VAT on USA purchases

IME, if you received it via Royal Mail and they didn't ask you to pay at delivery, you won't hear anything. If you received it via a courier (e.g. DHL), then you'll probably get an invoice from the courier within a couple of weeks or so.

The reasoning for this is that the RM isn't generally set up to collect VAT, whilst couriers are, so they pay HMC&E on landing of all packages, then charge the recipients accordingly.

Best Regards, Alex.

of any VAT

Who delivered it? If it was the Post Office there is unlikely to be any follow up. If it was a courier, such as DHL, you'll get a bill in due course, unless the sender has opted to meet the costs.

Depends, you might not get one at all. There are several ways to avoid getting the packages charged at customs, and there are several ways to guarantee it. For example, some of the large shipping carriers automatically invoice for VAT to speed up the customs process. It all depends on the company you use and what shipping arrangements they have.

Also, goods under a certain value (around 18 IIRC) don't get taxed at all. I'd say that you are unlikely to get one now; as the notes on the package itself should indicate that there is VAT to pay.

Fraser

It came via Fedex.

Roland.

You'll probably get 4 charges.

1 VAT 2 A charge for collecting the VAT 3 Duty 4 A charge for collecting the duty.

Nice, and of course they usually aren't very up front about 2 and 4.

i don't think VAT is correct for non Euro purchases - duty is though...from around 3% upwards

john

snipped-for-privacy@dial.pipex.com

In message , JCS2000 writes

VAT is definitely charged on non EU purchases. The liability starts about £18.

Thanks, I'll assume that is the case with me. Looks like it will be more than 17.5%?

Roland.

If it is a book, then there isn't any VAT on it. Most other things will.

The duty is worked out on the value of the goods within the package (if the company you order from are streetwise, their Customs documentation won't reflect the true value!) and then you get your 17.5% VAT plus (in my case) a

4.50 handling charge.

In message , Tim Richards writes

Does anyone know if VAT and duty are payable on second hand goods over 6 months old? I sometimes get stuff through ebay and this would be useful to know

thanks

In general, yes, unless they so old that they pre-date the introduction of VAT.