Balee56 said:
Hi,I want to buy SCDSTWO or Acekard 2i from ShopTemp.Do I have to pay tax?If I have to,how much?I live in Hungary.
According to EU rules, anything over €22 (or equivalent in non-€uro local currency) delivered via the post should be taxed (VAT plus any import duty on the class of item involved) - in practice ShopTemp will probably declare it well under €22 and it'll escape. Depends how tight they are at the incoming mail section of the postal service.
This is a summary as it applies in the UK (should be more or less the same in the rest of the EU)
Just a quickie for all who may import stuff personally from outside the EU (inside the EU doesn't count as an import).
First thing to understand is that there is a difference between VAT & Customs Duty. When it's all charged, you pay on the whole amount including postage.
So ((Goods + postage) * Duty) * VAT
Then on top a brokerage fee (which varies by carrier)
The "official statement" is here written in governmentese.
Article 27 of EU Regulation 918/83 sets out the threshold for items delivered by letter or parcel post to be admitted free of Customs duty. This is €150 (£105) from 1 December 2008. Customs duty is not collected if the amount of duty due is less than €10 (£7). VAT applies from €22(£18)
So between £18 and £105, you pay the VAT but no duty - if it's £106 you pay VAT & duty.
Royal Mail used to charge a different fee depending whether it arrives as parcel post (ie. Parcelforce) or as Letter Post - no idea if they still do or not - it's decades since I had the pleasure (it's nice when your postie is helpful at losing the paperwork
)
You'll notice that the limits are in €uro and translated in to £ at a strange rate (compared to the actual rate today of about 1.10, it's nearer 1.20) - these conversion rates are set once per year - not sure exactly when that happens though. It has no bearing on the exchange rate applied by HMRC on imports though there's a separate rate used for that changed generally once a month. So sometimes it's possible that the duty-free limit in the UK is higher (or lower) than into the Eurozone (same applies for viewers in Denmark & Sweden, but in DKK or SEK)
A quick worked example:
I buy a widget for $200 from WidgetCo in the US. It's shipped by USPS Priority International Airmail (say franked as $29) and declared as "Widget $200" on the CN22 customs form.
Customs will assess this as ($200+$29), unless there is a document enclosed that HMRC find saying the price paid including shipping is $200.
They will convert this into sterling at their prevailing rate for the month. It's generally an "ok" rate - not spectacularly good or bad (unless there has been a big change in the exchange rates).
So this month that's $229/1.419 = £161.38
Now they work out the duty - I'll assume it's 3.5% (no idea if it is or not, but it's a figure to work from) the duty will be £161.38*0.035 = £5.64 (so they won't collect it!
)
Then they work out the VAT (based on the base price plus the duty) - so in this case on £161.38 (15% VAT = £24.21)
Add on the brokers fee and that's what you get to pay at the door - usually in cash, and the postie/delivery driver rarely, if ever, has change - so time to keep a jar of change near the door - if it's a courier, I like to pay in 5p coins
This is vitally important - get a receipt! If the driver is on the fiddle, you may find a demand for payment of the duty arrives by post weeks later.