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Q+A on Import Duty+Tax [Do Not Ask How to Avoid!]

Puteq

Yesterday I received a letter from some company called 'Avance' who were contacting me on behalf of 'Federal Express Europe Inc' threatening to 'commence formal proceedings' against me unless I paid 40 quid into a bank account in Dublin.

Sounded like the usual spam garbage to me, but I tried calling the 1800 number in the letter just in case, and of course it didn’t work. So today I phoned FedEx to let them know some spammers were using their name to scam people - only to find it is apparently real! I had bought RAM from the crucial.com website in July, and apparently FedEx had to pay the customs and imports tax on it or something, so now they were after me to pay them. I asked why they were sending debt collectors instead of just writing to me and asking me to pay themselves and they told me thats what they usually do and maybe the letter was lost in the post or something - sounds a bit unlikely to me.

Now pls note - I know the rules here and I am NOT looking for a way to avoid tax or anything like that, but whats the story here - I previously bought from crucial a few times in the past and never had this. Is this some new thing, or is every online purchase subject to this but customs only randomly check a few things or what? I am wondering because this would influence my decision to buy online in future, if I had to pay this much cost on top of the price on the site then the net is suddenly not a very attractive option at all…

PS: the original cost of what I got (I don’t remember exactly) was about 100 quid so I find 40 quid quite high

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Comments

Kinetic^

The limit is €22 and they've been cracking down on it a lot due to revenue from other taxation falling.

Kevin!

Kinetic^ wrote: »

The limit is €22 and they've been cracking down on it a lot due to revenue from other taxation falling.

but the time and effort and cost it takes to process a case must be worth more than the tener there trying to charge me?

Paulw

The limit has to be set somewhere, and then enforced.

Whatever about the time/effort cost, it's still revenue for the Revenue.

Kevin!

Paulw wrote: »

The limit has to be set somewhere, and then enforced.

Whatever about the time/effort cost, it's still revenue for the Revenue.

Grr wouldn't mind but I could have split up the pellets and the airsoft gun, shipping is free and it would have brought it under the 22€ limit, will know for next time though

dudara

Better suited to Online Buying & Auctions.

Lower tax takes elsewhere means that the Revenue & Customs are enforcing the €22 limit much more than they used to.

dudara

Sponge Bob

So now a 'rifle' shaped package is gonna apear in customs with your name on it and you are worried about the duty/vat on 23.03 worth of goods, you will be lucky if the branch don't come out with it instead of customs

Trevor451

so let me get this straight. I ordered something off dealextreme and it came to about €7.00. Will I not have to pay vat since its under €22?

jayj224

Hi Guys i'm thinking of buying an iphone on ebay and it will be coming from hong kong or Australia am i nearly 100% likely to be caught for customs due to the value of the item. Many Thanks Jason

jor el

Trevor451 wrote: »

so let me get this straight. I ordered something off dealextreme and it came to about €7.00. Will I not have to pay vat since its under €22?

Why do people have to keep asking the same question? Is 7 < 22?

jayj224 wrote: »

Hi Guys i'm thinking of buying an iphone on ebay and it will be coming from hong kong or Australia am i nearly 100% likely to be caught for customs due to the value of the item. Many Thanks Jason

Very likely, and also likely to not be a real iPhone.

donster79

I am ordering something online in from the US(contact lenses) which are far cheaper to buy this way. The total cost of what I am ordering will amount to approx 225 US dollars. Does anyone know how much customs will sting me for when they arrive at my doorstep??

maddogcollins

Using current rates I think you will be liable only to VAT on these at 21.5%.

US$ 225 = €157.00 (roughly at todays rate)
€157 @21.5% = €34 (roughly)

So you will have to pay €34 more on delivery.

Duty is normaly charged at 2.9% i think but as it comes to less than €10 I dont think it will be applied.

All these are open to correction. Below is a link to a duty calculator

http://www.dutycalculator.com/calculation/saved_calculations/view_details/37834/

donster79

Cheers!!!

timmywex

Just hope your package aint noticed, absolutely hate paying customs anything at all for some reason!

donster79

Its unlikely to not get noticed, the funny thing is it will still be far cheaper to buy the lenses this way than through an optician here.

mathie

timmywex wrote: »

Just hope your package aint noticed, absolutely hate paying customs anything at all for some reason!

60% of the time mine gets noticed all of the time.

Sharpshooter

Moved from After Hours.

Kevin!

They let me off with the 1.10 and decided to let me off with the charges, just received and email from them

MrsBunnsy

Hi all,

I bought this perfume from cdwow.ie. Note the part that says "duty free to your door". On receiving the perfume to my door, I was charged a €6.65 handling charge and €12.00 VAT by customs because the perfume came from Hong Kong. I didn't pay the VAT because it makes the perfume more expensive than it is to buy in the shops and also because I thought I was ordering from Ireland. I was even able to pay with my AIB laser card.

They also wrapped the parcel in silver wrapping paper and tied a ribbon around it, and marked it as a gift, which I thought was a bit weird. Are gifts VAT exempt?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

jor el

MrsBunnsy wrote: »

Hi all,

I bought this perfume from cdwow.ie. Note the part that says "duty free to your door".

