Importing from US to UK

[snakehips]

Hi there !

| was sure there was a thread about this a while back -I've searched for it but can't find it. Someone explained the costs for UK tax and duty (from out of the European Union) - buying a guitar. (I assume will be same whether new or vintage ?)

So, to recap, and as an example :

A National guitar, $ 2000 sale price.
Shipping $100

What will be the UK cost for Import Tax and Duty ?

I've had a good look around the customs&excise website (name now changed to something else) and found that Duty is calculated from % of Value+Shipping of item, Then the VAT is calculated as a % of Value+Shipping+Duty.

Couldn't quite pin down the %'s involved though - for both Duty and VAT.

Anyone know what I'd pay for the above prices - $2000 guitar plus $100 shipping (as an example)

[Deleted]

Hi, I brought a new guitar, as luggage, into the UK last year. At the time the import duty for guitars from the US was 4%, but I was warned that it was shortly (before end 2004) going up to 11%. Then Vat is added to the lot at 17.5%.
If your $2000 includes some local US tax, that should be deducted prior to calculation.
So your amount of $2100 + 11% import duty = $2331.
Then add Vat to $2331 which makes a total of $2739.
So your paying an extra of approx $639 (whatever that breaks down to as £).
Vat is 17.5%, but probably need to check the current import duty on guitars with your friendly customs people - as it is liable to change (and from what I was told last Sept - this was a steep upward direction)!
Don't any customs people read this forum? Otherwise phone a local airport customs for advice on current rates.
Good luck.

[LouisianaGrey]

Last time I paid duty it added up to around 22% on top of the cost plus shipping figure. That's why I get stuff sent via US mail rather than a courier if I possibly can.

[jonny b]

The first post is right - carriage is included in the amount you pay duty on. I last imported an acoustic in march and the duty was still 3.7%, which, plus VAT makes louisiana grey's 22% about right. I am sure from memory electrics were more like just under 5%, so that would make it bang on.
No one indicated it was going up to 11!!
The link to the table is below. in the middle of the page is a PDF document with a long list, including guitars which shows the duty range as 3.7% to 3.2%. I think they might have a typo, as 3.2 is lower than 3.7 [all th eothers have the higher figure second].

customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD_009989&propertyType=document

[snakehips]

Hi again !

Many thanks for all the above.

I know that 2 years ago, (March 2003) I bought a NRP Radiotone Bendaway on eBay for $800. It was around 6 years old and virtually immaculate plus a factory installed Highlander pickup already in it !! Shipping by bog standard US Postal Service was another $100.
By the time you convert the money into pounds sterling and add the tax and duty I had to pay on arrival (can't remember exact amount) the grand total was £ 796 !
So I found that the sale dollar price number is around the complete total number you may end up paying in pounds. Or a bit less. Not bad to use that as a guide.

[Deleted]

If the duty rate hasn't gone up - thats great. The customs guy gave me the impression they were trying to discourage importing from the US & increasing the 'hurt' accordingly. Maybe Mr Brown no longer needs the money (!) or the UK/US relationship got better! ;D

[jonny b]

just noticed that the link i gave above, though accurate, only acts on th efirst two lines if you click on it - you nee d to copy and paste the whole 3 lines to go direct to the actual page
cheers

[LouisianaGrey]

If you think we've got problems the US tariff book for calculating duty on goods imported into the USA is 2,584 pages long.

[Deleted]

Hi

I just looked into this and emailed HMgov. below is the reply


> I am writing in reply to your E mail dated 27 July 2005.
>
An acoustic guitar is subject to Customs duty at 3.2% and VAT at 17.5% upon
importation into the UK. The Customs duty is payable on the purchase price
of the guitar, plus shipping costs to the European Union border and the VAT
is due on the purchase price plus shipping costs to the UK destination plus
the Customs duty. The rate of exchange we use for imports is shown on our
Website www.hmrc.gov.uk - 'Quick links' 'Exchange Rates'. The rate of
exchange for the US Dollar for July is 1.8225 and for August it will be
1.7294.

> If you are ordering the guitar by mail order or via the Internet, then it
> is likely to be sent by post or via a Fast Parcel Operator such as DHL,
> Fedex etc. Notice 143, (available from our Website www.hmrc.gov.uk under
> 'Quick Links - Leaflets and Booklets' '.....formerly dealt with by HM
> Customs and Excise' 'Public Notices' 'Import, Export and International
> Trade') has information on importing by post. If a FPO is used, they will
> complete the Customs declaration on your behalf and deliver the goods.
> They will send you a bill for the Customs charges and for their
> administration costs.


Hope this helps
Ric