Goddam Revenue people

dnme

About 2 weeks ago, I ordered a few small bits and pieces from Hong Kong from Ebay. Stuff like a lens cover, remote shutter release cable, reflector board etc. Order came to about 60USD.

Got a letter from revenue today asking me to email them the receipt and thatI would have to pay the postman duty on the goods. In the meantime they hold onto the goods and if I dont respond within 14 days one way or another, they send th egoods back to the seller.

Others beware, if you buy from outside the EU

kippy

Its a pretty common occurrence on goods from Chins/US/Non EU countries alright.
How much are they looking for? You can sometimes challenge the valuations they put on the objects.

Deise Dan

I got a lens hood which was reasonable, the postage was more than the cost of the hood, but wait for it, the UPS delivery guy when he arrived at the door, charged me vat on the total amount.
Anyone know the story with new equipement from England. Will I et caught ?

KarmaGarda

Deise Dan wrote: »

Will I et caught ?

As Dougal McGuire once said "Careful now!"...

DaireQuinlan

Deise Dan wrote: »

I got a lens hood which was reasonable, the postage was more than the cost of the hood, but wait for it, the UPS delivery guy when he arrived at the door, charged me vat on the total amount.
Anyone know the story with new equipement from England. Will I et caught ?

No. Shipments from England already have VAT paid on them. And yes, it's allways the case that VAT is payable on the price of the item and the postage.

It's probably a good time to note that these threads will start popping up on a more and more frequent basis in the couple of months ahead. Every year from the start of november onward customs start a crackdown on stuff coming into the country. Looks like this year will be no different :rolleyes:

dnme

The paypal receipt that I sent into them was for $64. Yes a meesley 64 dollars. So they will work out the duty on that, then give the stuff to the postman, then I have to meet (wait for) the postman, and pay him by postal order or cheque only)

In the words of my great grand ma ma....

"Tossers, the lot of em"

EDIT: I just received this email back from Revenue

Many thanks for your email. The expected delivery day of your package is Thursday by An Post, with a Customs charge of € 15.76 (€ 9.76 Vat plus €6 post office handling fee). You can pay the postperson on delivery Cash, Cheque or Postal Order (made payable to AN POST.). Any queries relating to the delivery please contact An Post customer service at 1850575859.

Regards

Mary Bohan

Ballyman

dnme wrote: »

Regards

Mary Bohan

Good oul Mary. Many's the battle I've had with this lady.

Cosmo K

I know the feeling:D

Got this e-mail yesterday:

Thank you for your email. The expected delivery day of your parcel is
Wednesday By An Post, with a Customs charge of €23.10
(€17.10 VAT plus €6 post office handling fee). You can pay the postperson
cash or cheque/postal order, payable to An Post
on delivery.Any queries relating to the delivery of your package should be
made to An Post Customer Service at 1850575859.
Regards
Bridget O'Reilly

Mr. Presentable

I genuinely don't know what your problem is. Pay your taxes! Why should I have to pay taxes when I import goods and you are exempt? It's a small enough amount - you're still well ahead of what you'd have paid here.

Rb

"postperson" :rolleyes:

Kintarō Hattori

I've never ordered something of such high value that I've had to pay tax. I wouldn't mind paying the tax if I had to but why, why the f*ck should I have to pay a handling fee. C'nuts.

Ghost Train

not much you can do really, it's part and parcel of ordering from outside the eu

mrboswell

"plus €6 post office handling fee" - An Post/revenue...
Fair enough to pay import duty/VAT but post office handling fee?!?
Thats a joke....now we know where the money for Sean Kelly's cycling team comes from!

pullandbang

Oh crap! Just ordered D40 + 28-135 IS USM Lens + bits & pieces.

Mr. Presentable

mrboswell wrote: »

"plus €6 post office handling fee" - An Post/revenue...
Fair enough to pay import duty/VAT but post office handling fee?!?
Thats a joke....now we know where the money for Sean Kelly's cycling team comes from!