They're not VAT registered in Ireland, and they don't charge VAT or duty on any of their products. They can make any claim they want, as they're not governed by Irish or EU law. Technically, it was duty free all the way to your door though, at which point you were charged the duty. It is not possible to buy duty free items and have them delivered to you, unless their value is under €22.

MrsBunnsy wrote: »

On receiving the perfume to my door, I was charged a €6.65 handling charge and €12.00 VAT by customs because the perfume came from Hong Kong. I didn't pay the VAT because it makes the perfume more expensive than it is to buy in the shops and also because I thought I was ordering from Ireland. I was even able to pay with my AIB laser card.

Unfortunately, "thought" isn't good enough. It's up to consumers to be aware of where they're buying from. CDWow should make you aware of this, but probably didn't. I thought everyone knew CDWow were HK based?

MrsBunnsy wrote: »

They also wrapped the parcel in silver wrapping paper and tied a ribbon around it, and marked it as a gift, which I thought was a bit weird. Are gifts VAT exempt?

No, gifts are VAT exempt up to €45. This isn't a gift though, as you bought it. You cannot buy a gift, you must receive a gift. If you give it to someone else, then it's a gift, but you still need to pay the VAT.

MrsBunnsy

They don't state anywhere on their website or in their terms and conditions that they are based in Hong Kong and that VAT is applicable to orders over €22. I didn't know they were based in Hong Kong, there is no way of finding that out until you get something from them. They also operated through an irish bank account because otherwise they wouldn't have been able to accept AIB laser payments. And technically it wasn't duty free to my door because duty was charged when it entered the country.

Also I know its not a gift since I bought it, and I know what a gift is, thats why I thought it was weird that cdwow ticked the box beside gift on the hongkong post customs declaration, and wrapped my purchase in wrapping paper with a ribbon. That suggests they were trying to pass it off as a gift.

They arent replying to my emails so I called the NCA, see what they say...

Brian

I was looking at having a Google phone shipped to me from the USA. Am I likely to get stung for customs on it? I read that the UK don't have import duty for mobile phones and was wondering if Ireland had the same policy.

jor el

MrsBunnsy wrote: »

They also operated through an irish bank account because otherwise they wouldn't have been able to accept AIB laser payments.

Not true, their payment processor can accept Laser cards, they don't need an Irish bank to do this.

MrsBunnsy wrote: »

They arent replying to my emails so I called the NCA, see what they say...

Unlikely the NCA can do anything for you, as CDWow are not based here. They certainly will have no power over CDWow.

Baza210 wrote: »

I read that the UK don't have import duty for mobile phones and was wondering if Ireland had the same policy.

Not true. All EU countries charge VAT and possibly duty on imports, and phones are no exception. The UK definitely does. A $500 phone will attract a lot of attention.

Brian

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD_009989&propertyType=document

^As per link, nil import duty on mobile phones. However, the Nx1 has GPS so probably falls outside that category anyway. VAT is another story altogether.

Any idea what sort of rate I'd be charged? Thanks.

jor el

When people ask about duty, I assume they mean VAT, since that's the one that's always charged. The duty limit is 150 euro, so often your purchase is exempt anyway. In Ireland, Duty is rarely applied on import purchases. They just go with the VAT, which is going to be the bulk of the charge anyway.

VAT will apply to your phone, and it will be 21%. Don't know if duty would be added too.

Brian

So it would probably be another hundred euro making it more like €500. Ouch. I shall explore alternatives. Thanks very much for the help.

jor el

Yep, plus the handling fee of €5-15 too.

new fang

hey, i have recently purchased a laptop from the states (worth ~650 usd + shipping). it was sent through usps (united states postal service). my question is this: will i get my laptop first then a bill for the vat/import duty, or the other way around, meaning they will hold the goods until i pay up? do usps shippings become delivered by an post once they enter the country?

also, what is this retarded "handling fee" and when does it become applicable?

thanks.

The Lovely Muffin

Has anyone purchased from http://www.abebooks.co.uk and had their stuff sent from the USA and had to pay duty/vat once your parcel got to Ireland/Irish Customs?

As I was thinking a book from them but the seller is in the USA and the total for the book incl shipping is around €28 euros.

I presume if I did order the book I'd have to pay Irish customs, but I want to be sure first.

Thanks.

jor el

new fang wrote: »

my question is this: will i get my laptop first then a bill for the vat/import duty, or the other way around, meaning they will hold the goods until i pay up?

Depends, sometimes it's collect on delivery, other times you're billed first. There's no hard and fast rule.

new fang wrote: »

do usps shippings become delivered by an post once they enter the country?

An Post, yes.

new fang wrote: »

also, what is this retarded "handling fee" and when does it become applicable?

A fee charged by the carrier (An Post or courier) for collecting the VAT on behalf of Revenue. It can be up to €15.

-Orlaith- wrote: »

As I was thinking a book from them but the seller is in the USA and the total for the book incl shipping is around €28 euros.

I presume if I did order the book I'd have to pay Irish customs, but I want to be sure first.

There is no VAT on books.

The Lovely Muffin

jor el wrote: »

There is no VAT on books.

Thank you.