Customs/tax?

[Great egret]

I have a couple of knives i'd like to send to the UK, but am worried that the receiver will have to pay customs/tax for them.
Is there anyone who has send a knife TO the UK in 2022, and if so, did the receiver have to pay customs/tax?

 

[C_Claycomb]

Why would you ask only for responses from people outside the UK? Surely the people who will know most about tax and duty paid are those in the UK who had things shipped to them? You are assuming that anyone who shipped to the UK shipped to someone who bothered to tell them that they had to pay tax.
I have had stuff shipped to me and have paid tax to the courier when required, but I have not felt any need to tell the shipper about it.

Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad

VAT, duty and customs declarations for goods received by post or courier - paying, collecting your goods, getting a refund and documents.

www.gov.uk

There does seem to be a loophole that if you sell your own items to someone in the UK, not as a business, so you are not going to register for UKVAT, and the are under £135 value….

If the goods are marked as over £135 the odds are the recipient will pay VAT. Although the rule says the VAT is charged on the shipping too, I have not experienced this on my orders.

 

[Erbswurst]

I recieved a gift from London and had to pay tax for it in Berlin. And it was even an old continental product, an Austrian military surplus jacket.

Incredible but true!

 

[Great egret]

Why would you ask only for responses from people outside the UK? Surely the people who will know most about tax and duty paid are those in the UK who had things shipped to them? You are assuming that anyone who shipped to the UK shipped to someone who bothered to tell them that they had to pay tax.
I have had stuff shipped to me and have paid tax to the courier when required, but I have not felt any need to tell the shipper about it.

Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad

VAT, duty and customs declarations for goods received by post or courier - paying, collecting your goods, getting a refund and documents.

www.gov.uk

There does seem to be a loophole that if you sell your own items to someone in the UK, not as a business, so you are not going to register for UKVAT, and the are under £135 value….

If the goods are marked as over £135 the odds are the recipient will pay VAT. Although the rule says the VAT is charged on the shipping too, I have not experienced this on my orders.

you're right, i could have asked that more clearly. I did not do that on purpose...

 

[alphaburner]

In Ireland I’m getting hit for everything coming from the UK. Have it marked as a gift or a repair/return. Getting charged VAT on 2nd or 3rd hand items smarts a bit.

 

[Kadushu]

I (in the UK) received a knife from Spain and didn't pay any tax/customs duty. From what I have heard it can be a bit of a lottery. Also a lottery regarding whether a knife is seized for being illegal or whether the recipient gets a police visit even if the knife is legal.

 

[gra_farmer]

As others have stated, it is a lottery at the moment, customs are being mean to most people and had a challenge on a torch recently, that came from China.

I have once had a police warning for a knife purchase, but it was only because they randomly checked and had too give one as it was a knife.

 

[sidpost]

On a somewhat related thought, if I buy something in the UK to be shipped to me in the USA, do I have anything to worry about in terms of UK tax with all the Brexit and COVID impacts?

I am looking to buy a Lambsfoot that isn't legal for pocket carry in the UK due to being a ~91mm blade length. USA customs and import issues are not a concern right now.

Thanks,
Sid

 

[SaraR]

I have a couple of knives i'd like to send to the UK, but am worried that the receiver will have to pay customs/tax for them.
Is there anyone who has send a knife TO the UK in 2022, and if so, did the receiver have to pay customs/tax?

I got sent a gift (a pair of handknitted mittens) from Canada and since the Canadian Post Office had put the value to less than CAD100 by default. Since it was over £39, I got hit with VAT and the annoying paperwork fee. So if you send something to the UK, even as a gift, make sure to give the value as £35ish, or arrange for the recipient to be reimbursed. For values over £135 there's import duty as well.

 

[Great egret]

I got sent a gift (a pair of handknitted mittens) from Canada and since the Canadian Post Office had put the value to less than CAD100 by default. Since it was over £39, I got hit with VAT and the annoying paperwork fee. So if you send something to the UK, even as a gift, make sure to give the value as £35ish, or arrange for the recipient to be reimbursed. For values over £135 there's import duty as well.

I am in the Netherlands and travel to London by train for less then £100. It's cheaper and faster for me to travel to the UK pickup my knife and maybe post another in London.... i might setup a "postal service"

 

[Laurentius]

I got stung with £35 duty on an Akubra hat from Australia a while back.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Duty, or VAT?

 

[TeeDee]

I'm looking at buying something from the USA - ref additional charges is there a calculator for working it out?

 

[Pattree]

American retailers sell at a basic price that then add on any tax.
THIS might be useful.

 

[Kepis]

I'm looking at buying something from the USA - ref additional charges is there a calculator for working it out?

This might help, probably best to use a guide only though.

UK Import Tax Calculator — ChamberCustoms | Customs Clearance Agents, Customs Training & Customs Consultants

How do I calculate UK import duty and other taxes? When goods come into the country and cross the border, various taxes may be payable. To find out what you will have to pay in the UK, you need to look at The UK Tariff and use our UK Import Tax Calculator to understand the duties owed.

www.chambercustoms.co.uk

 

[sidpost]

Shipped out of the USA should not charge sale tax but, you will need to pay UK customs import duty.

Going the other way, if it is less than $800USD including shipping, it arrives to me in Texas, USA customs import duty-free.

 

[Nice65]

The SANDMARC lenses I bought for myiphone recently incurred import fees. FedEx also added their own charge of over £12 and just labelled it ‘other charges’.

 

[TeeDee]

The SANDMARC lenses I bought for myiphone recently incurred import fees. FedEx also added their own charge of over £12 and just labelled it ‘other charges’.

Nice of them...

 

[Keith_Beef]

If you buy something from outside the UK and have it shipped to you, it is subject to Vat on the cost of the goods plus shipping plus the administrative fee that the shipping carrier might charge.

For an item costing £90 plus £10 shipping plus £15 administrative fee, you will end up paying a total of £118 (on a standard rate of Vat at 20%).

There may be extra duty to pay on certain items, but I can't think of anything that you might be able to order other than tobacco and alcohol, and I'm not sure you can buy tobacco like that. You'd need to check the HS code (this replaced the TARIC system since Brexit) to find out.

There may be a way for the sender to pay the Vat in advance, but this might be dependent on the sender having an account with the shipping carrier or having an account with the national Vat collection service (HMRC for the UK). When I order stuff from Japan through eBay for delivery in France, eBay collects the Vat at the same time as the cost of the goods and shipping.

Once, FedEx tried it on, sending me an invoice for the Vat on a lens... I don't know if FedEx is in the habit of scamming like that or if the seller forgot to check a box when filling out the form. It took a couple of months of me pinging out that the Vat had already been collected before FedEx dropped the matter.