Maybe, but they are going to mediate between you and Revenue - should they do it for free? Maybe you'd prefer to pay the tax directly to Revenue in Limerick and collect your goods at Customs?

cash22

I just got one of these too for an order from Hong Kong. I emailed the ebay seller who says that there's no receipt or price marked on the package. Do you think I'll get away with saying that it's a gift. The package and postage is worth £25

trishw78

use your method of payment as your reciept.

dnme

cash22 wrote: »

I just got one of these too for an order from Hong Kong. I emailed the ebay seller who says that there's no receipt or price marked on the package. Do you think I'll get away with saying that it's a gift. The package and postage is worth £25

Well the watershed is orders over €22, you are very close to that, tell them its worth 20, if they open it, big deal

gandalf

I am actually surprised that they are going after such low value items, then again given things are so bad they are trying every way to get revenue in.

If you are ordering from outside the EU you are liable to Duty & VAT and you should make allowances with your calculations for that in doing your price comparisons.

m_s_nixon

Ghost Train wrote: »

not much you can do really, it's part and parcel of ordering from outside the eu

you should be banned from photography for a month for that :P

Fionn

part and packaging? show a little leeway!!

Chorcai

KarmaGarda wrote: »

As Dougal McGuire once said "Careful now!"...

LOL comin from someone with Garda in there nickname makes this even more funny !

wandererz

gandalf wrote: »

I am actually surprised that they are going after such low value items, then again given things are so bad they are trying every way to get revenue in.

If you are ordering from outside the EU you are liable to Duty & VAT and you should make allowances with your calculations for that in doing your price comparisons.

It's not just a matter of "ordering from outside the EU". I ordered 5 SDHC cards from mymemory.co.UK.

Received one of those customs requests. Why?? Because it shipped from Jersey which is outside the EU.
Cost me an extra 19euro.

kensutz

mrboswell wrote: »

Thats a joke....now we know where the money for Sean Kelly's cycling team comes from!

Oi, leave the cycling alone

AnCatDubh

I think people should be very aware of the requirements on anything which is imported from a country which is outside of the EU (and indeed what countries are actually inside the EU). This is going to get more prevalent in the run up to the Christmas market.

The days of it being a bit of hit and miss are long gone. Factor it into your purchase cost to avoid disappointment.

And obviously as others have already pointed out, paying this tax is the law. Plain and simple regardless of what anyone's beliefs are.

wandererz

Sure. Just pointing out that mymemory.co.uk is a UK site.

All pricing in Sterling.
According to their terms & Conditions: "12. English law applies to this contract."

Leads one to believe that goods are shipping from the UK.
Which they do...except irish orders which get shipped from Jersey! :rolleyes:

I bet loads of people here have ordered from them before. I have.. but first time i've been stung for duty.

CabanSail

I do not see any problem with paying the Tax which is due. It is the law & ignorance of that is no excuse.

The €6 fee for An Post is another matter. Surely they should charge their costs to Revenue as when they are doing the Tax collection they are doing the work for them. To me it seems a bit like the Chinese Govt who send a bill to the family of those they execute for the cost of the ammunition.

AnCatDubh

Oops, need to rephrase slightly as how i put it could be interpreted with wrong intent;

I think people should need to be very aware of the requirements on anything which is imported from a country which is outside of the EU (and indeed what countries are actually inside the EU). This is going to get more prevalent in the run up to the Christmas market.

Apologies, I wasn't having a go

Chorcai

wandererz wrote: »

Sure. Just pointing out that mymemory.co.uk is a UK site.

All pricing in Sterling.
According to their terms & Conditions: "12. English law applies to this contract."

Leads one to believe that goods are shipping from the UK.
Which they do...except irish orders which get shipped from Jersey! :rolleyes:

I bet loads of people here have ordered from them before. I have.. but first time i've been stung for duty.

