Duty limit raised on net shopping

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 14 Nov 2008 at 08:22

UK residents buying goods on the internet from the US won't have to pay duty on purchases worth less than £105, under new rules from HM Revenues and Customs.

Until now, duty had to be paid on goods bought from non-EU countries that were worth £18 or more.

That limit is being extended to £105 from 1 December. However, VAT will still be charged on goods worth £18 or more.

"If you're buying goods from countries outside the EU, it's in your interests to know what the rules are," says HMRC's director of Customs, Doug Tweddle.

"For example, some websites don't always make clear there is duty or VAT to pay, while others may misrepresent or undervalue your goods to try and avoid paying charges. But if goods are found to be wrongly declared, they may be seized and the customer penalised."

Perhaps HMRC should get its own house in order before criticising others, however. At the time of writing, there was no mention of the new rules on the Internet Shopping page linked to from the HMRC homepage.

The new rules will mean items such as video games, clothes and DVDs will no longer attract duty. It should also bring an end to the practice of US retailers sending over multiple items in separate packages, so as to avoid import duty.

Duty is charged at different rates depending on the type of goods involved, which can lead to bizzare anomalies. CD players have an import duty rate of 9.5%, for example, whilst DVD players are charged at 14%.