customs duty and imports from oversea (NON-EU)

[gg_dagg]

Dear All,
I am a small business at home. I have't registered a company and have't applied a VAT number as my annual turnover doesn't excess £65,000. Now i have imported some product for my UK customers from oversea(NON-EU country).
My question is that what is kind of receipt i can provide to my UK customers for VAT purpose if i do have a VAT number at all.
Also, because it is shipped directly from oversea(without shipping agency) some sports products and amount is about 100 pcs, Do i need report to customs about this? Some friends told me that certain amount of products can be treated as sample and no need reports. What is kind of regulation exactly we have in UK?If we treat it as product samples and do not report, will my UK customer be charged extera duty when they receive?
Many thanks all and have a nice weekend.

gg_Dagg

[Doctor-Webby]

I dont know if this will help but I use to import football shirts from Thailand, the shirts carried a duty but this was overcome by splitting them down into smallar quantities but then of course you have the added postage charge, when I posted them to my customers dependant on the country there was no charge although I had to fill out a customs declaration.

If you are doing it frequently I can tell you however customs will notice and unfortunately when I like an idiot called them to enquire about this they log everything about you and the goods you import

However no customer ever reported having to pay an additional charge for this

I would say you are better off finding an importer and asking them rather than calling C&E who will want to know more about you than help you, if you want a list of importers in your area PM me and i can let you have that from my UK database

As for receipts if you are not VAT registered can you not just supply a normal receipt without a VAT number and VAT added to it?

You can find some useful info on this website have a look http://www.bizhelp24.com/export_import/export_import_getting_started_2.shtml

hope this helps a little

[gg_dagg]

Thank you for your so fast reply.
i am very appreciate your suggestion.
Splitting big parcel into small ones is a solution. I imports sports balls,they are very light and bigger bulk. Each order is roughly about 12kg(61cm*61cm*61cm). Is this too obviously in Custom's point of view? Should i break them down?

About the VAT receipt, i can provide my customer a receipt from me, what i do not understand is that i do no pay duty when i imports these product, will these affect my cuctomer claiming VAT back when they re-sale these products?

Many thanks doctor
Good night and Have a nice weekend.


gg_dagg

[GraemeL]

My question is that what is kind of receipt i can provide to my UK customers for VAT purpose if i do have a VAT number at all.

Also, because it is shipped directly from oversea(without shipping agency) some sports products and amount is about 100 pcs, Do i need report to customs about this?

Some friends told me that certain amount of products can be treated as sample and no need reports.

gg_Dagg

You cannot charge VAT to your customers if you are not registered for VAT. Sometimes it is better to register voluntarily even though you do not reach the turnover criteria.

Yes you need to tell HMRC as you will have to pay VAT and any applicable duties to clear customs. If not, it is illegal.

HMRC believe that all samples have a value. Try to 'cheat' at your peril. 100 items cannot be samples anyway.

G

[GraemeL]

If you are doing it frequently I can tell you however customs will notice and unfortunately when I like an idiot called them to enquire about this they log everything about you and the goods you import

As for receipts if you are not VAT registered can you not just supply a normal receipt without a VAT number and VAT added to it?


I do not condone these tax avoidance actions whatsoever. It is people like you who avoid paying the right taxes cause the honest people to pay more.

If you are not VAT registered you can increase the amount you charge for your products as much as you like, but you cannot say that any part of the charge is VAT.

G