Fed ex vat????

Comfy Old Boots

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Hi,

I bought a vintage Nikon lense from Japan for 150 euro posted. The lense is worth about 120 euro. It arrived, delivered by Fed ex. I signed for it and that was that.

This morning, I received a letter from fed ex saying that i owe them 48.39. 15 euro advancement fee and 33.39 original vat. I was not expecting this.

I was under the impression, items below a certain value were exempt from vat? And that the vat would then be charged at 12%. And what is that advancement fee? Would that not be included in the sellers postage charges?

I'm looking on the revenue website here but it's making my head spin a little and maybe one of you has a better brain for this stuff? Also, check out the post marks on the letter?

Thanks in advance,
Owen.

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Hi Owen, Generally when something is imported into the EU, VAT is payable. Often the collection of said VAT is subcontracted out to the importing postal company/courier who administer a charge for doing that. Last time I imported something from the US, Royal Mail charged me more than the value of the goods when the charge plus VAT was taken into account. The seller neither knows nor cares, it’s the importee who pays.
 
Piss boiling here at the advancement fee. The tax I was hoping to avoid and am surprised at it being 20%.

Found this on the net, think I'll write to them and refuse to pay the 15 euro advancement fee. It's a copy and paste and will need editing but I'll try it.


Dear FedEx,

This is in reference to invoice #xxxxxxxxxx.

After having bought xxxxxxxxxxx from Japan, I understood there would be the possibility of VAT due on receiving them.

I was however surprised to see an additional section for a clearance administration charge of £12.

Since China is outside of the EU, I of course will pay the VAT due.

However, I refuse to pay the clearance admin charge of £12, since at no point was I made aware of, nor did I agree to, any terms and conditions which clearly stated that I would be liable for any such charges.

At no point in the transaction and subsequent delivery was any contract for a clearance administration charge made between FedEx and myself.

I paid the supplier for delivery, and would expect that any international clearance fees be factored into the initial cost of such a shipment.

If you want to pursue further charges for delivery or administration or the terms upon which goods are shipped, I suggest that you take it up with the company who shipped the goods initially.

Therefore, I request that you update this invoice to reflect no admin fee, and once that has been done I’ll make immediate payment.

Please let me know when this has been done.

Kind Regards,
 
It's a nightmare,

if your part of the UK afaik VAT is 20% not 12

Goods imported from non eu countrys over £50 in value i believe will attract vat

The advancement fee, is a posh way of saying, we have paid it and charged you a disproportionate amount for doing so.



Write back and agree to pay the charges, but enclose your terms and conditions to do so

Tell them as a gesture of good will, you have waived the first letter and reading fee = £1000,

But subsequent letters/ correspondence will incur a fee of £1000 whether read or not

Advise them that if they do not agree to your T's & C's, it must be done in writing, ( see clause 1)

you wont get anywhere, because they dont have a sense of humor

give them a call see what can be done


If you have to pay, do so, but tell them you will pay the actual fee, but the there fees they have leveled against you are disproportionate and you you will

only pay for the cost of a stamp letter and envelope.

Welcome to the minefield of buying from overseas
 
Thanks, I’ve no issue with the tax but 15€ to do what the seller paid them to do? Not a hope I’m paying that.
 
I had the same three weeks ago, i copied and pasted changing the details as needed and sent it to them. They waived the “advancement” fee and i had only £5 VAT too pay. I thought it was 6.7% that had to be payed. Im going to go through something similar soon because i’ve bought another lens from japan but it was only £60 or so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Looking online it would appeAr thrr ST y are just being cheeky. They have no legal right to the advancement fee. They are charging for a service they have being paid for already.
 
Yup, bunch of thieves, they want you to pay for something you didnt ask for. There was talk of them doing away with that charge and just charging a £5 a day fee just for "holding" the parcel, but i dont know whats happened to that idea. The lens i have coming was sent Japan post not Fedex, so dont know what will happen.
 
Without wanting to move this to the politics section, you do realise that next year we will also be paying these charges from stuff sent from the EU.

Most of my work is international and we receive samples for destructive testing from across the globe as they are being destroyed there should be no VAT but my staff spend far too long telling some numpty in a the call centre what code to put on a shipment - they are not happy!!
 
