The recent release of Google’s Nexus One phone has been met with mixed feelings amid reports of poor Customer service and bugs affecting certain functions; but, one thing is certain, it’s a nice piece of kit and there’s huge interest in the UK with people scrambling to be among the first to own the latest gizmo.

Whilst the Nexus One will eventually become available through Vodafone, the launch date has yet to be confirmed, so buyers are looking to the States where the phone is already available (and cheap) – but, the one question affecting that decision to purchase from abroad remains ‘What import taxes will I have to pay ?’. We’ve seen a range of rates put forward in various chat forums….so we’ve decided to put the record straight, here and now…. !

Currently, HM Revenue & Customs consider the ‘essential character’ of the Nexus One (and the iPhone for that matter) to be that of a mobile phone.

So what ? You ask. Well, it’s good news for you technology addicts….mobile phones are duty free on import into the EU ! (But please beware, you will still have to pay import VAT calculated on the sum of the price of the phone + shipping + insurance).

The ‘essential character’ really does work in your favour (sometimes); for example, stand alone Sat Nav’s attract duty at 3.7% and you’d have to pay a whacking 13.9% import duty on a DVD player, but you can ship a mobile complete with GPS application and video playback function and its’ still classified by Customs as a mobile phone – duty free – happy days !

So, what better reason to get on line and get to the front of the queue for that latest ‘must have’ smart phone.

Sean

DutyCalculator.com | Taking the guesswork out of import duty

Just so you are all aware, HMRC have announced the following changes to the de minimus levels for the collection of import duty into the UK from outside the EU as of 1st Jan 2010.

1. Duty of £ 9.00 or less will not be collected (amended from £8.00)

2. Goods of a value (excluding freight & Insurance) of £135.00 or less will be admitted duty free (amended from £120.00), but VAT remains payable.

Every little bit helps. Happy bundling

Andre

As the Duty Calculator approaches 15,000 registered users, we would like to celebrate this by revealing a joyous fact about the roughly 27,000 import duty calculations that we have done so far. For around 40% of the calculations on the Duty Calculator, the result is that the import duty is actually ZERO! Isn’t that great? So in these cases people do not have to pay import duty when they purchase and ship items from abroad. Happy Duty Calculator users!

Why is duty nil? This is because either the total duty amount due is less than £8 (or €10), or the total value of the imported goods is less than £120 (or € 150) or, even better, some items are even duty free!. Here are some popular examples of import duty free items:

• Books
• Software
• Desktop PCs
• Digital camera’s
• Laptops
• Mobile phones (yes, the iPhone is duty free!!!)
• Video Game Consoles

There is of course a catch. On most items still VAT applies. In the UK this currently for most products 15%. But also here there is a ray of light: Neither duty or VAT is payable if the total value of the goods (not including shipping charges or insurance) is less than £18 (or €22).

Happy bundling

Andre

Hi all -

Today we launched the landed costs calculator for eBay! Now, with just one click, you can calculate the total cost of buying an item from eBay.com and shipping it to your home, including import duty & VAT! You just have to enter the eBay item ID and you will get the results immediately.

The eBay calculator is currently in beta and provides the total landed cost for an UK based eBay buyer who is evaluating a purchase of an item listed on eBay.com. The item can be located anywhere in the world. Soon we will be adding more eBay sites and other import-to countries.

The eBay calculator is the result of hard work by Pieter of Pi-Q, Nicola, Pesh of effect digital, Sean of Hexagon Consulting and Aleksandr or iTransition. Many thanks for this guys!

Happy bundling

Andre

Hi all –

We get around 100 queries per week on the Duty Calculator of people calculating the duty and VAT due when importing a car or motorbike. Most cars are imported from the USA and Japan. The cars that are imported are a mix of collector cars (we had a Ford GT), cars that are simply not available in the UK, for example the Infinity FX35 or cars where there is pure price arbitrage, for example the Nissan 370z.

Almost 20% of the queries relate to intra-EU trade of cars. This is not surprising as Duty & VAT regulation for importing cars within the EU is a complicated matter.

Lets start with duty. In general there is no import duty due when importing a car from another EU member state. There are two exceptions: Portugal and Cyprus do levy an import duty on cars from within the EU.

Then there is VAT. In the EU most goods are charged with VAT in the country in which they are purchased. However for a new car, VAT will be due in the member state of destination if the car is new, or the car is sold to a customer who intends to take it to another EU member state.

A new car means here, that less than 6 months have elapsed since the date of its first entry into service or it has, since its first entry into service, travelled under its own power for more than 6000km. If the car is not new, you will not have to pay VAT if you have paid VAT on its purchase in the EU member state of supply.

Plenty more information on this you can find in the Duty Calculator FAQ and the HMRC Notice 728.

Happy bundling

Andre