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Duty on second hand hifi from the EU

MotherSky

MotherSky

pfm Member
Having been assured by a seemingly reputable French audio dealer that I would NOT have to pay duty on the second hand preamp I was interested in buying, I went ahead with the purchase - he assured me that he had made many such sales post Brexit with no issues..... you guessed it, when UPS turned up, they presented me with a bill for £350 before they will release the amp

The question is whether the dealer knowingly misled me to make the sale, or have he and his English customers just been lucky up to now?

My understanding is that with new goods, I would not pay the EU VAT (equivalent) on the item, and then pay duty here - I had assumed that it would be the same with second hand goods, but when I put this to the dealer, he told me unequivocally that that no tax was due on the second hand item there, and neither would it be when it arrive here in England

Obviously I should have checked thoroughly from independent sources, but he came across as completely genuine and I felt I had no reason to distrust him....

Did he see me coming? Have I been taken for a sucker, or could this have been a genuine mistake?
 
Duty is insignificant - something like 2%. You pay VAT, duty and a handling fee. Although not everything is found/caught, but as time passes, customs are getting increasingly thorough.

This has only been posted here something like 100 times.
 
No doubt France now is identical to USA many years ago when I bought a Stax amp from there, but mine was only about £50 total which I had budgeted for.
 
cobbers said:
No doubt France now is identical to USA
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They are identical - the UK left the EU and the USA was never a member.

Buy anything from anywhere outside of the UK and if it gets found............................... Books are less of a blow - VAT is charged, but at 0%
 
Vinny said:
Duty is insignificant - something like 2%. You pay VAT, duty and a handling fee. Although not everything is found/caught, but as time passes, customs are getting increasingly thorough.

This has only been posted here something like 100 times.
Click to expand...
I am not questioning whether it is due - it clearly is, and as you charmingly state this has been addressed many times - I am wondering whether it is plausible that the dealer could be ignorant of the fact: if forum experience suggests that it's something of a lottery (which I have evidently not won), then I might give him the benefit of the doubt

I am quite cross about this, and not only with myself..
 
I've bought quite a few tubes from the EU and as long as the value was less than about £130 I never got charged duty.

My experience is that it partly goes on value as to whether you are charged or not.

In the past I've noticed that packets from the USA are more likely to attract duty than those from China.
 
MotherSky said:
I am not questioning whether it is due - it clearly is, and as you charmingly state this has been addressed many times - I am wondering whether it is plausible that the dealer could be ignorant of the fact: if forum experience suggests that it's something of a lottery (which I have evidently not won), then I might give him the benefit of the doubt

I am quite cross about this, and not only with myself..
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Why would a French dealer be familiar with UK import rules?
 
How much was the item?!

350.00 for import duty alone seems way high - 2-4% max I guess...

Unless that figure includes uk vat...

Did he deduct french vat at point of sale?
 
if the rules are the same as here he would have no VAT to remove on second hand goods unless his supplier was VAT registered and charged him VAT on the purchase, if the goods were new he would only have VAT to remove if his supplier was VAT registered and they charged him VAT.
 
Central Audio said:
if the rules are the same as here he would have no VAT to remove on second hand goods unless his supplier was VAT registered and charged him VAT on the purchase, if the goods were new he would only have VAT to remove if his supplier was VAT registered and they charged him VAT.
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That clears that up at least - that tallies with what he told me
 
You have to rely on his honesty with regard to him being charged or not by his supplier, whichever way though you are going to be charged it so it doesn’t look honest to me.
 
It's worth remembering that VAT and duty are different things. Your bill may cover VAT and duty, or VAT alone, plus a handling charge.

There is no difference between used or new.

It's quite likely that your seller wasn't up to speed with a full understanding of the situation, rather than deliberately misleading you.
 
les24preludes said:
I've bought quite a few tubes from the EU and as long as the value was less than about £130 I never got charged duty.
Click to expand...

Lucky you, don't count on it happening again. I was under the impression that it was £0 allowance, but I checked recently and it is/was £30.

As above - forget duty - essentially irrelevant - in most cases the admin charge will be greater.
 
I export a few bits and pieces and use UPS, their system gives me a rough calculation of the bill the recipient will receive, this is made of VAT, duty and handling, it's not exact but generally pretty close to the final bill.

I always screenshot it and forward it to the customer so there are no surprises.

Their system may differ from country to country but it's quite transparent when I export.
 
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