I have an account with Fed Ex and spend thousands with them every year. My advancement fee is £12.00 if they remember to charge it.
Duty can be challenged, as I have done successfully, but you have to know your onions....Infact thinking about it, I have won every challenge I have made, so if you want to go for it, then do so, as you only have a bit of time to lose....Some of my challenges have been in the hundreds.
 
If An Post delivered the goods you wouldn’t get them till you pay up plus a €10 fee. I collect this almost every day from people who order goods from outside the EU. Most wish stuff gets trough because it’s at such a low price. Stuff that might have got trough is been picked up at the mail centres as customs personnel have been redeployed from the airports and points of entry where they were twiddling their thumbs. Some vendors are shipping to a lower tax regime where tax and duty is haphazard and rarely applyd. Then on to more diligent member states who see it as coming from the EU. A bit longwinded but I’m sure you can get my drift. JJH
 
So are the customs lads looking at all post coming into the country?
 
give them a call see what can be done....
Have you tried calling them lately?
Even if your call gets answered it will be by someone who has no idea of the meaning of the words courtesy, politeness or manners.
 
I just sent off my email. Just have to wait and see.

I’m not even going to bother ringing them. My previous experiences have not been good.
 
I doubt you will get a reply, make sure you keep a copy of your email :thumb2

If I don't get a reply, I'll photocopy their letter, print my own and send it registered post. Idle hands are the root of mischief and I have time for this.
 
So are the customs lads looking at all post coming into the country?

That’s the aim. Obviously they can’t so they use tools to filter what needs further attention. Sniffer dogs X-ray and profiling. When a shipper sends something they fill out a declaration and the shipping company’s use that information to calculate the charges. I’d often have a parcel with big stickers OPENED BY CUSTOMS. Plastered all over it. When brexit happens I can see a parcel motel about 100 yards into Northern Ireland. Or 100s of them. A lot of people get a surprise when I look for Eire’s pound of flesh. JJH
 
So, just to get this right, you have expected FedEx to pay your duty/tax up front to allow you to get your package ASAP ( the d&t has nothing to do with FedEx, it’s HMRC that calculates that and that amount is based on ‘declared value for customs’ on the airway bill, and the harmonise code based on the description of the goods by the seller, which dictates the % of duty to be charged).

The alternative is for FedEx to hold onto your package until you pay your tax to HMRC and once done, they will release it for delivery.

Why should the carrier be out of pocket to pay your taxes ? That is what the advancement fee is for. You are using their money so they make a charge for that. If you prefer, and if you are a regular shipper/recipient it makes sense to avoid the advancement fee each time, you can open a ‘deferment account’ with UK customs and put a big chunk of your own money into their bank account so that any d&t will be taken from that (and automatically topped up by you), and FedEx will not be involved.

Finally, you can reject payment for the D&T completely and FedEx will then take action to retrieve the costs from the shipper. The contract for carriage is between the shipper and FedEx and written on the AWB (unless the shipper has a separate contract with FedEx, and the awb is completed by the shipper.


Piss boiling here at the advancement fee. The tax I was hoping to avoid and am surprised at it being 20%.

Found this on the net, think I'll write to them and refuse to pay the 15 euro advancement fee. It's a copy and paste and will need editing but I'll try it.


Dear FedEx,

This is in reference to invoice #xxxxxxxxxx.

After having bought xxxxxxxxxxx from Japan, I understood there would be the possibility of VAT due on receiving them.

I was however surprised to see an additional section for a clearance administration charge of £12.

Since China is outside of the EU, I of course will pay the VAT due.

However, I refuse to pay the clearance admin charge of £12, since at no point was I made aware of, nor did I agree to, any terms and conditions which clearly stated that I would be liable for any such charges.

At no point in the transaction and subsequent delivery was any contract for a clearance administration charge made between FedEx and myself.

I paid the supplier for delivery, and would expect that any international clearance fees be factored into the initial cost of such a shipment.

If you want to pursue further charges for delivery or administration or the terms upon which goods are shipped, I suggest that you take it up with the company who shipped the goods initially.

Therefore, I request that you update this invoice to reflect no admin fee, and once that has been done I’ll make immediate payment.

Please let me know when this has been done.

Kind Regards,
 


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