[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Hydroglen

This is off topic however......
You want to call or imply that the rest of the world is corrupt and a bunch
of fiddlers, then that is a strange choice of wording.

Dorien, my comment was in response to your earlier post in which you said: "Fortunately vintage parts coming in from the USA and other countries arrive with little or no GST ( duty equivalent) as the senders have learnt to be creative with their paperwork..."

The term "Creative paperwork" is a common euphemism for "fraud", so I think the word "corrupt" is quite apt.

Originally Posted by Hydroglen

A part even newly made that is for a vintage car may come in at a
max of 5% duty /GST or free. If the UK seller omits pertinent info on the
paperwork we are faced with some 30% duty. In addition there can be
lengthy delays.

As I said before, take it up with your Govt. They are the ones who make such absurd laws. What reason is there to tax a part differently for a 1928 car to a 1958 car?

Presumably there is also an Act which defines "vintage"? (I didn't think a Bristol 400 would be classed as "vintage")

Originally Posted by Hydroglen

The UK sellers put it down as newly manufactured part,

which it is ...

and as such comes in under a different tariff. This is a stubborn refusal to understand our customs laws that say.... if the new part was made for vintage use then the tariff changes to 5% or free and home delivery.

Dorien, you are joking aren't you? Surely you do not really expect the rest of the World to keep themselves aware of Canadian customs & excise laws?

Originally Posted by Hydroglen

Since you bring up the corrupt word, I question the honesty of a system that offers a VAT refund when leaving the UK. I and several posters have found it virtually impossible to use or collect all your money from it

I think the main complainant was me. However, while it is hard to get all of the VAT back, getting part of it is better than nothing and I do understand that there are some admin costs involved. It's just that certain retailers or VAT refund processing companies have admin fees which I consider to be too high. But because this only affects people who have personally bought goods themselves while visiting the UK, it is not something that affects many people on a regular basis. The UK Govt did not conceive a dishonest scheme as you suggest.

On the other hand I often buy clothing by mail order from the UK and I never pay a penny of VAT, and there are no processing costs involved. Nor is there any duty payable at this end unless the order exceeds AUD$1000. I usually place orders of a few hundred pounds, so even after taking the postage costs into consideration, it is actually cheaper for me to buy items from the UK from Australia than it would be if I bought them in person in the UK.