Hi, we're a little website selling clothing; much of which we import from EU (using GLS/parcel force), a few thousand pounds worth a month. It's all manufactured in China. Now totally confused about what to do. We were hoping to wait a few weeks before ordering, but Covid has driven demand through the roof. 1. As it's manufactured in China, duty was then paid when it entered EU, do we now also have to pay duty when it's moved into UK? That will kill our business if larger competitors import direct from China. 2. We've been getting a delivery around once a week, so don't want the overhead of using an agent. What is the simplest/cheapest route to 'do the paperwork' to avoid goods from EU spending months in customs (which will also kill our business). Do we need to get a CHIEF account and buy software? Any advice / guidance / suggestions appreciated.
Yes, I believe so. This situation has cause the likes of Marks & Spencer to halt deliveries into the EU : https://www.theguardian.com/politic...-ms-suspend-eu-exports-over-brexit-smallprint
1. Yes. If the goods value is over £135 and country of origin is China then duty will apply. 2. Parcelforce will clear customs for you for a relatively small fee.
Hi. Where your European supplier is purchasing cargo from China, clearing cargo into Europe, and then RE-EXPORTING the cargo to the UK, they should then be able to reclaim the duty they paid. I would therefore be asking them for a discount on any orders in future. Your preferred carrier, be that DHL, DPD, Parcelforce, etc, will be able to arrange the customs clearance as mentioned above, I would definitely suggest that, until things settle and everyone is used to the processes, you use the carrier to do all customs, as they are then responsible, and any delays are caused by themselves. The next few weeks are going to be difficult and I would recommend making sure you dot all the i's and cross the t's and have any paperwork checked early, as it can cause real issues if changes are made. Hope this helps.
Can you clarify this please or point to somewhere that explains it? I wasn't aware this was possible. It's a current headache of ours getting products imported from the far east then sent from the UK into EU and vice versa without having 2 lots of import duty applied.
Yes, I've been watching some fairly useful webinar sessions by Avalara, and there was no mention of anyone reclaiming duty. Indeed it was mentioned that duty was never refunded, so beware of paying the wrong amount. I see a lot of small business like ours either folding completely, or at least stopping selling outside GB (even NI feels like more trouble than it's worth). Also if it costs ~£60 to get the customs paperwork completed for each importation we will have to hold much more stock in the UK going forward rather than our current 'just in time' model.
The only way I have seen to avoid paying 2 lots of duty in UK and EU is to hold the goods in a Bonded Warehouse, where essentially they aren't in the tax zone in question until they're booked out for sale and the duties paid at that point. So with a UK bonded warehouse you can re-export into EU and only pay duties there. Details are here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-operate-a-customs-warehouse It's made to sound pretty simple, but I'm sure there will be a catch like having to be certified or pay a large fee up front. I'd be interested to know what's involved.
Yes, one of our suppliers has some stock in a bonded warehouse, which should help avoid double-duty for some imports in the future.
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