DHL asking for VAT

[super jumbe]

I bought diagnostic tool from china factory, the item was posted by the DHL Express I was told by the seller that the item was included in postage, I got the goods and after two weeks I have received a letter from DHL Express asking me to pay VAT towards the goods, has any one got this sort of letter asking to pay VAT?
:viking:

[Bulld0g]

Don't know if this is of any use m8
"The bottom line is:
If you are sending goods out of the European Union (EU) you will need to prepare a Customs Invoice and if you are receiving a shipment you need to know that there could be duties on top that may be billed after the shipment has been delivered."
DHL | Duties and Taxes | English (http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/shipping/customs_support/duties_taxes.html)

[Grizz]

i remember a few years ago getting computer parts from USA and the courier company (maybe fedex cant be sure) sent me a letter saying they had paid customs for me and wanted me to pay X euros. i replied asking them for proof of customs payment and i would forward money. i didnt hear from them again.
its the govenments job to get tax from you not DHL, id check it out before i payed

[smirnoff_rules]

l had one years back and never paid it . write on the copy it was an ex employee that ordered and give any old name

[super jumbe]

Just checked there website, DHL fack*** robbing baste*** I will never use them again in future; I will ask the seller if the postage is from DHL no sell for me.

:cobblers:

[CNOBD2]

Hey, where are you from?
Some South American customs is strict and maybe need VAT number.
Also Turkey, South Africa, Ecuador,Zambia, Mexico customs are strick. But i am not sure whether they ask VAT number or not.

Just checked there website, DHL fack*** robbing baste*** I will never use them again in future; I will ask the seller if the postage is from DHL no sell for me.

:cobblers:

[tab99_uk]

i odered 2 dm800s from china and the the seller invoiced the shipment value 32.47they want me to pay 7.74 vat had one last time to from dhl just ignored it will ignore this one to never heard a thing back been a year now.

[daithi]

a friend ordered hiking boots from america
was given the item and got a letter a week later for customs
he never paid it and wasnt bothered about it again

[super jumbe]

Bas*** taking us for a ride we suppose to trust DHL!
Well they gave me the customer number to pay via there website and what I saw was unbelievable, I saw another vat payment for items I never bought in February 11, so I emailed them on the 18th February 2011, no reply I email them on the 19th February 2011 for explanation and I have not heard from them yet, would some one let me know if this is all scams as I have been paying them last year and I wonder the VAT has ever been paid to our govt.
As Grizz explained in this thread it?s the government?s job to get tax from you not DHL.
I think they should be reported to The Office of Fair Trading, I will wait anther few days and will contact them by phone.

:rolleyes::viking::alberteinstein:

[tshirtman]

As Grizz explained in this thread it?s the government?s job to get tax from you not DHL

not really, virtually everything you buy will have VAT included in the price, and the retailer will pass that VAT on to HMCR,
so, retailers, garages, manufacturers, service providers, etc, will collect VAT on behalf of the government.

[super jumbe]

Fair point tshirtman so what?s DHL got to do with the VAT payments to them got to do with the goods you bought from the retailer for some thing you have already paid, we buy goods from China because they are cheap but if we start paying VAT we better off buying goods from UK, end off the day there want be much deferent in value.

:help: :help: :help: :help:

[racin-snake]

ime pretty sure its import tax you are asking about not vat
import tax is only charged for goods from outside the EU

the chinese usually put a lower value in the postage form to get you a lower import duty

if dhl ever get a parcell for you again they can hold on to it till the duty is paid i think
if it wasnt paid for in your first instance

import duty is explained on the .gov website in quite good detail
showing what amount is paid on what

bummer i know but ask your seller to put a lower amount in the form save big import tax bill

[tshirtman]

dont know what the rule are mate, but you might find the answer here:
HM Revenue & Customs: Trade sectors with special VAT rates, rules or concessions (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/forms-rates/rates/trade-sectors.htm#e)

there is a section on, Transport and freight services

[keymaster]

Hi
I think you will find that DHL have a VAT/Duty department which is linked with customs, if you order often from china they will give you a number which you quote.
Every order I get from chinal I get a duty/vat bill for about 14% of stated value of goods.
All goods bought from outside the EU are subject to Duty I am afraid, this of course includes DM800 clones lolol
Key

[super jumbe]

Fair enough but what if you get VAT on some thing you have not bought if that?s not a scam then I would call fraud, to cut the storey short if they write to me again I will ask them for the evidence of VAT payments to the HH Revenue and if they will be brave enough to supply another scrap, I will check up with our local HH Revenue.

:help: :help: :help: :help:

[binary]

Welcome to the real world lol

[binary]

OK! If you feel you have been ripped off by this company you can limit the damage by contacting "Made in China" and alibaba who you purchased from contact thier fraud section and send them all details of purchase if they are considered as "Frauding the customer" they will strike them off thier site just like flebay

[DJSimo]

I had this with DHL who I also used to work for, DHL pay the import duty on goods for you, this is so they can get the goods to you as quickly as possible, if they didn,t then like Royal Mail your parcel would get held at customs until HMRC write to you asking for payment of import duty and then once you had paid it they would release the parcel to the courier, this could take up to 3 weeks. That is why DHL pay the import duty for you so as soon as your parcel arrives in the UK they can get it to you straight away.

