ordering from america

[wgry234]

anybody bought boat a trim motor from america if so how long to get here and do we have to pay tax thanks

[Persues]

Never bought that item so I can't comment directly on it, but I generally figure on around 3% of purchase price for import duty, plus VAT at 20% of the purchase price AND delivery cost. VAT is charged on postal fees as well as the items value at point of purchase, and depending on the item value you may also get hit for customs duty.

As a basic rule I usually work on 25 - 30% over the total price on anything of value.

This is from the HM Revenue & Customs site:

Goods Value*

£0.01 to £15

No customs duty

No Import VAT

Goods Value*

£15.01 to £135

No customs duty

Import VAT due

Goods Value*

£135.01 and greater

Customs duty due, but waived if the amount calculated due is less than £9

Import VAT due

I bring quite a lot of stuff over, mainly Seiko and Omega watches, and 30% is my overall rule of thumb and it usually comes in at a little less than that.

Not sure if that helps or not, but there we are.

[wgry234]

thanks thats what i needed to know still cheaper from america

[mark]

The key is what the sender writes on the shipping invoice. I import stuff from all over the world every day. Had a 53Kg parcel arrive to day that was shipped from pakistan last thursday - Custom rang me saturday wanting 25 quid duty/vat - the sender had declared the invoice vale as 80 quid

never been charged duty on the actual shipping costs, but will pay VAT and/or Import duty based on the shipping invoice value. So if the sender is prepared to declare the items at a lower value you pay less.

with stuff from the states, in the past when it has been sent US postal service rather than by courier, it just turned up at the door and I've not paid anything. bought a few radios & plotters that way

the other old trick was to get the sender to declare it as a gift - nothing payable.

[wgry234]

thanks

[Persues]

All I would say is be careful on any high value item - if something goes wrong with the delivery your insurance claim will be compromised if the declared value is substantially lower than its actual value. Most couriers will only insure up to the declared/invoice value for obvious reasons, so you have to balance risk of loss against the cost of import/customs/VAT.

Good luck !

[mark]

For what its worth, just had one this morning via DHL.

total invoice value was $260 total duty I had to pay was £9.55