Chris Green wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

under £135, vat at point of sale collected by overseas seller, no duty.

over £135 vat and duty (if not zero rated) collected at point of import.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

But VAT *isn't* duty!!!!

perhaps you'd like to point out where I said they were the same? The
threshold for each of them *is* now the same.

You pay VAT on almost everything you buy, excluding only food, books
and a few other things.

When we were in the EU that was it, if you had paid VAT in whatever
country you bought something no further taxes were due.

Now that we are outside the EU whether or not you pay VAT on something
(which I think the £135 rules apply to, so that you pay UK VAT on
things imported by post rather than bringing in yourself) there may
*also* be duty payable.

Yes I know, I said that up there ^^^^^^^^

This isn't just for alcohol and tobacco,
there's *duty* payable on electrical goods for example and always has
been when imported from outside the EU.