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Hi All, I am off to the good ole US of A in at the end of September, Id like to either pack some bike bits in my case or possibly send a frame home, Id pay in USD and then post it to my home address, would I still have to pay import duties on this. If not can I take it in my case as a souveneir without incuring vat charges etc. Can someone shed some light on this for me.
If you send it back marked as a gift it's unlikely to get pulled but might. If you bring it back yourself in a suitcase and get caught you're in trouble for tax avoidance. I've brought various bits back in cases without any problems and brought a whole bike back on one business trip, to do this I just took my bike bag out with most of a scrap bike in. This way the bike bag came and went. Post the docs for the bike back to yourself so they're not in your case if you get pulled and bingo.
legally you have to pay duties either way.
now, if you happened to take a halfords special out with you and it changed into something nicer....
EDIT: too slow.
And hope the warrenty is global
There's a threshold for paying import duty IIRC so just mark the label under that.
now, if you happened to take a halfords special out with you and it changed into something nicer....
...it wouldn't make any difference, as Customs have no idea what you took out with you.
FWIW I've brought bikes and bits back no bother.
Good food for thought gents thanks for this, I think ill stick with my carbon exoskeleton plan and sew all my new parts into clothes im going to wear back on the plane. Im sure it will be fine.
So I didn't have to put those two Chris King hubs in condoms and swallow them?
You can bring back up to £390 worth of goods / souvenirs without paying duty.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingnoneu.htm