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06-08-2014, 11:43 PM   #1
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DA 21 f3.2 UK Import duty nightmare !

I bought a DA 21mm f3.2 from ebay for £225, its in Japan, I'm in the UK. A duty & tax bill for £247 arrived on Friday (£55 duty, £178 VAT, £13 fees) - did I miss something or did they mess up big-style ? The duty checking site I used said it should be £67 ...

I had to pay the duty to release the lens from customs, apparently I need to fill in a form AFTER I have the package.

What's worse - MY WIFE OPENED THE DUTY LETTER !

This had better be some awesome lens !

06-08-2014, 11:54 PM   #2
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i think they messed up. HMRC on their on site states different percentages and it not possible to reach to the amount you had to pay. The VAT is way too high.
06-09-2014, 12:06 AM   #3
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That's crazy! It's as if they valued it at around £1000! Hope you get it straightened out. Possibly they thought it said 775? Or did they mis-convert an amount in JPY?
06-09-2014, 12:10 AM   #4
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There's no way a 230£ item gets charged 170£ VAT.
Has to be a screw-up.

06-09-2014, 12:50 AM   #5
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Looks like you have had your tax multiplied.
Might be someone got confused because there are no 'cents' or 'pence' in Yen. So 1 yen is like 1 pence, not 1 pound.
06-09-2014, 01:03 AM   #6
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Don't they specify how they reached those numbers? Had seller specified a value or enclosed a bill?

You must write a letter with a print of the PayPal or credit card transaction. Remember to charge them a fee for having to do this!
06-09-2014, 01:17 AM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by H. Sapiens Quote
Remember to charge them a fee for having to do this!
That is actually a good point. A £13 handling fee sounds fair since that's what you've been charged. If they won't accept that they should have a hard time justifying their own fee...

06-09-2014, 03:42 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by H. Sapiens Quote
Don't they specify how they reached those numbers? Had seller specified a value or enclosed a bill?

...
Nope - a printed bill from Royal Mail stating the charges that have been levied, a note below stating that they are sorry they cannot enter into ANY conversation on the charges and some (helpful) references to UK tax website for (retrospective) challenges.

I just had emailed courier documents from Japan stating clearly the correct value declared by the sender (in Yen).

Will update on how this goes, I expect resolution will be months - its the tax department after all, they aren't known to be quick at anything.
07-10-2014, 12:29 PM   #9
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£166 refund cheque received phew !

No explanation as to why the error was made, as they had all of the relevant info originally.
07-10-2014, 08:13 PM   #10
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I would not have expected an adequate resolution to this episode of "your tax dollars (pounds) at work" under the best of circumstances.

You should buy a lottery ticket.
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