Customs code

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kasaran

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So when buying a russian gun i decided i needed to buy a russian uniform.

Having gone to greyshop i brought everything down to real steel mag pouches.  

The delivery company DHL are holding it wanting me to find what the tax code is.  What the hell is army surplus classed as? The .gov site might as well be written in latin.

 
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What postage option did you select, when you ordered? I bought a fair bit from Grey shop and I have never been asked to provide a tax code nor has it ever been delivered by DHL, it always comes through the Russian postal service, then when it arrives in the UK it normally handed over to customs, then transferred over to Parcel Force. The other option is the 1-2 days fast shipping of by UPS which is guaranteed to result in you paying customs as the UPS delivery persons turns up at your door and demand customs payment in cash or they will not give you your parcel. 

You could always give DHL a ring ask them to clarify what they mean or you could try HMRC Imports and exports: general enquiries  https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/customs-international-trade-and-excise-enquiries I spoke to them and sent them a Customs General Enquiry Form when my AEG got sized by customs although they were not much help in my case. Or email Grey shop Sergey normally pretty good.

Is your parcel in the still in Russia or is it in the UK?   

If it still in Russia and you have bought a lot of genuine Russian military equipment then, there is currently a very high possibility that it will get confiscated and sent to a government warehouse, and returned to the Russian armed forces or best case scenario it gets returned to Grey shop. The Russian customs is cracking down on military kit even if it surplus it's happened to a number people on the Northern Pack community facebook page.   

 
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Sniper780 said:
What .   
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 Wants to reply but not the wall of text.

Its out of russia.  Stuck in donnington by east midlands airport in customs.

Its DHL that have it.  They seem to want me to classify it so they dont do it wrong apparently.  Bit of a cop out to be honest.

Will try your link.  What i found didnt really cover what i ordered.  As i doubt pouches count as clothing

Edit: i sent them a message as to what the tariff code should be. Im sure the courier should be doing that.  How long did it take for them to respond to you?

 
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kasaran said:
Makes you look forward to post brexit and this become the norm for orders outside the uk...
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To be honest it was Customs/ Border Force fault for thinking I was trying to import a real firearm and not seeing the big A4 piece of paper attached to the outside of the box with the massive letters giving them my UKARA number. 

 
Sniper780 said:
To be honest it was Customs/ Border Force fault for thinking I was trying to import a real firearm and not seeing the big A4 piece of paper attached to the outside of the box with the massive letters giving them my UKARA number. 
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Has it cleared customs?

The tax code isn’t about guns/RIFs but tax and import duty catergories

https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff

It might be 6309

https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/trade-tariff/headings/6309?currency=EUR&day=3&month=12&year=2018

There are a few factors on import:

VCRA and RIFs

Import duty (which is where the classification code comes in as to whether there is a tarrif chargeable)

Import VAT (which is where you get a 20% VAT bill if the valuation they choose exceeds thresholds) If you get charged that then they will add their handling fee 

 
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Tommikka said:
Has it cleared customs?
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Yes, it all cleared, this happened September-October. Basically, it was held by customs for 3 and a half weeks and when I contacted Parcel Force they just kept saying it was, Border Force problem and Border Force kept saying it was Parcel Force. 

Then Border force sent me a  postal seizure letter saying I have to provide evidence of a valid defense/reason for me to own the item, and must send evidence of a  defense to support my claim that the item being detained will be used for a legal and permitted activity and that the evidence to support my claim must be sent via post. However, they did not include the C160 form that is required to support your case, phoned them a number of times got no answer so sent them an email explaining that it was for airsoft the UKARA scheme and my UKARA number. 

3 days later got a reply and they said that they checked my UKARA number on the Database and that it was valid and then it released immediately.   

 
Have you asked Grey Shop?  Shouldn't that be on the customs sticker?

FYI, Grey Shop sells fakes and civvy repros at inflated prices.  I'd avoid in the future.

 
Sniper780 said:
Yes, it all cleared, this happened September-October. Basically, it was held by customs for 3 and a half weeks and when I contacted Parcel Force they just kept saying it was, Border Force problem and Border Force kept saying it was Parcel Force. 

Then Border force sent me a  postal seizure letter saying I have to provide evidence of a valid defense/reason for me to own the item, and must send evidence of a  defense to support my claim that the item being detained will be used for a legal and permitted activity and that the evidence to support my claim must be sent via post. However, they did not include the C160 form that is required to support your case, phoned them a number of times got no answer so sent them an email explaining that it was for airsoft the UKARA scheme and my UKARA number. 

3 days later got a reply and they said that they checked my UKARA number on the Database and that it was valid and then it released immediately.   
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I got mixed up on who I was quoting

It was more relevant to @kasaran

You shouldn’t need to show your VCRA details unless it’s a RIF, but was it ‘parts’ that they may have flagged up and were wary of you building a gun, or possibly RIF manufacture / modification

Depending on the originating sender the request for VCRA defences can be triggered without the package being looked at

In the early days of the VCRA I did get a questionnaire when a Hong Kong parcel was picked up.

