What is more, the decision as to classification of goods as to whether they are subject to duty, and the rate, can be complex.
One classic is that the sources of ingredients can switch an otherwise identical product from one class to another. So you might have to know details which are beyond what any ordinary customer would ever know.
I recently bought some second-hand items from a US seller, it was the first time I'd used eBay's 'Global Shipping Programme", I have to say it worked quite well.
The person posted the items via USPS to an eBay centre.
Then eBay opened, checked and re-packed the item, calculating VAT and duty (actually just confirming the amounts at time of auction were correct) charged an additional postage amount.
Handed it over to Pitney Bowes for export.
In the UK it was handed over to Hermes, all confirmed as nothing to pay here and delivered as usual.
It was trackable from end-to-end like any delivery, through a "meta" tracking number.
All-in-all $90 for the items became $131, but that was all paid as the winning bid on the item.
Only for items less than £135.
Where local or other VAT was chargeable.
At least customs duty now goes to the UK Treasury for items imported into the UK. Before Brexit any customs duty went straight to Brussels, apart from a small admin fee.
It's usually MegaSquirts I buy from the US. Commonly cost $450 before carriage, etc. Reason being I like to self assemble, and UK suppliers only do ready mades, and not the spec I'm after.
As well as silly postage costs, I end up paying duty, VAT and handling charges.
If I were doing it in a big way, I'm sure I could save money.
Before Brexit, we were in a Customs Union with the EU, which meant there was no customs duty charged by anybody on sales within the EU. It is an entirely new cost for imports from the EU; a direct result of Brexit and quite separate from VAT. UK VAT is still payable on the imports.
The agreement provides for zero tariffs (import duties) both ways. The relevant liabilities should be limited to shipping, VAT and the charge (if any) for collection of the VAT.
That's for orders worth more than £135, which are sold VAT-free to the UK customer by the EU-based retailer or supplier (so VAT is charged only once).
The last time I was there I noticed a three mile long queue of lorries on the motorway inside lane waiting to get petrol in Luxembourg rather than Belgium.
When I got to northern Italy all the streets leading to the border with Switzerland had at least two petrol stations to service the Swiss in search of cheap fuel. The border posts didn't seem to care.
Another Dave
Fuel is cheaper in Switzerland than it is in Italy, hence the queues to fill up in Chiasso.
On 14/05/2021 17:14, JNugent wrote: ...
I think you are reading the provisions for Northern Ireland, which is the only part of the UK that has duty free trade with the EU. The government web site clearly states that, for the rest of the UK, any imports over £135 (except gifts) are liable to the payment of duty.
I was thinking more of this, on trade between the UK (all of it) and the EU:
That says that some goods, under specific circumstances, will not attract tariffs. The agreement was withdrawn on 30 April 2021, although some provisions are continued in other legislation.
Reading the summary, the main purpose of that clause appears to be to cover the case, quite common in the motor industry among others, of parts travelling backwards and forwards for processing and assembly in different countries. Without that provision, they would attract duty charges every time they crossed the border, in either direction. It does not appear to apply in a wider sense to purchases from the EU.
That doesn't appear to be what it says.
QUOTE: Import tariffs
From 1 January 2021, the UK Global Tariff applies to all goods imported into the UK unless an exception applies, such as a trade agreement with the UK.
Find out more about the UK Global Tariff.
The EU and UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement establishes zero tariffs or quotas on trade between the UK and the EU, where goods meet the relevant rules of origin. ENDQUOTE
From the link to The EU and UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement
QUOTE
This international treaty was withdrawn on 30 April 2021
ENDQUOTE
The legislation covering trade with the EU is now The European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020, which does not seem to continue that particular part of the Agreement.
What, part of the Agreement (whichever Agreement it was), and a crucially important part of it at that, covering the very basic issue of whether there are tariffs on sales between the parties' territories, has simply been repealed without ceremony?
repealed and replaced
"it has undergone a final process of legal revision in accordance with Article FINPROV.9 (now Article 780), and the version published below represents the version agreed in December, prior to this process. The substance of the Agreement has not changed; however, typographical and other errors have been corrected and the Articles have been renumbered from Article 1 ? 783"
It's a long document. Could you direct me to the part that provides for customs duty / tariffs on trade between Great Britain and the EU and the part that provides the opposite for Northern Ireland, please?
NDYOHW!
Fair enough.
The only reasonable conclusion from that is that it isn't there. But being as reasonable as possible, it would be a bit of a surprise if the central provision of a trade agreement had been directly negated simply by a consolidating document.
I think the point is that The EU and UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement was only an interim agreement, to meet the PM's Brexit deadline. It therefore may not reflect the government's long term intentions.
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