Q+A on Import Duty+Tax [Do Not Ask How to Avoid!]

tombull82

HI

My question is if you buy an Item from Ebay that is valued at €500 which is being sold by a drop shipper from Ireland but the item is being sent from outside the EU.
Who would be the person responsible for the Import Tax and Vat on that item?
Is it the receiver of the product or would it be the person that received the initial payment i.e the drop shipper as he is based in Ireland?

Thanks
Tombull82

jor el

You will be responsible, as the drop shipper never takes delivery, it comes directly to you, making you the importer.

darc

Bond-007 wrote: »

Basically all the major couriers (DHL, FedEX, UPS etc) will sell you out to the tax man. .

How is this selling out??????

Please explain?????

The reason we have low paye is becuase we collect higher vat. We can have UK / USA personal tax rates & have 12 - 15% VAT or have it the way it is.


If you bought something from Europe and lived in the USA, state sales tax & US duties would be payable. - Same with OZ & NZ.


Next time you need children's allowance, hospital visit, social welfare, pension etc etc etc, think of where the money comes from! - Yep TAXES!

Our man in Havana

I wouldn't mind if An Post did the same.

cormie

Arghh, I got a letter in the post today from fedex saying I owed them 29 euro on a package that cost $110 including delivery from the US, which worked out at 86 euro. I thought they have to tell you this before you accept the package and you can choose to accept it or send it back and not pay? I wasn't told there were any charges and if I was, I would have certainly considered not accepting it as it made it no longer a "better" deal than what I could get here.

What's the situation with this? Surely they should tell you before you accept that if you do accept you're liable for charges:(

cormie

Got a letter from Fedex today explaining why I was charged, I knew why, but I thought the recipient has the option to take the package and pay the fees or refuse the package, it's sent back to the sender and there's no fees. I was given the package with no notice of any fees to be paid and as I said, if I knew, there's a strong possibility I would have refused it. Anyone have any idea on the law with this?

cormie

Rang fedex there and they basically said that because I was informed of the charges on the website (it was on their shipping information page) that I pretty much agreed to pay import duties so there's not much I can do about it which is fair enough although it does make me want to avoid sites who insist on using fedex as it'll just make whatever I'm after not such a bargain.:(

TerrorFirmer

That'll happen with any courier. That's not just Fedex.

Thoie

I've ordered a low value item (a keyboard cover) from the US, which should be arriving any year now.

The item was $15, and the shipping via UPS is also $15 (rounded up and down for convenience). At today's rates this comes to roughly €23.50

Would I be correct in calculating my duty + VAT at approx €7?

Or would it be €7 + a random admin charge by the deliverer (An Post?) ?

jor el

You won't pay anything on that.

Gymguy

Hi.

I'm interested in importing a cotton rug from the US. The item is priced at $775 and the shipping charge is most likely $100. Does anyone know how much extra i'll be charged on top of the $885? I checked the Taric codes on the revenue website and i think customs on this is 3%, but i could be wrong.

And are there any couriers who WON'T rip me off? Fedex/UPS etc sound like a financial nightmare. Any help would really be appreciated.

Thanks a million!

jor el

There's no rip off in paying VAT, no one has a choice in the matter. VAT is 21.5%, which will be applied to the total amount, including shipping costs.

Gymguy

Sorry... didn't mean VAT was the rip off, just don't want to get lumped with a massive Fedex bill on top of the delivery/handling charges i would pay already. I saw on a post earlier that people are paying VAT on top of VAT which seems mad. 21.5% added to $875 is still alot of additional cash to spend and then for a Fedex bill for possibly 100 euro to turn up!..... that would drive me crazy.

Thanks for your help.

jor el

FedEX will bill you for the VAT and duty, they don't charge 100 euro for nothing. They will put 15 euro on, as a fee.

Our man in Havana

See if they will send it via the postal system.

The_Joker

Dumb question time!

What about importing a classic car in a container, aside from paying shipping fees and VRT are you possibly in line for VAT or is it a seperate thing?

jor el

Coming from outside EU = VAT, inside EU = no VAT.

