New Import Duty/VAT Thread. Read Post #1 for Rules

California Dreamer

TomOnBoard wrote: »

DHL charge customs clearance fees even when no VAT or Customs duty are chargeable. And the more honest the sender is, by detailing the items in the package, the more they charge the recipient. A package declared as containing from 1-6 items of no value will cost €20 to process. a package with 10 items of no value will cost €40 with an extra 5€ per line in the declaration form thereafter.

Who pockets that cash?

Seems like a bit of, but not unexpected scam!

TomOnBoard

California Dreamer wrote: »

Who pockets that cash?

Seems like a bit of, but not unexpected scam!

Payment is made to DHL. Revenue (Customs) say its nothing to do with them.

whiterebel

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Payment is made to DHL. Revenue (Customs) say its nothing to do with them.

Did you ask DHL what its for? Payment for all shipments is made to the courier, not Revenue. DHL, UPS, FedEx and An Post are all paid directly

TomOnBoard

whiterebel wrote: »

Did you ask DHL what its for? Payment for all shipments is made to the courier, not Revenue. DHL, UPS, FedEx and An Post are all paid directly

What they called an admin fee and multi-line clearances.

whiterebel

TomOnBoard wrote: »

What they called an admin fee and multi-line clearances.

Did you ask them what they were doing them for if there were no charges? Or ask for a copy of the customs entry?

What was being imported, was it marked as gifts, or transfer of residence?

I'm genuinely interested in this, its not that I don't believe you.

California Dreamer

whiterebel wrote: »

Did you ask them what they were doing them for if there were no charges? Or ask for a copy of the customs entry?

What was being imported, was it marked as gifts, or transfer of residence?

I'm genuinely interested in this, its not that I don't believe you.

I asked and got some generic line about import charges etc.

Wife asked me not to argue the point as it was xmas presents from her mother to our kid and risk delaying it. I decided that was 2 arguments I wouldn't win! :eek:

TomOnBoard

whiterebel wrote: »

Did you ask them what they were doing them for if there were no charges? Or ask for a copy of the customs entry?

What was being imported, was it marked as gifts, or transfer of residence?

I'm genuinely interested in this, its not that I don't believe you.

They have a range of charges that apply depending on the work that needs to be done to process the package through Customs, even if no VAT or Duty is levied. So, if anything at all passes through them, they levy a charge.

That's the point I was making originally. If a package is declared to contain 12 different items of a cent value each, retrieved from a skip in Sydney Australia, it will attract €50 in charges if it is sent via DHL.

whiterebel

You are entitled to bring it in free of VAT/Duty as long as it is a genuine gift, valued at less than €45.00
If it is not declared as such, they have to find values and use them for the calculations. A lot of shippers don't do this properly, never mind once off private individuals. A big mistake is not marking on the paperwork that it is

a) A gift and
b) All Freight charges paid, i.e. Free delivered uncleared. This means they will use their published tariff to calculate freight charges, which is expensive. This is agreed with Revenue.

I'm mystified with the DHL one and no charges, unless the couriers have to do an entry for CSO purposes? If that is the case they are told by Revenue to do it, and they aren't going to do it for nothing. If they are using a courier for the shipments it would be seen to be more valuable and have to be accounted for, whereas An Post could count up all the packages under €6 VAT exemption and supply the overall figure.

If it ever happens again ask for a copy of the customs entry. If you are being put down as the importer of record, you are entitled to it.

AnimalRights

Hi
I completely forgot when I ordered a PC from UK 2 weeks ago that I would probably be hit for vat and excise duty.
It's not due to be delivered until January although I paid the company 2 weeks ago. am I still going to get hammered?
I'm guessing yes because I won't receive it until January

whiterebel

AnimalRights wrote: »

Hi
I completely forgot when I ordered a PC from UK 2 weeks ago that I would probably be hit for vat and excise duty.
It's not due to be delivered until January although I paid the company 2 weeks ago. am I still going to get hammered?
I'm guessing yes because I won't receive it until January

Depends on their Vat arrangements and the value. You may have to pay 21% VAT on Value + Freight. And a customs clearance fee. The first post in this thread should explain everything.

Wheety

If you order something from Amazon UK with a value less than €22 (or where the Irish VAT would be less than €6) does that mean you don't pay UK or Irish VAT? That's if Amazon checkout does the deduction automatically.

I know this is changing in July.

sniper_samurai

Wheety wrote: »

If you order something from Amazon UK with a value less than €22 (or where the Irish VAT would be less than €6) does that mean you don't pay UK or Irish VAT? That's if Amazon checkout does the deduction automatically.

I know this is changing in July.

That is correct, if you order after Brexit.

rubadub

Wheety wrote: »

If you order something from Amazon UK with a value less than €22 (or where the Irish VAT would be less than €6) does that mean you don't pay UK or Irish VAT? That's if Amazon checkout does the deduction automatically.

If you buy small amounts you will not get free shipping, an idea would be to throw in some zero VAT items, like basic zero rated food stuffs to still get the free delivery.

Wheety

rubadub wrote: »

If you buy small amounts you will not get free shipping, an idea would be to throw in some zero VAT items, like basic zero rated food stuffs to still get the free delivery.

I still have Prime with Amazon

tonydude

Looking to buy something from the UK but it won't be shipped until the new year. If the purchase order states a date in December would I still get charged duties when it's shipped. Thanks

Apologies to the mods, I don't know where else to post this query.

Atlantic Dawn

Nobody knows.

If it was a DVD I'd chance it, if it was a new Range Rover Sport I would wait and see.

