Import duty and admin fees

[Si Goodchild]

Guys, last time I ordered from HK and forgot to lie about the value I got stung for import duty and an admin fee of about £20 from the courier. Now I can cope with the import duty but that £20 feels like a fine and sticks in the throat a bit. I don't think I can get away with the lies when I import a few foamy aircraft so I'm wondering if I can pay the duty without getting fleeced?

Oh, and I can't import from Germany: they don't stock what I'm after.

Si

[Andy from Sandy]

When you buy something from outside the EU and Customs take a fancy to it and decide it is subject to VAT it will usually be the courier who is carrying the package that will pay that on your behalf. That admin fee is for their trouble.

What you can do is appoint your own company to take care of moving the goods through clearing but they are like ly to make a similar charge.

So it is not a fine but just a standard charge they made to do the customs clearing for you.

[Si Goodchild]

I do accept your point, but last time I paid £1.34 import duty and £20 for the admin - that sucks big time!

[sacko]

Just declare it as $11. Job done

Are you not able to clear it through customs yourself, surely it's just a bit of pen pushing?

[Andy from Sandy]

It takes the same amount of effort to do the paperwork for a £1.00 invoice as it is for a £1000. It is just the way most companies work.

[Mark_T]

If you use a courier then they will always declare the goods on the way in, that is how they get stuff cleared quickly, so there is no avoiding the VAT if you go that route with goods valued over £15 or so. That said, I can;t recall any of them with charges that high for processing.

If it is an Express package handled by the Royal Mail then I think it goes as high as £13 but that's about it from memory.

There is no practical way t oavoid those fees, but use a carrier with something lower than the £20 you say you paid next time.