On the first question “Is this a RIF?” My response was “no”

I did fill in other parts of the form with my justification for importing, and it wasn’t a recognized VCRA Defence.  I don’t know if it was the initial “no” or they were happy with the rest of my answers 

 
Tommikka said:
Has it cleared customs?

The tax code isn’t about guns/RIFs but tax and import duty catergories

https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff

It might be 6309

https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/trade-tariff/headings/6309?currency=EUR&day=3&month=12&year=2018

There are a few factors on import:

VCRA and RIFs

Import duty (which is where the classification code comes in as to whether there is a tarrif chargeable)

Import VAT (which is where you get a 20% VAT bill if the valuation they choose exceeds thresholds) If you get charged that then they will add their handling fee 
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Its apparently. As of 4am today it package is processed for clearence in the east midlands.  

I have never had any compamy including dhl ask me to find the tariff code for items before. Previously they have done a ups.  Paid whatever on my behalf and then have me reimburse them before they hand it over to me.

Im not sure whether these items are used or not.  I was just gonna say clothing.  But then belts are a different catagory.  Im going to call them today as my partner is saying this all sounds odd.

 
Well customs are holding it.  Wanting to know what is in the package.  So from the sounds of it, grey-shop didnt put what is inside it clearly enoughon the parcel.

I have sent them a description of the contents, a screenshot of the order list and what codes i could decern from the terrible .gov site.

Im guessing the border agency is cautious over imports from russia at the moment.

 
kasaran said:
Well customs are holding it.  Wanting to know what is in the package.  So from the sounds of it, grey-shop didnt put what is inside it clearly enoughon the parcel.

I have sent them a description of the contents, a screenshot of the order list and what codes i could decern from the terrible .gov site.

Im guessing the border agency is cautious over imports from russia at the moment.
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As long as you don’t have an SP postcode it’ll be fine

For myself though, being here in Salisbury, around the corner and also having other connections to the situation, I’m mostly avoiding Russia.

With other events developing on a very different subject, 2018 is not a particularly good year for vaguely knowing me

I won’t comment any more!

 
So. Spoke with customs directly.  The only thing they wanted to know was whether it was my property i was bringing over that i already owned or something that i had just bought online...  

 
For completionism. It got delivered today.  No word on me needing to pay tax yet mind. 

 
Come Brexit completion I think harmonized tariff coding will be inforced. currently to ship to other EU countries you don't need it but once we leave you will. saying that the responsibility should all be on the shipper and not the buyer however depending on the terms used/agreed you may be liable for import tax etc at a later date.

 
Why would the seller ever pay import tax? Even if they did do that they would just add the tax to the price of the product

 
kasaran said:
Why would the seller ever pay import tax? Even if they did do that they would just add the tax to the price of the product
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Some sellers will pay the import tax / duty

It works out cheaper for the consumer because you don’t get the handling fees added 

Its more normal for big imports, and likely to be a distributor importing by the container load etc 

If buying from Hong Kong / China etc you can sometimes buy ‘import tax insurance’, but what this tends to mean is that the seller will still make a fraudulent declaration and will pay you back if you get charged 

kasaran said:
For completionism. It got delivered today.  No word on me needing to pay tax yet mind. 
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That should mean no charge, if there’s a charge they should keep it - because you won’t pay afterwards 

clumpyedge said:
Come Brexit completion I think harmonized tariff coding will be inforced. currently to ship to other EU countries you don't need it but once we leave you will. saying that the responsibility should all be on the shipper and not the buyer however depending on the terms used/agreed you may be liable for import tax etc at a later date.
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Irrespectively on a worldwide basis the buyer is responsible for taxes

When Hong Kong sellers make dodgy declarations its the buyer who gets any grief

The sender is responsible for sending anything that should not be sent on the method - that’s the safety declaration on dangerous goods etc but they are not responsible when it arrives 

 
Rogerborg said:
Not to be too sceptical, but how can the seller pre-pay HMRC for a consigment that hasn't yet arrived and been inspected?  I mean, what's the mechanism for ensuring that the payment is matched to that consignment?  Can you find it here?

https://www.gov.uk/topic/business-tax/import-export
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Its Delivery Duty Paid DDP, on International Commerce Terms ICOTERM 

As I noted it’s typically by the container load and may only go as far as the port with the buyer/importer to collect / unload or may go to the buyer/importers address.

It’s noted here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/delivery-terms-for-data-element-41-of-cds

One of the ways is via CHIEF:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/chief-trader-import-and-export-processing-system

https://www.incotermsexplained.com/the-incoterms-rules/the-eleven-rules-in-brief/delivered-duty-paid/

 
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