_Whimsical_

Know someone who emailed the European Consumer Centres advice service about this and the response was "we don't know".

I assume they'll have to allow some amnesty for people who are unaware of the effect of Brexit and for late shipments due to the current chaos.

whiterebel

tonydude wrote: »

Looking to buy something from the UK but it won't be shipped until the new year. If the purchase order states a date in December would I still get charged duties when it's shipped. Thanks

Apologies to the mods, I don't know where else to post this query.

Currently anything arriving in to the State from UK from Jan 1st may be liable to charges.

joujoujou

tonydude wrote: »

Looking to buy something from the UK but it won't be shipped until the new year. If the purchase order states a date in December would I still get charged duties when it's shipped. Thanks

[...]

whiterebel wrote: »

Currently anything arriving in to the State from UK from Jan 1st may be liable to charges.

^^ Exactly this. ^^

It's not the purchase date, it's arrival date that matters.

Wheety

I asked mandmdirect what the story is with their deliveries as most/all stuff comes from UK. I just wanted to know if they already charge Irish VAT. I presume they do as I think a company with over €35k sales into Ireland have to? According to this, they're a popular site https://www.ccpc.ie/business/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/12/2020-12-04-Online-shopping-and-Brexit-Presentation.pdf

I asked if they will be putting a customs declaration on deliveries to Ireland from January.

They don't know yet as there has been no deal announced. I hope they have a plan for no deal

Anyway, I'll wait until the new year and see what they're doing. I have free express delivery from them so would like to continue picking up some items from time to time.

Quackster

Wheety wrote: »

If you order something from Amazon UK with a value less than €22 (or where the Irish VAT would be less than €6) does that mean you don't pay UK or Irish VAT? That's if Amazon checkout does the deduction automatically.

I know this is changing in July.

It will depend where exactly the goods are shipped from. Amazon UK seems to be stepping up shipping to Irish addresses from EU warehouses whenever possible/practicable. In such instances, everything will remain as-is after Brexit (except maybe longer delivery times), including payment of Irish VAT.

rubadub

Wheety wrote: »

I still have Prime with Amazon

I some someone on reddit saying prime free postage might be ignored, not sure where they go it from but there would be some sense to it. i.e. they might make up their own shipping value.

Now with prime its not like its some scam, but if prime was legally allowed then what is to stop someone starting up a service, you pay €100 to join for a month, you get free delivery and are limited to buying goods up to €20. So now they can offer you an item which would have been €120 with free postage before brexit and now you are paying the exact same €120 but the invoice gets to say €20 so you possibly avoid VAT.

I know customs can obviously question the item value but with prime as it is you have effectively paid for postage via your fees.

Wheety

rubadub wrote: »

I some someone on reddit saying prime free postage might be ignored, not sure where they go it from but there would be some sense to it. i.e. they might make up their own shipping value.

Now with prime its not like its some scam, but if prime was legally allowed then what is to stop someone starting up a service, you pay €100 to join for a month, you get free delivery and are limited to buying goods up to €20. So now they can offer you an item which would have been €120 with free postage before brexit and now you are paying the exact same €120 but the invoice gets to say €20 so you possibly avoid VAT.

I know customs can obviously question the item value but with prime as it is you have effectively paid for postage via your fees.

If there's no delivery charge, I doubt Revenue make up their own. The customs value (for VAT) of an item includes delivery, insurance etc. If a company offers free delivery you can't be charged a made up sum. As far as I know, Amazon (or whoever) has to declare the transport charge as zero on the customs declaration rather than leave it blank.

But in the situation you describe, if customs open the item and see that it is a £200 item and the declared value is only £20 then you could be hit with a fine (or the company who declared the value) or have the item confiscated.

whiterebel

There is a post Brexit thread in Consumer issues here https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058137116. No point in having 3/4 threads on the go about the same thing

manlad

Got an invoice today from DHL for duty I need to pay on a coat I bought in the UK. Duty is €97.50 on a jacket which cost €210 euro.

Lesson firmly learned. I thought a trade agreement would mean avoiding this crap, obviously not. Will make sure to stick to EU sites into the future.

Ogham

manlad wrote: »

Got an invoice today from DHL for duty I need to pay on a coat I bought in the UK. Duty is €97.50 on a jacket which cost €210 euro.

Lesson firmly learned. I thought a trade agreement would mean avoiding this crap, obviously not. Will make sure to stick to EU sites into the future.

Can you just reject it , not pay the duty and let it go back to sender for a refund ?

manlad

manlad wrote: »

Got an invoice today from DHL for duty I need to pay on a coat I bought in the UK. Duty is €97.50 on a jacket which cost €210 euro.

Lesson firmly learned. I thought a trade agreement would mean avoiding this crap, obviously not. Will make sure to stick to EU sites into the future.

That seems very high just for duty. Some coats don't have a duty rate but about 10 to 15% would be usual

ohnonotgmail

manlad wrote: »

Got an invoice today from DHL for duty I need to pay on a coat I bought in the UK. Duty is €97.50 on a jacket which cost €210 euro.

Lesson firmly learned. I thought a trade agreement would mean avoiding this crap, obviously not. Will make sure to stick to EU sites into the future.

does the 97.50 include vat plus the DHL customs processing fee? what was the shipping cost on the jacket?

whiterebel

€210 + Freight? (Say €40) @ 21% VAT = 52.50 + Clearance €15/18. Something wrong there.

whiterebel

whiterebel wrote: »

€210 + Freight? (Say €40) @ 21% VAT = 52.50 + Clearance €15/18. Something wrong there.

Throw in another 20 odd for the actual duty maybe?