Coinery Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Furious!3 second-hand books delivered from the US today...£8.66 VAT charge, AND £9.00 charged by RM for handling!Firstly, I never realised we paid duty on books and, secondly, does this mean it's impossible to import a book without incurring a Royal Mail Handling Fee of £9.00? Quote
Colin G. Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Furious!3 second-hand books delivered from the US today...£8.66 VAT charge, AND £9.00 charged by RM for handling!Firstly, I never realised we paid duty on books and, secondly, does this mean it's impossible to import a book without incurring a Royal Mail Handling Fee of £9.00? Don't you just love daylight robbery!! Those charges are so infuriating when you are on the receiving end Quote
Rob Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 There's no VAT on books. Not sure about import duty. Quote
HistoricCoinage Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 As far as I'm aware there is no import duty on books. Were they sent as commercial sample or goods, rather than gifts? Quote
Justin Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 I have recieved books from the US before and paid nothing extra. I think it may depend what was written on the customs label?Duty calculatorLooking HMRC and a few others I would be more than furious! Quote
bagerap Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Furious!3 second-hand books delivered from the US today...£8.66 VAT charge, AND £9.00 charged by RM for handling!Firstly, I never realised we paid duty on books and, secondly, does this mean it's impossible to import a book without incurring a Royal Mail Handling Fee of £9.00? AFAIK, there is still no VAT on printed matter. As for being charged £8.66, this would indcate a base cost of £43.30 somewhere,was that the declared value of the books? £9.00 sounds like the standard P.O. customs clearance charge (for which they pay around 47p) All in all it was probably down to a misdeclaration as to the nature of the goods which attracted the attention of the Duty boys. VAT can be charged on dutiable imports and the cost of clearing them. Quote
Coinery Posted May 17, 2013 Author Posted May 17, 2013 I'll know more tomorrow about the finer points, as the wife has had to travel to the mother-in-law's to collect them from the PO...she's back tomorrow! I honestly couldn't believe it when she texted it was duty/VAT, I thought the sender had pulled a fast one and not paid full postage! Quote
HistoricCoinage Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 I'll know more tomorrow about the finer points, as the wife has had to travel to the mother-in-law's to collect them from the PO...she's back tomorrow! Sounds like you should pay import duty on your in-laws, Stuart! It takes a day to get to your in-law's place? Quote
Coinery Posted May 17, 2013 Author Posted May 17, 2013 I'll know more tomorrow about the finer points, as the wife has had to travel to the mother-in-law's to collect them from the PO...she's back tomorrow! Sounds like you should pay import duty on your in-laws, Stuart! It takes a day to get to your in-law's place? True enough, it's a 2hr+ round trip, so she generally stays over with her mum (with our son), kills 2 birds with 1 stone...I always get 2 full days to function au naturale when this happens, which is always my most productive time, so covers the fuel costs, mostly! As long as I don't stray down to the local (which I didn't this time)! Quote
TomGoodheart Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Well, I think it's possible to challenge import duties. However AFAIK, that won't get you back the £9 or so the PO charge for collecting said erroneous charges, since that's admin and nothing to do with HMRC. Quote
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