Shipping USA - UK duty and tax invoice from fedex

[mp3loverontoast]

Hi

Not sure if anybody will know the answer to this or even if I posted in the right place.

 

In November I did a transatlantic cruise UK - USA as I was then travelling on internal flights etc in the US

 

l looked for the option to send clothes home as had no use for formal wear etc while travelling. Found a company who ship to the UK (a facility in florida. You can order from US websites and they store and send on to the UK) I checked it was an option for me to send my clothes to them for them to then forward on as usually its for new items etc they advised wouldn't be a problem. I went to a UPS store boxed them up and sent them to the facility. I then paid around £95 to have my clothes sent to me once I was back home in the UK. 

 

Received my items about 2 weeks ago then last week I received a duty & tax invoice from FedEx asking for me to pay £86.61

£12.75 disbursement fee

£17.81 original duty

£56.05 original vat

 

Does anyone know what this is for?

 

FedEx are absolutely useless the website takes you in circles to an faq, the telephone number also just directs you to the faq and you can't speak to anyone, twitter also useless as they direct me to the faq or the option to fill in a form that you can't actually write anything in only input your invoice number and select from a drop down. 

I didn't think I had to to pay the above for my own used clothes and don't know what to do. I can prove that the clothes where bought in the UK before my travels as I have receipts for the majority of my items but don't know if this matters. 

 

Any help would be massively appreciated 

 

Danielle 

[dx100uk]

ignore

nothing they can do really,

 

they might send a scary DCa after you, again they are powerless and not bailiffs.

 

you got the items and in both cases these were charges levied afterwards,  ignore them all!

 

lost count of the numbers of times ive had uncle tom cobbly and all chasing bogus custom fees from me.

ups, royal mail admin offices, EVRi, process control ltd. etc etc ....not alot anyone can do to you.

 

dx

 

 

[Ethel Street]

@mp3loverontoast Usually shippers require you to pay the duty and VAT before they will deliver but in this case they have already delivered so not much they can do about it.

 

In any case I suspect this all arises from some sort of error in how Fedex categorised the clothing. It looks like they have treated your clothes as being items purchased in the USA and being imported into the UK for the first time. If that had been the case it is correct that the shipper has to collect Import Duty and VAT on behalf of the UK tax authorities and pass it to HM Revenue and Customs. But it is not the case. This is clothing you purchased in the UK with UK duty and VAT paid and is not liable to being taxed again. AFAIK it makes no difference to the tax position whether you have the clothes in your possession or whether you ship them ahead by carrier.

 

As what you were doing is probably not that common, and as your clothes had passed through UPS and a storage company before they even reached Fedex, there was plenty of opportunity for misunderstanding the tax position.

 

The 'disbursement fee' is probably the administration fee that Fedex charge for dealing with the duty and tax collection and payment.

 

It's no different than when you go on holiday with your clothes etc in a suitcase and return with them in a suitcase. UK customs don''t ask everyone to pay duties and tax on their clothes or other possessions every time they come back from holiday if the clothing was originally bought in the UK. 

 

As you say, you have already paid UK VAT on them and have receipts to prove it. If push came to shove having the receipts to prove you bought them in the UK VAT paid would very much matter. They would be the key evidence that you were not liable to be taxed again.