Customs charge

[Chocolate1985]

Hi I have Purchased $230 (£180) worth of items from USA for Christmas present. Is anyone able to give me a good estimate on what the total charge of customs VAT I would be liable for . I think VAT is 20% of value of item but not sure how the customs charge works and as far as I know there's also a £8 postal charge from Royal Mail . Been told at post office I can use credit card to pay for this but want to prepare myself in case it's a lot more than what I've estimated it will be .

It's around 2.5% customs charge for items over £130 and less than £600 on top of 20% vat.
There are online calculators to get estimated amount, but you have to register and not 100% sure if you have to pay for those.
We just collect ours from the sorting office and pay with card.

Is the value taken as Uk value or US value ? Actually beginning to doubt item will ever appear this side of Christmas now so may be worrying over nothing

I'm pretty sure it's of UK value, this should be able to help clear things up a bit

www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

Fingers crossed your items come in time, I've usually found it only takes a couple of weeks and tend to order from the states quite a bit.

It's from Kylie Jenner site :( ended up buying myself and my niece quite a lot off it then realised she has the worst feedback ever ! Thanks for the link will try to work it out

I ordered from the Kylie Jenner site for my dd on 24th Nov, it arrived on Thursday just gone! Very impressed with speed!

I ordered $60 worth and it cost me £18 in charges which I paid at my local sorting office when I collected it on Saturday. My local office is tiny though and dosen't accept card payment but that was cear in the card they posted me to say it was ready to collect.

Hope yours turns up as speedily!!

My friend has sent me a box of bits and pieces from the States. She has little money so it will be stuff like fridge magnets, home knitted socks,some Graham crackers etc.
Fucking customs whacked £62 on it!! I don't have £62 spare. that will be well more than the contents are worth but I don't want to not collecg it after she had the kindness to send me stuff. Dilemma!

Do you have to pay a charge on gifts? How do they calculate this? I'm about to send a parcel to my friend and she's sending one to me.

Offtofeedthesheep I ordered cyber Monday I got up at 5 a.m(crazy!) as I thought the ruddy thing would be sold out as she was doing 20% off it's not even shipped yet :( I would love it if my order had actually been shipped and they've just not updated it as my niece would be so happy and surprised I hope to get the products .
Dementedma that's horrible they've did that with your friends gift I have family over in the States and for years we were able to exchange gifts with no customs fees then it started so now we order on sites over there and get it delivered straight to them .

It depends what you ordered - check the calculator. I ordered 2 American Girl dolls and it was exactly 20 so £40 on 2 dolls. Postage and packaging was similar on top

Should say 2x dolls came to $160. Paid $40 shipping but £40 tax on collection

dementedma - you must challenge that - I thought customs charges was only for purchases, not gifts. I could be wrong, but definitely check

I ordered £250 worth of clothes for the kids from America for Christmas. The customs charge was £90 . It was still cheaper than buying the clothes in this country, just.

TheFairyCaravan ouch ! I really wish All US retailers would find a way of incorporating the customs charge into the checkout online that way there would be no nasty surprises .

Shouldn't be charged on a gift unless its worth more than £34, according to that link.

Duty is charged on the cost of the goods + postal charges + insurance. Then VAT is charged on top of that. The % of duty depends on what the goods are. Different goods have different rates of duty.
www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

dementedma - As halcyondays stated, if the gift is worth less than £34, you shouldn't be charged any VAT and gifts under £135 don't get charged any duty.

Sounds like your friend has probably cocked up when she posted it. I'd assume she didn't think to state it was a gift on the customs declaration and for those sort of fees to be due she must have heftily exaggerated the value too (probably thinking that'd be better for insurance purposes, in case of loss of the parcel.)