The_Joker

jor el wrote: »

Coming from outside EU = VAT, inside EU = no VAT.

TY jor el

Except in the case of excisable goods.

plynch90

VRT is vehicle registration tax. separate to vat.

to clarify tax avoidance is the legal minimising of ones tax due by clever use of the tax system and tax evasion is the illegal non payment of tax due.

surely any ways of legal tax avoidance should be welcome here?

caz34

Does anyone know what I would be liable for if I imported a small ammount of wine (12 bottles) from an EU country? Would it just be vat?

nava

caz34 wrote: »

Does anyone know what I would be liable for if I imported a small ammount of wine (12 bottles) from an EU country? Would it just be vat?

Hi

I bought wine from Spain before 3 times about 50 bot each time, we never had to pay anything, the delivery was done by TNT, DHL and another transport company, the VAT is already paid in Spain so that might be the reason why we didn't have to pay it.

Graffogefarms

How do customs figure a 59 euro custom duty on web harness for goats. ( I have a cart which I use some to pull in parades, etc) Don't know of any here that do it? I have to order from the US.

jor el

Graffogefarms wrote: »

How do customs figure a 59 euro custom duty on web harness for goats.

I would guess, (cost of harness + delivery) * 21.5% + Handeling Fee = 59.

alastair_doom

I was reading a thread on HotUKdeals where they were talking about the tax free import limit. One guy said:

It's always a good idea to get international mail addressed to more than one person as the allowance is per person.

Never heard it myself before, and I'm quite sceptical, but If i filled in 2 names on the delivery Address, any chance the limit would be raised to €44 as opposed to €22?

heres the thread if any one is interested.

spupazza

Hi Guys,
I bought an item on ebay which provenience was from Hong Kong.
I paid 15 euro included postage (it was a firewire card for my laptop shipped in a letter envelop ).
Now Fedex sent me 3 letter on which tthey claim I own them 33 euro.
In the last letter they stated that if I don't pay them the amount due they will proceed through legal proceedings.
Should I really pay 33 euro for an item paid 15?

nava

spupazza wrote: »

Hi Guys,
I bought an item on ebay which provenience was from Hong Kong.
I paid 15 euro included postage (it was a firewire card for my laptop shipped in a letter envelop ).
Now Fedex sent me 3 letter on which tthey claim I own them 33 euro.
In the last letter they stated that if I don't pay them the amount due they will proceed through legal proceedings.
Should I really pay 33 euro for an item paid 15?

If the item was only 15 you should not need to pay anything but I think for customs they also include the shipping to calculate the own taxes. How much was shipping?

Did you call Fedex and explain it to them?

spupazza

nava wrote: »

If the item was only 15 you should not need to pay anything but I think for customs they also include the shipping to calculate the own taxes. How much was shipping?

Did you call Fedex and explain it to them?

The shipping cost was 7 euro.
I didn't call them. To be honest I didn't want lose time calling different numbers on something I shouldn't even have received.
I read once that for item under 40-50 euro there are not tax to pay.
I tried to find it back on revenue.ie unsuccessfully.

mower

I thought the 22euro limit was increased in the last budget,could be wrong.

jor el

Was an eBay item, of such a low value, actually shipped with FedEx?

Anyway, the limit is €22 for VAT. The duty limit is €150.

Is there anything on the bill which details where this €33 is coming from? Normally it would be (Item Value + Postage) * 21.5% + Handling charge (up to €15). In your case, this would total €18.23, if it was even due, which it is not.

Ignore the letters, they cannot, and will not, take you to court.

ellie22

I bought some clothes from the US online amounting to $228 and a handling fee of $66.99. When these goods arrived at the door UPS demanded that I pay €100.89 for customs vat and handling. First of all, does this figure seem correct? I wasn't expecting to pay that much.

When I checked some of the goods they did not fit and the store I bought them from offer refunds. If I was to send them back for a refund, is there any way I could get the UPS charge back? If I couldn't would there be any point in even sending these items back as it will cost me to post them back to the USA anyway??

I'm a bit annoyed cuz now it seems that I'm stuck with items that don't fit and it will only cost me more to return them.