Help! being asked to pay £100 customs duty and import VAT on my own effing jacket

[joustmaster]

But I will still end up being told to fill in that pointless form.

On the handful of occasions i've had to deal with them and fill in forms that i do not understand, they've been fairly helpful. Its probably worth trying.

I lost a jacket on a night out once when I was all sideways on 2cb. I couldn't remember which strangers house in a housing estate I'd abandoned it in. I loved that coat and still think about it.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Wait til they privatise it.

Why what will happen then?

This has only happened in the last couple of years. She's sent stuff from Aussie for years and years without this bullshit happening.
It's the way nobody tells you BEFORE you send the goods that is the real problem.

Fucking uneblievable that you have to pay tax to send your own bloody stuff home.

 

[editor]

I tweeted them, That'll sort it for sure.

 

[8ball]

Why what will happen then?

Storage charges, I expect.

 

[joustmaster]

I tweeted them, That'll sort it for sure.

All their tweets get printed out and posted to the headquarters.

 

[editor]

It gets returned to the sender after 20 days so it can make another pointless journey across the Atlantic. I've told the person that unless she has the energy to resend it (but this time emblazon the package with 'stinky, old used jacket of zero value' ) she can have it or give it away to a friend.

 

[kabbes]

It was a valiant effort but HMRC have your jacket now. Look upon their works, ye mighty, and despair.

 

[8ball]

It was a valiant effort but HMRC have your jacket now. Look upon their works, ye mighty, and despair.

 

[editor]

And the humanoid chat says:

As the charge has been raised then you would only have two options. You would either need to pay the charges due and then make a reclaim or decline the item, which means the item will be returned to the sender.

 

[editor]

The Parcelforce site says

The current customs charge for import parcels is £12.00 for parcels where the contents value is below £873 (equivalent to €1000).
High value goods over the threshold provided by HMRC and the UK Government (currently €1000 / £873), the customs charge is £25.00.

Unless the sender said the jacket was diamond encrusted hoe the fuck have they dreamt up these numbers?

 

[8ball]

The Parcelforce site says

Unless the sender said the jacket was diamond encrusted hoe the fuck have they dreamt up these numbers?

Someone at HMRC really likes that jacket.

 

[cupid_stunt]

The Parcelforce site says

Unless the sender said the jacket was diamond encrusted hoe the fuck have they dreamt up these numbers?

The £12 is the clearance fee, then there's VAT & duty on top.

If you buy goods online from outside the EU for delivery to the UK, you'll have to pay Customs Duty (if over £120 value) and Import VAT (if over £18) on top of the purchase price (including duties), though Customs Duty is waived if the amount of the calculated duty payable is £7 or less.

Did the sender not complete & put a customs label on the package when posting?

 

[equationgirl]

Someone at HMRC really likes that jacket.

Someone at HMRC really wants that jacket, more like.

 

[equationgirl]

The £12 is the clearance fee, then there's VAT & duty on top.



Did the sender not complete & put a customs label on the package when posting?

But how is import VAT due on an item you already own? It wasn't purchased outside the UK, it was separated from the owner outside the UK.

 

[8ball]

Someone at HMRC really wants that jacket, more like.

Is what I meant.

 

[equationgirl]

I have noticed that customs charges seem more frequently applied now, I had two fairly recently but previously I have only had one, and that was a few years back.

 

[equationgirl]

Is what I meant.

Sorry, I'm doing contracts, so I'm in pedant mode.

 

[cupid_stunt]

But how is import VAT due on an item you already own? It wasn't purchased outside the UK, it was separated from the owner outside the UK.

That's why I asked if the sender had completed a customs label.

 

[8ball]

On the bright side, imagine if the kind of people who worked in Customs were sprinkled throughout everyone else's workplaces.
<shudders>

 

[Idaho]

hang your head in shame.

I am... Although astonishment seems to be overtaking shame.

What a ridiculous situation.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I lost a jacket on a night out once when I was all sideways on 2cb. I couldn't remember which strangers house in a housing estate I'd abandoned it in. I loved that coat and still think about it.

Feel your pain, I lost a jacket whilst twatted on K in the travellers' field at Glastonbury in 2000. Really loved that jacket an'all.





HMRC only used to pick out a few packages to charge import & VAT on, but with the rise in internet shopping they do it to pretty much every single one now. Only thing to do here is let Parcelforce return it to sender, then get the sender to go to the airport and persuade someone flying to London to carry it over with them. Fill the pockets with coke to cover your costs.

 

[TopCat]

I get loads of packages from China and never get charged and they are never opened.
However parcels from the US get opened at least 50% of the time.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I get loads of packages from China and never get charged and they are never opened.
However parcels from the US get opened at least 50% of the time.

I get packages from China, but they always have customs labels declaring the value as less than what HMRC start charging on, and usually declare them as a 'gift', clever fuckers.

 

[petee]

can you have it cut into pieces, mailed in little packages which would avoid these fees, then sew it together when it all arrives?
then you could also tell the story endlessly when people see the stitching.

 

[Supine]

can you have it cut into pieces, mailed in little packages which would avoid these fees, then sew it together when it all arrives?
then you could also tell the story endlessly when people see the stitching.

Each parcel would be separately liable though!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I got charged for a book that I ordered from the US - cost me more than the book, the robbing bastards.

I think your jacket is doomed editor - the system is a licence to print money.

 

[petee]

Each parcel would be separately liable though!

 

[FridgeMagnet]

They seem really aggressive on US parcels. It's completely put me off going on Kickstarters etc from the US - no matter how cheap and trivial the product, I always seem to end up stung for about as much as I paid in VAT and "fees". I have no idea why - it's like an undeclared trade war, it doesn't happen for shit shipped from China.

This particular case seems really absurd though, that's way more than seems justified.

 

[editor]

Well, my jacket will be doing its bit to increase global warming by pointlessly being transported across the Atlantic in 20 days

I got charged for a book that I ordered from the US - cost me more than the book, the robbing bastards.

I think your jacket is doomed editor - the system is a licence to print money.

My only hope is if I go back to the US next year and pick it up myself!

I've looked online and I can find a near identical jacket for aroubd £60 so I'll probably get that one in the autumn if I'm still missing it.

 

[equationgirl]

Well, my jacket will be doing its bit to increase global warming by pointlessly being transported across the Atlantic in 20 days

My only hope is if I go back to the US next year and pick it up myself!

I've looked online and I can find a near identical jacket for aroubd £60 so I'll probably get that one in the autumn if I'm still missing it.

Are any US urbs coming to the UK over the next few months?