Good point, I would also assume it came from the UK, unless on the site/package it has "posted from Jersey" ?

wandererz

AnCatDubh wrote: »

Apologies, I wasn't having a go

Ahhh you're awright !

Chorcai wrote: »

Good point, I would also assume it came from the UK, unless on the site/package it has "posted from Jersey" ?

Nothing on the site that i've seen. Only time i became aware of it was when an post tried to deliver and sure enoughh, postage stamp said "Jersey". Not complaining to much here as mymemory offers free delivery...but still not nice when you 're budgeting nd go to the trouble of not buying from HK/US and still get stung by revenue.

Chorcai

memoryc.ie is good for well memory cards, their Irish and have used them alot, bought my SD cards + ram + coolers etc etc plus you can ring them as well !

mrboswell

nipplenuts wrote: »

Maybe, but they are going to mediate between you and Revenue - should they do it for free? Maybe you'd prefer to pay the tax directly to Revenue in Limerick and collect your goods at Customs?

No they should deliver it and revenue should send you a bill

sasar

For some reason I was under the impression that you have to pay customs charge only for the items over 48 Euro.

DaireQuinlan

wandererz wrote: »

Sure. Just pointing out that mymemory.co.uk is a UK site.

All pricing in Sterling.
According to their terms & Conditions: "12. English law applies to this contract."

Leads one to believe that goods are shipping from the UK.
Which they do...except irish orders which get shipped from Jersey! :rolleyes:

I bet loads of people here have ordered from them before. I have.. but first time i've been stung for duty.

Caveat Emptor I think. Nowhere on their site do they claim to ship from the UK. If you look at their contact page there's contact addresses all of which are in Jersey. In fairness this is one of those things that most people only discover after getting stung for import duty. It's one of those 'well known to be in the channel islands' places, like 7dayshop or MX2. Neither of those places make it completely clear, but its up to yourself to find out if you're ordering.

cnocbui

I have no problem with them collecting applicable duties and taxes, what I do have a problem with is when the cost of collection very probably exceeds the revenue being collected.

Collecting €17 a time, is not going to plug a 20-40 billion Euro hole in the countries finances.

Mr. Presentable

mrboswell wrote: »

No they should deliver it and revenue should send you a bill

You'd pay that, right?

It's not a difficult concept. VAT and duties are levied at point of entry, not at your house. So the goods sit at said point until cleared by you paying your dues.

Mr. Presentable

cnocbui wrote: »

I have no problem with them collecting applicable duties and taxes, what I do have a problem with is when the cost of collection very probably exceeds the revenue being collected.

Collecting €17 a time, is not going to plug a 20-40 billion Euro hole in the countries finances.

So buy more stuff, help the country out.

mrboswell

nipplenuts wrote: »

You'd pay that, right?

It's not a difficult concept. VAT and duties are levied at point of entry, not at your house. So the goods sit at said point until cleared by you paying your dues.

Thanks for that - I do understand the concept but the amount of "collection fees" is ridiculous. In fact the goods do not always sit at point of entry - if you are there when the an post guy delivers then you can pay him - my problem is that the system doesn't work in favour of the customer as "most" people are not around when the post arrives.

nipplenuts wrote: »

So buy more stuff, help the country out.

Think you are having a laugh! Buying more stuff isn't the answer - collecting more VAT and import duty will not plug a gap in the countries finances. Sure, if everyone decides to but overseas then we would have a small increase in revenue "IF" everyone declared that they bought new camera gear or whatever and decided to pay their dues. But it would have an inverse effect as businesses and jobs would suffer in the country so to be fair you don't really know what you are talking about.

If we lowered VAT here people would be more inclined to buy here.

It is perfectly reasonable to complain about an excessive handling fee when an post are delivering it anyway.

WillyWonka

So, if I order from B&H in the US and get it shipped to my cousin who lives in the US. He then posts to me...is there a chance I get whacked for import duty and VAT?

