Importing parts - VAT, GST and duty

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Hydroglen

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....not so from Merry Olde England!
Dorien

So all sellers other than those in the UK are corrupt?

If you have to pay duty on a £350 steering wheel, take the issue up with your Government, that's who's to blame, not retailers in Merry Olde England. They will all send you parts without charging VAT, or any other form of tax, and I have found UK intl air freight costs are far more competitive than the US.

Why should retailers in the UK fiddle their paperwork to save you a few dollars in duty?

[Ashley James]

Sadly Britain is being priced out of World Markets by moronic
Government although the pound is weaker now.
Ash

[Hydroglen]

This is off topic however......
You are making assumptions and as such bound to be wrong. Nobody is asking
for a fiddle or for vendors to be corrupt. A rather draconian
statement....It is how the paperwork is prepared that counts, and is the
issue. 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.
The UK sellers put it down as newly manufactured part, 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.
This has been the case with most UK shipments. NEVER with shipments from
other parts of Europe or the USA. They understand the requirements and
prepare the paperwork accordingly. They clarify that it is for a vintage
car, bike, plane or whatever...An new electric fuel pump, as an example,
that you want to use on your vintage car may come in free or at 5%. If the
UK vendor omitts or refuses to acknowledge the end use you are using it on
then I end up payng more. You may think that this is a loophole to import
anything under the guise that it is for vintage use and maybe so. I can
assure you that there is not much that we need to import from the UK that is
not for vintage use.
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.
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.

Dorien

[Ashley James]

Dorien

I was implying that our Government was pricing Britain out of
international Markets that is all. I'm sorry you've had trouble with
Brit suppliers, but if they are shipping overseas as we do all the
time they may not know your local laws and will need to be told. It
doesn't cost them anything to state that the parts are for a Vintage
Car.

We suffer as badly from our VAT Authorities. You used to be able to
import any Historically important car into the UK for, I think 5% VAT,
but recently the rules have changed and it applies only to Pre War cars.

Ash

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Ashley James

Dorien

I was implying that our Government was pricing Britain out of
international Markets that is all.

How is that Ash? (serious question)

[Ashley James]

Kevin

There are over 50,000 people employed in the Classic car business in
the UK and there are some of the best restoration companies in the
world operating here. They rely on overseas customers because in the
main Brits don't have the money. Because of all the costs and taxes in
the UK a customer will spend almost twice as much as having the same
job done in the US, twice as much as Australia where there are very
good companies and more than twice as much as New Zealand or South
Africa. Not surprisingly Brit companies are losing work overseas. The
British government played a major part in killing off manufacturing in
the country and now it is killing the service industry.

I could elaborate, even give a history lesson, but we are too heavily
taxed over here and it is highly damaging in a Global Market IMO.

Ash

[Kevin H]

Ash, I gather you don't think the level of taxation is fair in the UK, but you won't get much sympathy from Aussies on that front (because we are probably more highly taxed than you!)

However, this is the bit I really don't get....

Originally Posted by Ashley James

The British government played a major part in killing off manufacturing in
the country and now it is killing the service industry.

How is the UK Govt is killing off these industries?

Kevin

[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.