Stupid tax question

moob · Post by **moob** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:57 pm

Hai, I'm new and stuff. Been lurking a while.
Anyway, I've had major Mustang GAS for a while. I fancy taking a stab at putting one together, mainly with parts from the US...is it just me getting confused or is there a way of avoiding the ridiculous UK import taxes because I'm buying guitar parts instead of a complete guitar? (I probably dreamt this)

I'd welcome any of your experiences buying parts from outside the UK... ta muchly.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:59 pm

We have a decent pack of UKers here who ought to be able to answer this. Welcome to the board, thanks for registering!

George · Post by **George** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:09 pm

ANY item can always get charged duty, fees and the like unless the sender declares the parcel with the following values:

- Purchased item with a value below Â£18
- Gift with a value below Â£36

Those are the thresholds where they deem it unnecessary to charge as the item isn't worth it. You might get lucky and avoid getting charged any fees at all but Royal Mail have sharpened their act up the past few years.

I just got a shortscaler to send me an pedal as a gift valued below Â£36 and it worked so it's possible to avoid it if you got bros in the knows. Just remember that if you get someone or a trader to lower the value it's YOUR loss on insurance.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/cont ... d=21700413

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 11:38 pm

Also customs will some times call bullshit on what is declared anyway. It happens at work some times because universities posting to each other tend to mark everything as 'educational materials' no matter what it is.