The person who shipped it to you should have put on the shipping invoice that the item was a gift or of no commercial value or goods are valued under ?30 then there would be no import duty to pay.

[melloned]

I bought diagnostic tool from china factory, the item was posted by the DHL Express I was told by the seller that the item was included in postage, I got the goods and after two weeks I have received a letter from DHL Express asking me to pay VAT towards the goods, has any one got this sort of letter asking to pay VAT?
:viking:

:hmmmm2: A similar poser from DHL Mate , a letter to my works address , demanding ?25 import duty , for an item they informed me they had paid customs up front for, in order not to slow shipment time down , they told me this is their standard policy and the duty was now due to them without delay .The items was marked up of no commercial value , adapter samples !

After a bit of detective work , i found it was for a ?2.99 torch , bought and paid for by a workmate from Singapore , using his credit card and his ebay account , but for some odd reason addressed to me and signed for by a bloke in the business next door in our absence ! . Work that one out ! , until DHL do , they can swing for it !!

[z786]

iv paid it a few times, its customs tax, once i ordered 3 things and they wouldnt deliver until i paid the tax lol
next time like dj above said, get seller to write little or no value on invoice

[Grizz]

im after searching a bit and it looks like the couriers are mandated by govenment to collect vat (in ireland anyway). i cant find solid numbers for exemption though(one post say if tax is less than E6 its left off). Like usual the @ssholes slip in legislation and expect you to know it without telling you. heres a link for irish DKers
http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/postal-guide.pdf
it also mentions an "Anti Dumping Duty" which reads to me like a "your-getting-too-good-a-deal-outside-the-EU-so-we'll-tax-you-extra Duty"

Xhibit puts it better than i ever could.........
http://images1.memegenerator.net/ImageMacro/4752284/YO-Dog-We-heard-you-like-taxes-So-we-put-taxes-on-your-taxes.jpg?imageSize=Medium&generatorName=Sad-Xzibit

[super jumbe]

So what?s the benefit if I buy an item in UK for ?100.00 genuine and you go and buy an item from China for ?60.00 a fake clone item plus you have to pay DHL carrier and VAT on top of that it makes you think that if you are even going to save ?20.00 I can not see any benefit, because end of the day the item is still a clone and it may not even work.

:goodpost:

[Grizz]

yup they got us every way. theres plenty other stuff though, for example, i walk into my local Argos and ask for an ipod shuffle cable, "Thats E20.39 pls". log on to ebay and i can get one posted from hong kong for 99p inclusive. no money for petrol, no waste valuable time. no vat. thats around 18 times cheaper and less hassle. and 19 euros for beer to boot

[melloned]

iv paid it a few times, its customs tax, once i ordered 3 things and they wouldnt deliver until i paid the tax lol
next time like dj above said, get seller to write little or no value on invoice

:( the ?2.99 torch was in a box marked "adapter samples , of no commercial value " , for some reason revenue+customs valued this at ?90 of which ?26 duty was payable ??

DHL have invoiced my company for this amount as this was the delivery address a workmate used , for some reason it's been delivered in my name , but wasn't purchased on my card or on my ebay account.
DHL have now said they'll withold any deliveries on this account until it's paid , but whose account , mine , the workmates or the companies :hmmmm2:

[Meat-Head]

:( the ?2.99 torch was in a box marked "adapter samples , of no commercial value " , for some reason revenue+customs valued this at ?90 of which ?26 duty was payable ??

:hmmmm2:

OFF TOPIC:-

Mates uncle dropped dead, guy from probation (?) office, looked at figures in bank account, went to house, car, lawnmower, cement mixer etc, that xxxxxx inheritance tax.

Oh you have trenches for a house in the back garden that's called
"hope value" that's 10,000 please on top of all this other.

mate would have filled trench in if he had known!

[hugjam]

It used to be that all goods from non e.u. countries was examined by customs and a charge put on .The carrier then delivered said item to the customer and collected all monies due,if you refused to pay then you did not get your goods.I asume this is still the the case.

[super jumbe]

As Keymaster said it?s not true, DHL do not have vat/duty department linked with customs, if they were connected with the customs we would get the tax man asking for the vat business number, when we are the very small buyers the vat does not come into force, only on bulks or containers which are valued items. Let me give you an example, when you go abroad and buy 200 cigarettes and say this are for my personal use or you come in this country with a computer valued at ?1,200 they can not charge you the vat because you are not the business man, but if you get greedy and buy 20 TV then you are looking for vat and duty as I mention. And you should have already new that no one gets off with the govt money they will find you from every corner of the universe specially when it comes to VAT, TAX, CUSTOMS.

:idea:

[Tryst]

In my experience, if you owe import duty, HMC will contact you and not the delivery company. Customs will hold the item until duty is paid by you and will not release it, even to the haulier.

I got a bill from DHL once for an item they delivered. They were asking for import duty for the item and the invoice added VAT to it as well. I contacted HMC with a general inquiry and they told me adding VAT to customs duty was illegal to start with since you can't add tax to a tax. Also, the haulier was not authorised to collect the import duty. I contacted DHL by letter to explain this but never heard from them again.

I really get the impression they are trying to pull one over on people and because most people don't question it, they keep getting away with it.