Hello all,
I’ve recently had a couple of enquiries from about my work from
people in the US.
I currently live in the UK and wondered whether anyone knew how much
Import Tax and Duty may be levied by US customs if I were to send a
piece of jewellery over the pond?
I’ve e-mailed US customs, but they’ve been a little slow to respond
and I thought maybe some of you would have had experience of this.
Many thanks for any advice,
Eva.
Eva Martin
Hello again,
I’ve just answered my own question regarding duty and tax…
FedEx have a very useful Duty and Tax calculator on their website:
http://www.worldtariff.com/
It’s 5% if anyone’s interested.plus the admin charges the shipper
adds for their trouble.
Sorry to bother you!
Eva.
Eva Martin
I buy from UK jewellers on a regular basis. For some unknown reason,
parcels sent by post office are usually not taxed if their value is
less than seveal hundred pounds. UPS and FedEx are always taxed.
Precious metals are taxed at a lower rate than “costume jewelry”,
which is counter intuitive and has cost me a few extra dollars when
my suppliers have thought they would do me a favor by calling the
work “costume jewelry”, thinking that would be of less interest to
customs.
I would like to know what is the deal going the other way. I have a
retail customer in England that is interested in a piece that is
priced at several thousand dollars. Will he need to cough up VAT as
well as import tax?
Stephen Walker
Hello Eva,
you can go to DataWeb anter
“jewelry” in the search window and it will come up with a long list
of codes and descriptions. Find the one that closely matches your
product and it will show the tariff rates for different countries.
That should give you the general idea.
Ruslana
http://www.atehmodus.com
Hey Eva,
I’m in Ireland, and I talked with the Revenue Commissioners here
some time ago about VAT charges. Now it could be different in England,
but here in Ireland there is no Vat charged to US customers, or
Australian customers.
CHARGE 21% VAT to all countries below.
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Austria
Hope this helps you out, or maybe its just postal costings you are
interested in??
All the best to you
Tina
Cork, Ireland
The best trick, add words like ‘gift’ or ‘trade samples’ to the
package. Morally wrong - yes, commercially viable for you and the
client - well yes. And it does not affect shipping insurance.
This of course is a statement made on the assumption that we’re not
counting massive crates for trade here. Having family and some
clients in the UK this has saved us all the hassle of unpredictable
import / export duties. For me it even counts for anything sent to
the USA as every country seems to have a quota on trade materials
(i.e. gold, copper, cotton, sugar) imported / exported to /from
another country for that given month.
All too confusing to get into trade agreements, but I thought I’d
share my ‘work around’.
Cheers,
Ryan Taylor - Toronto, Canada
Hi Stephen, thanks for your reply.
I would like to know what is the deal going the other way. I have a retail customer in England that is interested in a piece that is priced at several thousand dollars. Will he need to cough up VAT as well as import tax?
Yes, if your customer’s package is intercepted by customs, they’ll
have to pay duty and VAT on anything coming in from outside the EU.
VAT is 17.5% and I think duty on precious jewellery is 2.5%. In my
experience this is levied on the value of the
goods+shipping&insurance. Then there’s also the charge FedEx or UPS
adds for dealing with customs.
There is a brief guide to VAT and duty on common internet goods
brought into the UK (including jewellery) here:
There’s also a more detailed list of duty due on all goods shipped
to the UK here: http://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=classguide
If you go there and click on the link below the heading
‘Classification Duty Rates’ it takes you to the database you need.
I’ve also found that items sent through FedEx always incur duty and
tax. Sometimes when I’ve ordered metal or stones and they’ve been
sent through the normal postal service, I’ve escaped the customs
charge - but not very often.
Hope that helps,
Eva.
Eva Martin
I would like to know what is the deal going the other way. I have a retail customer in England that is interested in a piece that is priced at several thousand dollars. Will he need to cough up VAT as well as import tax?
He certainly will.
According to a recent report in Which? magazine HM Revenue and
Customs limit the value of items imported from outside the EU to be
allowed in tax-free (this is not the same as the duty-free allowance
for holidaymakers). Goods over this value are liable to import duty
of up to 20%, plus VAT at 17.5%.
As I purchase materials from abroad, I can vouch that this is the
case.
Pat Waddington
Hello Stephen,
There’s a lot of really good about international
shipping on Ebay’s community chat boards. In particular the
International Trading and Packaging & Shipping threads. (From the
main page click on community, discussion boards, community help
boards).
From what I understand, the US Post Office is the way to go for
international shipping. Private carriers, such as UPS and FedEx will
charge additional delivery fees before releasing a package for
anything shipped from the U.S. to another country. This may be the
"tax" you are being charged for your packages from the UK.
Insurance, tracking and delivery confirmation can be a tricky deal
for international shipping. There are different rules for different
countries and if you’re using paypal to get your money, there are
certain restriction on if your packages will be covered by their
seller protections. {{From the top of my head}}-- packages must be
shipped 1. to a confirmed address (PayPal only confirms a handful of
foreign countries’ addresses), 2. tracked, 3. insured. Otherwise you
could be out your merchandise & your money.
There are a couple of private companies that will insure & track
packages shipped internationally. There are sellers who swear by
these services and you can find the info on the boards. I’ve checked
into them and it looks like a good solution.
I always ask customers how to mark the customs forms. Some like
"costume jewelry", some “used jewelry” (for my vintage jewelry
sales)… it all depends on their customs regs. Also, since they
probably will have to pay a duty, I only mark the value of the item
the exact amount they paid not including the shipping. If you round
the amount up, or overestimate the value, they can get hit with
higher custom fees.
Check out Ebay’s chat boards. Hopefully you’ll find what you’re
looking for there.
Cheers,
Tracy
Tracy’s Treasures
The best trick, add words like 'gift' or 'trade samples' to the package. Morally wrong - yes, commercially viable for you and the client - well yes. And it does not affect shipping insurance.
This appears to be less true than it once was. In Canada it still
seems to work reasonably well. In the US less so. In Europe almost
not at all, at least in my experience with France, Germany and the UK.
Cheers,
Trevor F.
in The City of Light
Visit TouchMetal.com at http://www.touchmetal.com
Hi Gang,
FWIW
The Customs Declaration and Dispatch Note, form CP 72 that’s
available from any Post Office in the US & is required to be
completed & attached to packages sent out of the US via the Post
Office has the following 5 classifications of package contents.
Gift
Documents
Commercial Sample
Returned Goods
Other (Explanation)
There’s also another Customs Declaration form, CN 22 that’s also
available at any Post Office that lists 4 classifications. This form
is meant to be used for packages of lesser value. Sorry I don’t know
the dollar cut off.
Gift
Documents
Commercial Sample
Other
I’ve sent many packages (never any with jewelry) from the US using
the Post Office & have never heard of any problems from the
recipients.
Dave
The Customs Declaration and Dispatch Note, form CP 72 that's available from any Post Office in the US & is required to be There's also another Customs Declaration form, CN 22 that's also
The CP 72 is for over 4 pounds and the CN 22 is for up to 4 pounds.
Value has nothing to do with it.
James E. White