Tax on Tayda order

[markeebee]

I ordered some stuff from Tayda last month....not massive, about 80 quids worth.....all arrived in good time as usual.  Delivered by DHL.

I received this morning an invoice from DHL reclaiming the 20% tax that they had to pay to customs, plus an admin fee.

I realise that I am, of course, legally required to pay tax on stuff I import.  But I was a bit surprised because I've had loads of similar consignments from Tayda and never had an invoice for tax before.

Did I just get unlucky this time?  Is it like a random check, maybe?  Or do you normally get a tax bill, and I've just been lucky before?

If I have to add 20% to every Tayda price in future, they suddenly seem less attractive.......

[Arcane Analog]

When using the brokerage service DHL you will get dinged taxes and brokerage fee. The latter I believe is the lion's share of the tax. The same goes when importing something using UPS or FedEX. They charge you a brokerage fee to import goods. Basically they gouge you to provide a service Royal Air Mail, USPS and Canada Post provides for free.

DHL is faster but I always use the registered standard shipping service Tayda offers to avoid the brokerage fees.

Edit: I have never paid taxes using Tayda's standard shipping service either.

[Kesh]

Were the other amounts smaller in value?

There's a cut off, I think about £15, below which tax is waived, so I tend to order in bundles under £15. Things over £15 often get through though, as not every item of mail is checked.

[slacker]

Odd way to go about things invoicing you after they've delivered. The only time I got hit for customs charges I had to pay up before they would deliver, don't think that was DHL though.

[bluebunny]

This is what HMRC says:

All other goods
If you order or send purchased goods other than alcohol, tobacco, perfume and toilet water from a country outside the EU then you:

• don't have to pay Excise Duty
• may have to pay Customs Duty on goods with a value that exceeds £135
• will have to pay import VAT on goods with a value that exceeds £15

Note that on all goods from outside the EU, Customs Duty is waived if the amount of duty calculated is £9 or under.

The first two points won't have applied, but the third one does (and the waiver that follows it doesn't kick in).     So spend less than £45, I guess?   

[Govmnt_Lacky]

NO TOILET WATER...... check! 

[Mark Hammer]

I find my Tayda orders (not that there are monay of them) can come from different mailing origins (e.g., mailed from Thailand or Germany).  Is it possible that your current order was mailed to you from a presumed point of origin where duty would need to be paid?

[Pyr0]

The only time I had to pay tax (VAT) on a Tayda order was when I used DHL for shipping.  The order was over €100 and they had a special offer on free DHL shipping at the time. Bloody tax came to more than what I saved on shipping 
I've had many other orders sent through regular post and I never got charged tax, some of them were in the €80 - €90 range, but I noticed that they (Tayda) put a value of €25 on the customs label - conveniently just below the tax threshold here. 

[Arcane Analog]

The only time I had to pay tax (VAT) on a Tayda order was when I used DHL for shipping.  The order was over €100 and they had a special offer on free DHL shipping at the time. Bloody tax came to more than what I saved on shipping 
I've had many other orders sent through regular post and I never got charged tax, some of them were in the €80 - €90 range, but I noticed that they (Tayda) put a value of €25 on the customs label - conveniently just below the tax threshold here. 

Exactly my experience. Any shipment using a brokerage company (UPS, FedEX, etc) will cost you alot more cash.

[armdnrdy]

I remember Sam Kinison talking about people starving in Africa. Going on about how "there's no food here".... "Why don't you move to where the food is?"

Well my sentiments exactly! Why don't you guys move to where the parts are? That way there will be no high shipping cost, tax, tariff, whatever!

See......problem solved!

OOOOOHHHHHHHHH