How can they charge you money for something that's already been paid for. Allways thought it was wrong.

they dont refund the clearance fee as its a service not a tax.

I have claimed VAT back before (was overacharged by £120 - silly) and ive got no problem with that on this invoice.

This was from Norway.

So you pay more if someone sends express? That is ridiculous, just because they need to process it faster. Lazy fools.

I used to do the same but apparently the law has changed in their favor? or so they say. Maybe they just spun me a line? Can anyone clarify?

It doesn't half hurt when the VAT is £2 and the clearance fee is £8...

im not even sure if the vat is right - maybe someone can tell me.

I wont put the original cost of the item on here, but based on the amount above... how much should the item ?. I thought it was 5% for original canvas artworks?

and how come Norway is similar to the U.S.A for import fees? the rest of Europe seems ok when stuff is delivered.

Probably because Norway isn't part of the EU, so you pay VAT as if it's a purchase from inside the UK and then claim it back from Mr HMRC.

It depends if the sender filled out the description of contents correctly which usually isn't the case unless you specifically ask them to e.g.

"WORK OF ART. TARIFF HEADING 9701."

Your bill is either 5% of £475 inc. shipping or 20% of £120 inc. shipping (approx).

Hmmm, not far off. Might just leave it.
I don't mind paying taxes if it means the country gets better... i do have an issue with made up parcelforce charges though.

I had this added to a tube recently and it sailed through...
''Limited artist print Tariff code 9702 00 00''

Worth a try??

Also can we add this as a permenant thread at the top of the page....lots of great advice here for everyone...?

i had to claim back a poster i bought from the states recently.

The poster was £330 off ebay but the guy who sent it looked like he had written the details in potato so they assumed it was liable for a full import fee, full vat fee and then whatever else they wanted.

The bill was £140 from customs alone. Then i phoned them (parcelforce) they said i would need to claim after. I just said stop bulls**tting me and give me a phone number of customs. They said this did not exist so i hung up and called them back to get a different pleb on the end of the phone.

They gave me a number this time, but im not sure they were supposed to. When i called it i had a rather surprised woman from customs on the other end telling me this was a private number, but she will deal with it anyway.

Sent her the ebay listing and she immediately shaved £60 off for it being a limited edition artwork. They sent this to parcelforce and i paid £70, then once this arrived i took off all the labels and sent with proof using the official claim forms on the government site. I stated it was liable for only 5% import tax in very bold letters on the form as it was artwork.

A few weeks later i had a refund of £51 from customs and excise . So they basically had overcharged me £120 ish. All because the form was not filled out properly.
Thing is it was in a print tube, it was pretty obvious it was a print or poster.

morons.

If in any doubt they charge full rate. I am currently trying to get one claim finalised before submitting the next one. I am ok with paying what is due, but it needs to be the right rate on the correct value and that seems to be too much of a challenge for them to muster

Are we the only country which has this system?

When you send things to the U.S they do not pay import duty do they?

I've just been informed via parcelforce tracking that my canvas is being held at Parcelforce's Aberdeen depot until I pay the clearance fee and VAT charge. I don't know what the amount is yet but hopefully they've managed to get it right.

Did you guys receive notification of the amount due through the post??