Importing charges

[Anonymous]

I thought some people might find this of interest when trying to estimate what charges they might end up paying when importing parts frm the US or Japan. It seems there a lot of people keen to slap a bit extra on - and this is free trade   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Customs & Excise overview of charges
http://www.hmce.gov.uk/public/shopping/shopping.htm

A more detailed explanation of charges and when the charges are applied (scroll up and down)
http://www.hmce.gov.uk/forms/notices/143.htm#P178_11265

To discover the level of duty applied you first need the commodity code for the items you are importing. This is very likely to be the following which is for vehicle parts.
http://194.223.26.57/icn/ComcodeDisplay.cfm?Heading=8708

You then need to look this up in the UK Tariff to discover what % figure they will charge but this is not online as mentioned on the C&E webpage    s:x :x s:x   Maybe someone here has access to a hardcopy?

However as a rough rule of thumb the EU's Integrated Tariff of the Union (TARIC) provides an estimating tool which was about right the few times I have imported MR2 parts. The TARIC code is basically the commodity code as above. Hit the 'Duty Rate' button to get the % figure to be charged.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/dds/cgi-bin/tarchap?Lang=EN

Finally a link to Parcelforce's guide to its charges for handling/clearing customs.
http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw/content1?mediaId=load105044&catId=2500042

Shockingly even after all that you can still £££'s (exchange rates willing - http://www.xe.com/) buying from the US and Japan compared to a UK importer, albeit it should be easier to return your item to a UK retailer. It depends how risk averse you are ...