[Closed] royal mail admin charges for import tax

I got charged £10 on £90 worth of duty for two enormous jacks. You've been robbed!

IIRC the admin fee for my Chinese carbon frame was about £12 (and then import tax on top of that) so £17 does sound like a lot.

Scandalous!

See, privatised Royal Mail. 😉

s-s-s-s-scandalous!

surely there is a way to pay tax ahead of import so you can avoid this

Buy from a UK shop?

Legally you don't have to pay it.
They are assuming you contractually accept them paying it on your behalf.
They don't actually pay it until 90days later on account to HMRC.
The Postal Act is your defence here as it states they cannot delay the post.
Them not delivering it breaches this act.
Do a quick Google - there are loads of threads on Airsoft forums about this.
RM make millions off this!
Another point is that your contract is with the orginal seller. You have paid for a postal service.
RM are contracted at this end to finish the delivery in the destination country. Hence them not delivering is breach of contract as well.
Technically you HAVE to pay the tax.
You DON'T have to pay RM for a service you didn't ask for - get the seller to mark the package "IMPORT DUTY TO BE PAID FOR BY ADDRESSEE" - means RM can't override it and add their "handling fee"
They have to deliver it and HMRC will invoice you after.
Ring the HMRC at Coventry Airport, they will explain it for you.

so if I didn't pay they would still have to deliver?

I doubt that very much. HMRC will almost certainly insist that duty must be apid before they will allow delivery.

so they have a licence to charge an admin fee and coin it in? surely that cant be right??!!

Oh I'm sure there are ways of paying it yourself, just as I'm sure that those ways will be significantly more expensive and hassle than paying the fee.

[b]I doubt that [/b]very much. HMRC will [b]almost certainly [/b]insist that duty must be apid before they will allow delivery.

Oh [b]I'm sure there are ways [/b]of paying it yourself, [b]just as I'm sure [/b]that those ways will be significantly more expensive and hassle than paying the fee.

Glad that's cleared up beyond doubt then 😉

Import VAT
If you're ordering goods from outside the EU, any [b]Import VAT must be paid by the recipient once the goods have arrived in the UK but before the goods are delivered.[/b]

In addition, there may also be a handling fee to pay to the carrier. Follow the link below to find out more.

From HMRC website.

Royal mail handling fee is £8.00.
Parcelfarce is £8.50 or £13 depending on which post service was used.
It sounds like you were charged twice.
I'm expecting something from the US so thought I'd better check. You were robbed!

Yea it's not really worth importing low value items from abroad (especially USA). RM's brokerage charges are low but still not worth it for a £40 of shorts.

hammyuk - Member
The Postal Act is your defence here as it states they cannot delay the post.
Them not delivering it breaches this act.

You've not read it then? I refer you specifically to s106(1)a of the Postal Service Act 2000 (as amended).

Unfortunately HMRC has enlisted RM to act as it's agent so there is no way round it unless you pay the customs fees up front. You cannot use the "delay post" argument I am afraid. Much to my disappointment the first time I got stung.

Sometimes you get caught and have to pay up. Sometimes it slips through.

Probably works out even in the end for most people.

Yes I have read it - I've not paid any fees to RM in a number of years.
There are numerous cases of it being overturned by regular people buying in from Hong Kong, etc.
Airsoft forums are full of examples. They were even taken to small claims to recover the monies paid and RM lost