Posted 6 days ago

Customs charges on International Orders

I recently placed an order on Aliexpress for $155.51 and paid $31.10 in VAT. This is for a mini PC. Today I received an email from Royal mail stating that there is likely a customs charge. Not sure what this is. I understand there will not be customs charges if an item isn't about £135. My purchase price equates to £123. Why would there be a charge on this order?

This item is being shipped from China and the transit country is NL. Royal Mail has sent me this email before the item even reached UK.
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  1. bozo007's avatar
    Royal Mail was electronically notified of the shipment manifest including the declared value which is actually close to £150. What Royal Mail probably doesn't know is that VAT is already included because the seller didn't break it out. (edited)
    sapstar's avatar
    Author
    Thank you very much.
  2. AndyRoyd's avatar
    The curveball gotcha:
    note the perpetually repeated phrasing used within legislation / HMRC guidance includes the word "worth" not "paid",
    so if HMRC notes that Aliexpress states its tat is highly discounted then HMRC may conclude it is not tat and is in fact "worth" considerably more than the amount "paid" (otherwise why would you have purchased from Ali if a similar product was available locally at similar price?) and so additional fees may be due,
    plus the courier's admin fee.
    sapstar's avatar
    Author
    Thats unfortunate. If that's the case, HMRC always wins...
  3. DaveG46's avatar
    I've got one of these today China via NL my order was just under £190,so I wait to see what they'll charge me
    sapstar's avatar
    Author
    Did you already pay VAT on the order? In my case I did pay for it already so surprised to receive an email about customs charges.
  4. sapstar's avatar
    Author
    I just got a text message from royal mail confirming I have a £37 customs charge for this item I already paid vat for. Is they a way to claim this money back? It's fair to charge vat, but quite unfair to charge it twice...
    tek-monkey's avatar
    I thought vat and customs duty were different charges?
  5. splatsplatsplat's avatar
    Don't assume that text is not a scam btw.
    sapstar's avatar
    Author
    It is not a scam. I got an email from royal mail as well and I am expecting this package.
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