I was looking at 2 x tripods and 2 x tripod heads, maybe remote and filters. Does the whole marking as a gift work in that case? (as it kind of is)

Alan

mrboswell

WillyWonka wrote: »

So, if I order from B&H in the US and get it shipped to my cousin who lives in the US. He then posts to me...is there a chance I get whacked for import duty and VAT?

I was looking at 2 x tripods and 2 x tripod heads, maybe remote and filters. Does the whole marking as a gift work in that case? (as it kind of is)

Alan

Strictly speaking, yes.

DaireQuinlan

mrboswell wrote: »

Strictly speaking, yes.

So long as the customs value of the entire consignment is less than €45. Otherwise it's VAT and duty time again

Mr. Presentable

mrboswell wrote: »

Think you are having a laugh! .........so to be fair you don't really know what you are talking about.

.

Yes. Ergo the big green smilie!

denat

nipplenuts wrote: »

I genuinely don't know what your problem is. Pay your taxes! Why should I have to pay taxes when I import goods and you are exempt? It's a small enough amount - you're still well ahead of what you'd have paid here.

+1

Revenue and their agents are doing the job they're paid for. If they don't do it they're critisised, if they do it they're critisised. There are always people who think the law doesn't apply to them because......

Good luck to anyone who manages to evade/avoid tax but, if you're caught, no sympathy - the rest of us have to pay for you.

dazftw

I guess its just luck really.. I recently got a step up transformer for my studio lights, it came to €105 and the postman gave it to me the other morning no tax or anything. It came from America.

I have had to pay some seriously high tax though on some camera gear..

ttcomet

MyMemory clearly state in there terms and conditions:

2. The price does not include any importation taxes applicable outside of the United Kingdom.

They also clearly state that they are in Jersey in the contact us section.

The way the VAT and Duty works is anything over 22 euro is subject to vat, if it is over 150 it is subject to duty and vat (there is also excise on some items). The duty rate for all items is buried in some serious looking tables on the revenue.ie site.

Also the carrier can charge you up to 15 euro for handling so 6 is not to bad.

Although I fully understand that you are pissed you had to pay it.

PaulieC

denat wrote: »

+1

Revenue and their agents are doing the job they're paid for. If they don't do it they're critisised, if they do it they're critisised. There are always people who think the law doesn't apply to them because......

Good luck to anyone who manages to evade/avoid tax but, if you're caught, no sympathy - the rest of us have to pay for you.

+1 again.

There is one person on this thread who is complaining that agents charge for their services, yet in another thread he is complaining coz someone used his photos without permission. One one hand he is pissed that his work is going unacknowledged yet he is not acknowledging the owrk that someone else has to do.

On a slightly related note, it always amazes me how precious people are about their photos not being stolen or used elsewhere when those photos have been processed by pirated software...

AnCatDubh

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ooohhhhh, ouch.

But in fairness perhaps a lot of home truths being spoken.

PaulieC

mrboswell wrote: »

Hope thats not referring to me...??

Nope, why ?

AnCatDubh

mrboswell wrote: »

Hope thats not referring to me...??

Well my post only referred to cambo's post and I didn't know who specifically he was referring to. The reason I commented is that I am aware of similar people to that which he describes and the words pot, kettle, black, comes to mind. (to be clear this doesn't refer to you).

You might be reading too much into it. Apologies if I gave a wrong impression.

mrboswell

cambo_gueno wrote: »

Nope, why ?

AnCatDubh wrote: »

Well my post only referred to cambo's post and I didn't know who specifically he was referring to. The reason I commented is that I am aware of similar people to that which he describes and the words pot, kettle, black, comes to mind. (to be clear this doesn't refer to you).

You might be reading too much into it. Apologies if I gave a wrong impression.

Sorry folks - misunderstanding

Kintarō Hattori

cambo_gueno wrote: »

Nope, why ?

I hope it's not me you're referring to? (Long thread about stolen photo on the forum).