Import and Taxes Calculating? US and ASIA only

[Shizbazki]

Thought I would provide some useful information since I have noticed that a lot of people always ask “if I buy XYZ from US/Asia how much is duties and taxes going to cost me?”

 

While there are online UK Duties calculators most ask for a fee or payment in order to work it out for you, about the only one that doesn’t is https://www.dutycalculator.com/ run by Pitney Bowes but they only allow you a one time calculation, after that you must pay.

 

However after having used them once and since then anything airsoft related that I have imported to the UK from Asia and US I have collated the figures to work out how much you will pay and how the duties are worked out.

 

Also an important point to note that if you’re importing anything from the EU, at this time (27-05-17) the UK hasn’t BREXITED yet so we are still in, this means you pay no taxes, this thread only applies to US and ASIA imports.

 

To work out how much you will pay in import fees here what you must do.

Convert the value of your goods from USD including cost of P&P (HMRC will use the conversion rates at the exchange rate on the date and time they work it out) to GBP, we will call this value “Converted GBP”

From the Converted GBP, divide this by 31.253, this is will work out how much it will cost you in Import Duty, we will call this value the “Duty fee”.

Add the Converted GBP and Duty fee together and we will call this value “Converted and Duty Before Tax”.

Now with the Converted and Duty Before Tax value, divide this by 5, this value is the “VAT”.

Add VAT and Converted and Duty Before Tax together and you get the “Landed Value”

Then just add 13.50 to the end of that as that’s Parcel Forces handling Fees it may differ from courier to courier but parcel force is often the main mover.

 

So, an example is:

You purchase an item/s and the cost of P&P bringing the total to $500 USD

Current exchange rate is 0.78 as of 27-05-17 so 500 x 0.78 = £390 (converted GBP)

390 / 31.253 = 12.48 (Duty fee)

390 + 12.48 = 402.48 (Converted and Duty Before Tax)

402.48 / 5 = 80.50 (VAT)

80.50 + 402.48 = 482.48 (Landed Value)

12.48 + 80.50 + 13.50 = 106.47 (Total import costs you pay to the courier, in this case Parcel Force)

390 + 106.47 = 496.47 (Your TOTAL)

 

Using the above method will give you a pretty good idea as to how much HMRC and the courier costs will cost you when you go and pick up your parcel.

I am in the process of making a taxes and imports excel spreadsheet but it’s a WIP so bare with me.