Is VAT chargeable on children's toys?

[zebra]

I'm asking Mumsnet, the Oracle. We had a ParcelForce delivery today and got stung for £17 VAT (a classic American Red Wagon). The delivery guy says that he bought something similar for his own children last year, also from USA, and didn't pay VAT, as VAT is not chargeable on children's toys. So he encouraged me to apply for a refund. I can't find anything to confirm what he is saying on the Internet. Was the delivery driver wrong? I presume VAT must be chargeable on toys?

Can't get thru on HM Customs telephone lines. Thanks!

DH is always getting stuff sent from the states. VAT is chargable on childrens toys, but not everything gets picked up by customs.

We've had stuff that we were expecting to pay VAT on get through without customs charging and then other stuff being charged to the hilt.

I'm afraid it seems to be down to luck which parcels they pick out.

zebra and pie - it depends how the parcels were labelled. If they were labelled as 'gifts' they may not have had VAT charged. It's not dependent upon whether they are children's toys or not (which have VAT on anyway) this is import VAT that you are being charged (or not).

www.hmce.gov.uk shoudl help you.

Tinker, I forgot that bit....yes most of the stuff that we weren't charged on was marked as a gift, though occasionaly we would get charged regardless.

As a rule of thumb, even if it isn't marked as "gift", the customs people don't seem to bother collecting the VAT/duty on things with a value of less than £30/$50. I get quite a bit sent from the US, and hardly ever have to pay extra on it.

I got a red wagon form GLTC