Import vat on parcel from USA

[Josie1968]

Hello there

My American friend has sent me a parcel and I have received a letter from Parcelforce saying I need to pay £71.54 to receive it 😰

She sent one last year with no problems and I sent one earlier this year with no issues her end.. so am confused! Has anyone else experienced this?

I might have to call them however I was curious as to whether this is a common thing.. it can’t be Brexit as that would just affect parcels coming from the EU I would have thought..

Many thanks
Josie

www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty tells you what you need to know, depends on the value.

I used to only occasionally get these notices, but now get them all the time. If you don't pay the parcel will get returned. It's not really worth it to get parcels sent over unless the charges are prepaid.

@Ariela thanks for the link I’ll have a look

@Noname1999 thank you, it’s a shame it’s such a lot of money and don’t want to tell my friend as she was so excited for me to receive it 🙁 I’ll have to pay it as I want to see what she sent me 😂 we like to send each other parcels but will have to be careful in future..

Same we had huge bills when family sent sweets from Canada. They won’t accept vague descriptions anymore the exact contents and each price needs to be broken down and not exceed £30 for gifts. If the parcel is for several people the items have to be wrapped for each person and the exact breakdown given for each person.

We can’t accept parcels for the kids anymore as the bills were in the hundreds.