On 20 Jan 2004 10:50:55 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
Andy Hall writes:
On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 00:17:57 +0000, No-one
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 23:33:23 -0000, "al"
wrote:

The VAT and/or excise duty however I'd be
interested to hear more about. Do I just have to pay 17.5% when it arrives?
Who do I pay? How does it work? If they charge admin, can you pre-pay this
to avoid it if there is no chance of it "slipping through"?

You would be liable to excise duty on the PC, plus VAT on top i.e.
you pay VAT on the cost plus duty total. Then an admin charge by the
carriers.

There shouldn't be duty from the U.S. to the EU on computers IME.

That's true for complete systems.
Incomplete systems and parts attracted 20% last time I looked.

You mean a combined rate including VAT?

I've brought in parts quite regularly, personally and have always
declared them as such. Sometimes I'm asked if they are for personal
use. Either way, I've never paid other than the VAT.

With tools, sometimes I've had to pay about 1.7% duty and then VAT...

On one occasion, I had some computer items for business purposes.
Theoretically you are supposed to do a Merchandise in Baggage
declaration and procedure for that, but I simply told them what I had
and what it was for. The customs person asked if the business was VAT
registered (it is) and then just let the whole thing go saying that
there was no point in creating paperwork - had I had to pay, VAT would
have been reclaimed as input tax anyway.



..andy

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