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Tax and Customs cost

Bally85

Registered
Joined
Aug 9, 2021
Messages
28
Location
Liverpool
Does anybody have any recent experience bringing a machine over from Europe.
Wanted to get my hands on a lebowski from Dutch pinball and been quoted for the transport, however am I right in thinking this will come with a heavy customs bill when it lands

Any advice appreciated

Thanks
 
The search function on this site is overrated :D



 
I find it confusing surely if you buy it from a person at their home address in the EU as in not a business and bring it back yourself in a van for personal use there is no duties to pay ? There seems to be information on HMRC about if it was made in the EU and you can prove it.

I did this back in 2003, a Funhouse for 400 euro from Germany ....... still have it now.
 
Cheers I appreciate there has been previous threads, seems like the common theme amongst replies in those are " it used to be no problem" but now it's potentially an expensive task.
I wouldn't have even entertained it but for the fact I really want a lebowski and there doesn't appear to be a distributer in the UK. On contacting DP they said I can buy direct but these additional customs charges are going to make it costly.

I do have a family address in France also but not sure if getting it delivered there and then transporting home myself at a later date helps me at all? Like moving furniture from 1 home to another? 🤔
 
Cheers I appreciate there has been previous threads, seems like the common theme amongst replies in those are " it used to be no problem" but now it's potentially an expensive task.
I wouldn't have even entertained it but for the fact I really want a lebowski and there doesn't appear to be a distributer in the UK. On contacting DP they said I can buy direct but these additional customs charges are going to make it costly.

I do have a family address in France also but not sure if getting it delivered there and then transporting home myself at a later date helps me at all? Like moving furniture from 1 home to another? 🤔
No shipping company will bring it in without holding it until you pay the import duty. There are probably ways of getting around it but I wouldn't recommend messing around with HMRC because they've seen every trick in the book and they will **** you. It's not worth it. Just budget for paying it.
 
20% VAT is all you should pay, plus any "handling" fee. The best bet would be to get it to France duty free, sell it to yourself with invoice for the market value if less than new and then go through customs with it in a car. Or you could wait until the Pinfest week-end, transport it across saying it's going to a show but you may be required to take it back or face a charge.
 
Cheers I appreciate there has been previous threads, seems like the common theme amongst replies in those are " it used to be no problem" but now it's potentially an expensive task.
I wouldn't have even entertained it but for the fact I really want a lebowski and there doesn't appear to be a distributer in the UK. On contacting DP they said I can buy direct but these additional customs charges are going to make it costly.

I do have a family address in France also but not sure if getting it delivered there and then transporting home myself at a later date helps me at all? Like moving furniture from 1 home to another? 🤔
I'm not sure if it's significantly more expensive, but definitely more complicated: a customs declaration is needed (new since Brexit - typically administered by the haulier, for a fee), and that's due at point of entry into the UK (new since Jan '22 - they will just hold it in port without it now, and charge you for storage), and UK VAT is payable (new since Brexit). From other posts, the import-duty rate is 0%, so no issue there.


I'm not 100% sure on the following point, but I think you'd have paid VAT on the transaction at the local country's VAT rate pre-Brexit anyway (Netherlands in this case). As far as I know, intra-sales within the EU are just treated like domestic sales from a VAT perspective - as an EU consumer, they pay the selling country's VAT rate, irrespective of where in the EU the product is delivered to. In which case you'd have (pre-Brexit) paid a similar rate to the UK's VAT rate anyway - EU country VAT rates are quite similar, per EU rules. Dutch standard-rate VAT is 21%, so the difference versus UK VAT is immaterial.

If you did move it via France, I'd suggest checking my understanding above to ensure you don't pay VAT twice - i.e. ship it from the supplier, Netherlands to France, and pay the local Dutch VAT rate on that transaction. Then be liable for paying UK VAT when it arrives in a UK port as well (whether that be via a haulier, or in the back of a car/van you are driving).

If I was doing it, I think I'd keep it simple - ship it directly from NL to UK. As a non-EU export, the NL vendor could/would zero rate it from a local VAT perspective, then you'd need to pay UK VAT which the haulier would do the admin for. Apart from the admin charge from the haulier, like buying from a UK vendor.
 
Ou vous pouvez attendre le week-end Pinfest, le transporter en disant qu'il va à un spectacle, mais vous devrez peut-être le reprendre ou faire face à des frais.
Les deux !! Frais + retour en France obligatoire
Sans compter les tonnes de papiers a emplir et présenter a la douane des deux cotes

Je publierai d'ici peu l'ensemble des démarches a effectuer pour simplement amener un flipper au Pinfest (vous allez être surpris!!)

Mes excuses pour ce message en Français
 
Just drive over in a van collect it yourself and drive it back, I’ve done this myself and never got stopped and asked about anything other than having the van put through the X-ray on the way out of the country but just wave you in on the way back.
 
the reason I ask is that my experience of the border now is that its not so friendly - my glass shipment was heavily inspected and another import of some ancient mainframe computer gear also got heavily inspected. I've no doubt for both of the if I hadn't declared value it would have got confiscated for further investigation.
 
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