Import duties and tax for parts

adam bussey

adam bussey

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right so I'm looking to buy a G36 RIS from ares and I'll need to pay the taxes and duties on a package worth £52 inc p&p, what can I expect to pay on that?

 
The handling fee can be as low as £8 but I'm pretty sure I've had to pay £18-ish for a pistol.

You should only have to pay VAT of 20% - there is no Duty on toys. You only pay it on the value of the item, not the shipping.

 
If its over the threshold for importing yeah.

Usually anything over £50 will be taxed.

 
52 which includes shipping so do i have to pay import tax?

 
Ian_Gere said:
The handling fee can be as low as £8 but I'm pretty sure I've had to pay £18-ish for a pistol.

You should only have to pay VAT of 20% - there is no Duty on toys. You only pay it on the value of the item, not the shipping.
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Airsoft items have a duty charge of either 3% or 4% - will find out first hand in 11 days time if I buy anything in Hong Kong (GHK G5 if I can get a good deal)

 
the item itself is £42 so do i pay tax on it as it's shipped price is £52?

 
The threshold for VAT is quite low - something like £12.50 iirc so yeah £42 is enough

You wont definitely get hit for it though. As a rough estimate, about 1 in 7 of parcels sent to me from HK or mainland China get picked up by UK Customs. Airsoft items may well be supposed to accrue Duty but HK retailers put "Toy Parts" or "Model Parts" on the declaration and some also tick the "Gift" box.

 
but direct from manufacturer (ares) will they do that too?

 
maybe, who knows?! I've had stuff marked as toys and with the gift box ticked get charged and I've had stuff marked up correctly get through without so much as a look from customs.

anything from the far east is a gamble with customs.

The end result though is that you should EXPECT to pay 20% VAT and a £13 handling charge from parcel farce, VAT is inclusive of shipping, so it'll be on the full £52. But, it'll be worked out based on the exchange rate on the day that it's received by customs, so it could end up being more than the £52 you're expecting.

 
I've had 2 lots of steel L1A1 mags sent direct from Ares and a replacement fire selector lever and all got through without being hit for VAT. I forget what they wrote on the customs declarations though.

 
I got half a dozen Mid Cap Mags from China. As they were free P&P I ordered them as separate items so they were individually well below the threshold for tax and duty.

 
Think the threshold is now £390 (surprised me as I thought it was just £130).

As to being charged - depends on the carrier. UPS, TNT or any of the other major international couriers you will always get charged, same for Parcel Force. If just through Royal Mail then it's pot luck.

 
^^That's for carrying stuff in when you return from abroad. It's different for stuff which is posted to you.

 
 
 
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