Customs Duty on Christmas Presents

[newlyretired]

I have just been hit with a customs charge on a Christmas parcel from the USA - it was a VAT charge plus an £8 Royal Mail handling fee

It's the first time that this has happened. Any ideas on what might have changed?

And are Christmas parcels sent to the USA likely to incur customs charges?

newlyretired

[bionichamster]

Firstly it might depend on what the gifts actually are, i.e. different types of item attract different rates of duty, some none at all, some in double figures of %. Also the overall value of the gifts might influence whether they attract an import duty, small low value items are generally ignored.

Also it used to be a bit of a lottery if you attracted import duty as not every parcel seemed to be checked, or if the declaration label said it was an item worth £5 when it was actually worth £100 it might go unoticed, not sure if that's the case now.

So check the value of the gift compared to previous years and check they type of gift as this might explain the charge, alternatively consider yourself lucky not to have incurred it before.

More info here: https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

but note this bit: You’ll be charged Customs Duty on gifts and other goods sent from outside the EU if they’re above a certain value, unless the duty comes to less than £7.
Is it possible that with the falling pound your gift has just gone over the duty threshold compared to previous years?

BH

[gryffron]

IME, whatever the rules, it has always been a bit hit and miss. Sometimes parcels well over the limit sneak through, even if correctly declared at high value. Your experience this year might be down to higher sterling values, or maybe you have just been lucky in the past.

Gryff