Bringing items to the UK from the EU - VAT, Customs and Excise duties (1 Viewer)

Sapper520

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Never found my single malts much cheaper (if cheaper at all) in duty free shops than in Tesco or Asda.

I sometimes bring half a dozen beers back, but again, you can get most brands of beer at a reasonable price in our supermarkets.

I know nothing about perfumes, my wife always tells me the prices on aeroplanes and on ferries etc are more expensive than she can get them in the UK.

I’m happy with UK prices.......for what we buy anyway. (y)

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Boris7

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What's that place where you get on the tunnel?
That’s a shop called World Duty Free,

But the goods they sell at that shop are not free of duty as your travelling in the EU (or were)
 
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Minxy

Minxy

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chaser Minxy Girl does anyone know if there is a duty on Popcorn? Just asking?
If you go over the 'other goods' allowance then yes but you'd have to have a hell of a lot of it with you! :LOL:

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Feb 18, 2017
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We have 4 pages of posts about duty free now all of a sudden there's no such thing. :doh: :doh::doh::doh::doh:

There are currently no Duty Free shops, as up until last Friday there was no market.
However I dare say that by the summer a load of Duty Free shops will spring up in Calais and Dover and on the ships.

The problem for Eurostar is going to be space, the stations were not built with Duty Free in mind, so they don't have the space and the entire process is to get you through as fast as possible.
Unlike the airports where you are encouraged to arrive early so that you spend money in the airport.

Berlin's new airport was famously designed not to have shops.
Consequently the carriers declined to move to the airport.
Upon completion the entire place was mothballed for 15 years until millions were spent on knocking down and reconfiguring the brand new terminal to incorporate shops and slow down the throughput of people.
 
Feb 18, 2017
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I suspect some may not understand why these personal allowances have been reintroduced. I'll admit it wasn't something which was on my radar until quite recently.

I mentioned in my post above companies in the EU now have to register to pay UK VAT and then charge any applicable VAT on goods they send to the UK.

What I'm unsure of is whether goods will also include the local VAT element in the price they charge UK customers, for example in Germany Mehrwertsteuer? Or will exports to the UK be exempt local VAT being charged or will the supplier have to charge it then reclaim it? If the latter I suspect for small orders they may not bother and UK customers will pay more, if as I said in my earlier post they sell to the UK at all.

It will be interesting to hear how the first person doing a personal import of a MH this year gets on. :)

There is an interesting article in the Forbes magazine about this using the (British) Brooks bicycle saddle company as an example.

As from 1st of Jan they no longer supply their British made product to Britain.
The basic reason is the UK Government expect to have the VAT paid at delivery, not the VAT paid at source like every other county in the world.
As Brooks point out, they sell their product globally, they are not going to set up 200+ different tax regimes in their company, one for every country they deal with.
Much easier to simply export all the products to Italy. I daresay the Brooks factory in Birmingham will follow them to Italy sooner or later if the rules are not changed.

Article here:
 
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Apart from bringing the odd pack of fags through for someone I was never one for duty free, all that faffing about queuing to buy it, lugging bottles in carrier bags on planes or on the boat, whenever I did look at it the savings were never that great. So now it's back. I bet the savings are still hardly worth the hassle.
Absolutely.
Some of the best deals used to actually on board aircraft or ferries as soon as out of UK air or sea space and then out of the customs duty area.
And it kept a track on how much stuff was going in the overhead lockers and how much you could buy.
But it's just opinion thanks folks.

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Aug 18, 2014
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will be interesting to hear how the first person doing a personal import of a MH this year gets on.
10% on new or used +uk vat after. I posted a full link to it last night on another thread

Much easier to simply export all the products to Italy. I daresay the Brooks factory in Birmingham will follow them to Italy sooner or later if the rules are not changed.
& what lives in Italy? Oh yes that would be china trading at higher prices under their "made in Italy " labels.
 
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Portland

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Never saw any real savings in duty free at airports, ferries etc. always bought miles from the port and airport.
To go through an Airport these days is ridiculous, with all the perfumes being sprayed about, if you have any Allergies you could be dead on exit
 
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Buddy up with three others when buying and dividing it up then you will be within the limits.
 

Peppadog

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There is an interesting article in the Forbes magazine about this using the (British) Brooks bicycle saddle company as an example.

As from 1st of Jan they no longer supply their British made product to Britain.
The basic reason is the UK Government expect to have the VAT paid at delivery, not the VAT paid at source like every other county in the world.
As Brooks point out, they sell their product globally, they are not going to set up 200+ different tax regimes in their company, one for every country they deal with.
Much easier to simply export all the products to Italy. I daresay the Brooks factory in Birmingham will follow them to Italy sooner or later if the rules are not changed.

Article here:
So. The company formed in 1866 is now called Brooks England Ltd. Formed in 2000 according to Companies House and owned by Italian’s living in Italy!
I know the name but nothing about them, though reading the Forbes article, it looks like they make a range of goods (or have them made somewhere else) and distribute them from their main business in Italy. So the saddles being made in their UK factory will now go to Italy.
Is it related to duty free?

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Aug 26, 2008
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These allowances are enough for us. Not a problem. :xThumb:

I just hope that I can drive to France this year after last year's washout.
 
Jan 8, 2013
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I could have missed some issues but

Do these limits mean per person?

Are they a bit out of touch with the sparkling wine?
I imagine this limit was specifically aimed at expensive Champagne - not the cheap 3-4 euro prosecco or sparkling Riesling we buy.
 

scally

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Just like bringing in goods from outside the EU. Anyone over a certain age will remember this is how it used to be. Customs will be checking for that extra bottle of wine in the back of your lockers for sure!

This is one of the things that only just over half the people of the UK voted for and said they wanted.
Never was much of a problem there were allowances for personal use on cigs and booze and perfume I think but unless your an importer it wont come to much

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scally

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No, each of you would get the same limit (I know that sounds confusing)

As an example, if you both smoke B&H then you both can bring in 200 cigarettes (400 in total) but if you smoke and the other person doesn’t they cannot bring in 200 for you, however they can bring in 200 as a gift for someone else as long as that person doesn’t pay for them.

Once got stopped at Portsmouth and searched, I had 200 cigars from the EU and 200 cigarettes from Morocco, I was alone and the cigarettes were for my wife, customs officer asked me if she paid for them?

my answer “your not married are you?” Sent on my way

He never opened the road cases mind 😉
Whos to prove you are a smoker or tetotal or not ?
 

DBK

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I could have missed some issues but

Do these limits mean per person?

Are they a bit out of touch with the sparkling wine?
I imagine this limit was specifically aimed at expensive Champagne - not the cheap 3-4 euro prosecco or sparkling Riesling we buy.
It's per adult person.

The sparkling wine thing is I suspect an echo from the past when those in authority writing the original rules decades ago only knew of champagne. :) The new rules are just a light update of those old rules.
 
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Dimbo question here. If you buy wine etc and pay the local duty (tax) ie by buying in a supermarket is that still limited?
Yes. Thats what the new limits apply to. If you find somewhere that it's possible to buy duty free the limits are lower.
 
Aug 18, 2011
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Just remembering back to bringing cigs in when the better half still smoked.She used to say she had saved 200 pounds,,Ask her now and she would say it was money wasted. BUSBY😁
 
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We have decided on 48bottles from our favourite château, as never seen it in UK and too far south for a booze cruise. The rest we will have to bite the bullet and pay the extra in the UK. We usually go twice a year so 96 bottles not too bad.
 

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