Item delivered from states NO customs charges paid

Car99

I got an item delivered to my door from the states after it cleared Dublin customs in one day and no request was made to me to pay any vat or import duty .

Fast forward one month, I recieved a letter from the delivery company requesting the VAT and import duty due.

The request is from an international parcel delivery company and not from revenue.

Can anyone tell me how something gets through customs before duty is paid , is it a delivery company fcuk up , customs fcuk up or is this normal?

And if I dont pay the duty due what happens? Its sub €100 so it's not a big deal I just simply want to know how it all works.

Padre_Pio

Car99 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how something gets through customs before duty is paid , is it a delivery company fcuk up , customs fcuk up or is this normal?

The delivery company paid the fees probably, then usually you pay them back (plus their "handling fee") before they deliver to you.

Seems they just delivered without getting paid first.
It happened me with a Fedex delivery. I got a bunch of letters, then I moved house, so I presume it was written off.

Del2005

Does it make any difference? You knew that you were due to pay taxes on the import of goods from outside the EU and now you have the bill.

davetherave

If it was FedEx, DHL, UPS then they clear customs for you instead of having your consignment join the queue. Depending on the courier you have to pay before delivery or an invoice is delivered after.

shaveAbullock

davetherave wrote: »

If it was FedEx, DHL, UPS then they clear customs for you instead of having your consignment join the queue. Depending on the courier you have to pay before delivery or an invoice is delivered after.

Yup this is what happened, it's been standard practice from most the large courier companies for years now.

It cleared customs really fast because of this process that has been setup by the different companies.

What happens if you don't pay depends on the policy that company has for customers in debt.

Car99

Del2005 wrote: »

Does it make any difference? You knew that you were due to pay taxes on the import of goods from outside the EU and now you have the bill.

Cheers for the insight I never thought of it that way.

Car99

shaveAbullock wrote: »

Yup this is what happened, it's been standard practice from most the large courier companies for years now.

It cleared customs really fast because of this process that has been setup by the different companies.

What happens if you don't pay depends on the policy that company has for customers in debt.

It's a good system I was impressed how fast I received delivery I'll use fedex in future if I have the option.

I had a delivery from Amazon.us last year and that got delayed in Shannon even though I prepaid duty and VAT to Amazon .

SuperS54

Personally I would ask for proof that the customs taxes were paid.

L1011

SuperS54 wrote: »

Personally I would ask for proof that the customs taxes were paid.

To achieve what exactly?

SuperS54

L1011 wrote: »

To achieve what exactly?

You don't understand that simple concept?

L1011

SuperS54 wrote: »

You don't understand that simple concept?

You know full well the duty has been paid to Revenue - what are you expecting to achieve by asking for proof?

Some huge multinational firm to suddenly go "oh, you caught us! here, have your parcel"?

Peregrinus

SuperS54 wrote: »

Personally I would ask for proof that the customs taxes were paid.

The package cleared customs in one day. How do you think that happened if taxes and duties weren't paid?

The system whereby the courier fronts the taxes and recovers subsequently means people get much quicker deliveries than they otherwise would. If poeople dick around and run up the costs of that system by entering into correspondence and querying charges that are the charges that would be expected, the system either becomes more expensive or the courier companies simply discontinue it as being not worth the hassle. This is not a good outcome for people who import stuff.

If you have some reason to think the charge is amiss, by all means pay it. But routinely querying charges which are expected and look correct is not a wise policy.

witnessmenow

Car99 wrote: »

It's a good system I was impressed how fast I received delivery I'll use fedex in future if I have the option.

I had a delivery from Amazon.us last year and that got delayed in Shannon even though I prepaid duty and VAT to Amazon .

I'll issue a word of caution with this approach. I will never use Fedex again. Recently I paid $20 more on a $80 order to not use Fedex.

I always didn't like the way Fedex handle it (bill you a few weeks after). Most couriers do pay on your behalf and charge similar fees for the privilege, but they will bill you before they deliver. DHL for example will send me a text in the morning linking to the bill, and if I pay it that day it will be delivered that day.

The problem with what Fedex do is you have less options if they mess up or you aren't happy with it.

Even if they don't mess up, Say you buy E30 worth of goods and Fedex land you with a bill of another E30 to process it (maybe slightly inflated, but roughly E10 for VAT, E20 for fee). With DHL you could just tell them you don't want the item even.

