now feel/think I would have been better off just shipping directly via eBay and paying them the customs fees rather than trusting Address Pal to be my professional friend which have rail road me in to a very expensive journey rather than a stress free one.

all started at Christmas when I bought two shelves for our sons room to hold his hotwheels cars, they look good on the wall and less risk of walking on one of them bare foot, purchased them on Amazon post brexit, painted them myself and fitted to the wall with 90 degree brackets.one srew in to the wall and one in to the frame on all four corners.







i then began to get interested in collecting various models myself mainly street cars and rally which reminded me of fun times growing up, i met some collectors through adverts.ie whom introduced me to the "Real Riders" and "team Transport" range which are Hotwheels Premium models, they have metallic paint metal under carriage and real rubber tires, as well as finer details.

so one particular range of the hotwheels premium real rider models are Japanese Historic, which for me turned out to be more of a hysteric as you will soon discover.







the model above is a 1978 Nissan Skyline C210 these models were released by Hotwheels in 2018.
I bought that model for 25 euro on adverts.ie excluding shipping,

i then logged on to eBay USA and found some more models from the same "Japanese Historic 2" range of which there are five models in total.



i bought both of the above via ebayUK and provided my American AdressPal address for shipping from the seller in Texas.

total purchase cost was 26.02 euro almost 2 for 1 compared to purchasing locally, all seemed euphoric.
until they arrived at addressPal in the big US



There must be a minimum package price on American AddressPal deliveries as they were only weighing 150g and 200g but the fee from AddressPal at that stage was a staggering 15.99euro each. which i could only assume included a Customs import charge, and couldn't really do much about it as it had already been subtracted from my current account.
it would later transpire that the 15.99euro each was only to cover shipping from AddressPal in America to my address in the Republic of Ireland.

many days then passed, until last night when I received a further two emails from anPost on behalf of the Irish Revenue and Customs, ow yes! inhalation is immanent there's no escaping.

heres the emails.





a total of 18.74 euro was required to be paid to customs for the two Hotwheels vehicles,

which the original purchase cost for both of them was 26.02 euro including shipping from the sellers to AdressPal in America.
AdressPal had then charged a total of 31.98 euro (15.99 x 2) to ship them to Ireland,

i inquired on how the customs charges were calculated; and discovered that the customs add the cost of shipping to the value of the item in order to evaluate the amount of tax due to be paid, so that means that I'm paying import tax because addressPal charged 31.98 euro shipping to get them to Ireland where the customs could then add that to the item value to enterprise on fees.

overall cost from start to finish for these two cars was:
inital purchase: 26.02 euro
AddressPal fee's: 31.98 euro (15.99 x 2)
Customs fee's: 18.74 euro

Total: 76.74 euro
for two vehicles that once had an RRP of: 15.00 euro each back in 2018.

Thanks for the warm support guys ��

rubadub wrote: »

It might be refused in the UK, as there could be VAT due on importing stuff into the UK, then it gets sent here and you are stung again.

Unless it is some obscure memory I would be looking to get it elsewhere. Sounds like one for "bargain requests"

+1
i made a mistake of purchasing some clipsal keystone RJ45 inserts for some clipsal socket plates,







I bought the inserts from Australia through eBay as they cant be gotten in Europe but fit straight in to the uk/Ireland sized plate,
had them shipped via AddressPal at the time,
got stung twice on those,
DHL emailed me to pay import tax on the item prior to delivery to AddressPal,
then AddressPal charged me on behalf of Irish customs.
i did try to explain to DHL that there not going to be used in the uk and rather coming across Europe like a beach stone skims the surface of the water,
but they didn't want to know, money talks

revenue.ie lists:
BOOK KEEPING
BOOKS OF STATIONERY - PRINTING
BOOKS OF TICKETS / COUPONS
...but not - simply - books, as in reference/biographical/medical...

TARIC lookup returns:
TARIC measure information
[Show all information]
The reference date is 24-09-2010
Last TARIC update: 01-03-2021
Area: Ireland - IE
Goods nomenclature code: 4901
Text description of goods nomenclature: books
Measure type:
Order number:
Measure publication start date must be after:
Measure publication start date must be before:
Legal base:
No data matches the criteria


Previous posters have been directed at the TARIC website to look up codes. Akin to asking an accountant to find the differential in a car. And the search functionality on the TARIC website is atrocious. Akin to the garage lights not working. If even logistics companies whose _sole_ purpose is to import/export have trouble using the system, what hope is there for mere mortals?

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

you already have the right code. 4901 is for printed books. https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/taric/taric_consultation.jsp?Lang=en&Taric=4901&Expand=true&SimDate=20210302#4901000000

Thanks. There was a tiny glyph I had to click on to expand another list. And a singular origin/destination label was confusing as to whether that applied to where it was sent from/going to (which, applied to boardsies is the country it's coming from - may I suggest that be added to the 1st post?)

whiterebel wrote: »

The Taric has to be general, otherwise you will take up half the Internet with it. When I did customs clearance first it was the tariff book, which weighed probably 3 kilos. No search. You got used to it. It's like anything, the more its used, the more comfortable you get with it. Considering it covers everything from blood to computers, it's hard to narrow anything down to specifics.

So, eh, you've got a copy of The Entire Human Anatomy to be able to look up your next symptoms...

whiterebel wrote: »

The reason people have been directed to it, is that some people seem to expect everyone else to do the work for them.

...and a copy of DIY surgery ;-p

whiterebel wrote: »

Unless it something like computers or books which are 0%, people won't know.if you import from outside the EU, you need to know this or you can be hit with all sorts of extra duties.

When it's exempt, such as books, AFAIK, you don't pay VAT on any part of it.

A genuine thank you - this is exactly the information I was looking for, having spent the best part of a day last week Googling, looping around revenue.ie and cursing the europa website.

whiterebel wrote: »

As ohnonotgmail says above, there is the starting point 4901. You drill down through the different ones and input the country of origin. Books are actually one of the easier ones to find in it. Some of the plastic articles in it could keep you going through it for days.

Which is exactly what happened to me :pac:

...now to find out how to challenge An Post's vat charge on my $30 books through AddressPal

Thanks again

whiterebel wrote: »

If you go back a few pages through this thread: Addresspal you will find the email address that you appeal to, and some other helpful info,

Thanks, I ended up finding it there.

whiterebel wrote: »

I'm not quite sure the point you are making in point one above? It's an import thread, so all that matters in the country it's coming from. Maybe I'm misreading it?? The Taric is for exports as well, hence country of destination. Again, apologies if I'm reading it wrong.

Sorry, I meant the europa site has the unintuitive interface, which I'd tried before seeking advice here!

Hi all. I have just ordered 2 products on Amazon.co.uk. The total for the two in £ should have been 18.23, at gx rate 1.181 €21.53. One of the products was on a lightning deal (previously £27.99, down to £12.99) and the other product previously £7.49 down to £5.24 on a voucher deal). Anyway long and short of it when I checked out the order summary uses the old prices for Items total then Total less promotion £18.23 but charges import fee deposit of £7.45. Never had this issue before but never usually have discounted prices that previously would have been over £22. Am I due a refund on the import charge?