I have an invoice in dispute with Fedex since March, they charged me VAT on the wrong amount (as confirmed by revenue via email), so I went through their dispute process. To cut a long story really short, I did everything they asked of me and while I was waiting for them to get back, they passed the invoice onto a debt collection agency who are now chasing me for it.

SuperS54

L1011 wrote: »

You know full well the duty has been paid to Revenue

What a bizarre assertion. I have no idea if duty has been paid to revenue or not, how would I? Do you know if the duty has been paid? If so, how?

L1011 wrote: »

- what are you expecting to achieve by asking for proof?

I'm not asking for proof. I made a statement that if it were me I would be asking the company for proof they had paid the duty on my behalf before I paid them.

L1011 wrote: »

Some huge multinational firm to suddenly go "oh, you caught us! here, have your parcel"?

Not everything requires duty to be paid, not everything requires the same rate of duty to be paid, people make mistakes, people commit crimes, so personally I would ask for proof.

SuperS54

witnessmenow wrote: »

I have an invoice in dispute with Fedex since March, they charged me VAT on the wrong amount (as confirmed by revenue via email), so I went through their dispute process. To cut a long story really short, I did everything they asked of me and while I was waiting for them to get back, they passed the invoice onto a debt collection agency who are now chasing me for it.

And there are people on here insisting that an invoice from Fedex should be paid without question...

SuperS54

Peregrinus wrote: »

The package cleared customs in one day. How do you think that happened if taxes and duties weren't paid?

Is this a quiz? What has that got to do with asking for proof of payment?

Peregrinus wrote: »

If you have some reason to think the charge is amiss, by all means pay it.

What a bizarre approach. I received an email about millions of dollars tied up in an account following the death of a Nigerian prince, the government lawyers are seeking help to release the funds, they just need help paying some small administrative fees in return for which they are offering 15% of the total. From your post you seem perfectly placed to help, PM me your name, DOB, address, PSI No. and bank account details and I'll pass them on for you.

Peregrinus

[QUOTE=SuperS54;114373160What a bizarre approach. I received an email about millions of dollars tied up in an account following the death of a Nigerian prince, the government lawyers are seeking help to release the funds, they just need help paying some small administrative fees in return for which they are offering 15% of the total. From your post you seem perfectly placed to help, PM me your name, DOB, address, PSI No. and bank account details and I'll pass them on for you.[/QUOTE]
If you would receive that email and think nothing was amiss, you are just the kind of idiot who would pass on the information.

I did not suggest that you should pay every invoice you get, and you would have to be exceptionally stupid to think that I did. I said that you should not routinely query every invoice you get; you should query the ones where you had some reason to think that something was amiss. Nothing in the OP gives any reason at all to think that anything was amiss about this invoice.

SuperS54

Peregrinus wrote: »

I did not suggest that you should pay every invoice you get, and you would have to be exceptionally stupid to think that I did.

That's true, you said the ones where the charge is suspected to be amiss be paid.

Peregrinus wrote:

If you have some reason to think the charge is amiss, by all means pay it.

A rather odd concept. The Nigerian government is awaiting your details, you seem to be the perfect candidate.

mgbgt1978

Peregrinus wrote: »

The package cleared customs in one day. How do you think that happened if taxes and duties weren't paid?

The system whereby the courier fronts the taxes and recovers subsequently means people get much quicker deliveries than they otherwise would.

From speaking to a few contacts in this business practically all of the USA related Couriers do pay the Import charges before delivery.

In the OP's case I am guessing Fedex. All the other US Courier Forwarders (usually UPS and DHL) will simply send an email to the receiver asking for the money due or the package goes back to the USA. They don't care, they have already been paid for the delivery. Most Receivers will pay up anyway. For the few that don't I've been informed that the Courier Company can reclaim the charges paid.

If Fedex are stupid enough to pay the Import charges on behalf of somebody else, and then request payment after delivery, that is their problem.
In most cases the amount due is too small to warrant actually proceeding to Court, so they pass it on to a Debt Collector ( who usually has no standing in this Country) who sends out 3 or 4 letters and then gives up.

Car99

SuperS54 wrote: »

And there are people on here insisting that an invoice from Fedex should be paid without question...

FedEx included a copy of the EU custom clearance form with the invoice. I'm happy that they cleared customs through proper channels so have no issue paying the duty, vat and €4 fee.

L1011

This thread has descended in to paranoid delusions