Custom duty and import tax is a topic that can make even the most experienced online shoppers more than a little nervous. The good news is that once you understand how they work, they’re not nearly as scary as they might seem. And, you’ll be better equipped to pursue a refund whenever you happen to return an online purchase that’s come from overseas.

Import taxes on the other hand, are fees applied by the government on purchased items coming into a country. These taxes can go by different names in different localities — including value-added tax (VAT), sales tax, and goods and services tax (GST) — but they’re essentially the same thing. Tax rates can vary from 0% to 20% or even higher depending on both the country and product. In almost all cases import taxes are paid for by the importer and are placed on almost all purchases arriving from overseas.

You’re likely already very familiar with value-added tax, which is more 

When are custom duty and import tax applied?

You’ll be charged custom duty on all goods worth more than £135 (and all excise goods) that are being sent from outside the UK (or the UK and the EU if you’re in Northern Ireland).

In these cases, you’ll need to pay custom duty on both the purchase price of the goods, as well as on postage, packaging and insurance.

When it comes to gifts, you’ll generally need to pay 2.5% on goods above £135 and up to £630. Rates tend to vary for gifts over £630. 

Special rules apply to excise goods  — which can be summarised as wine and other exciting intermediate products (like sherry, port and other spirits), tobacco, and mineral oil (such as petrol or diesel oil). Excise duty is applied to all of these items regardless of their purchase cost.

Thankfully, we’ve managed to do away with a lot of the calculations heavy lifting. By simply accessing our handy calculator and entering in your purchase price, item description and courier, you’ll be able to find out what custom duty or import tax is set to be applied to your shipped items.

Claiming a refund on custom duty or import tax

Historically, customers have had to jump through a lot of hoops to get refunded for custom duty and import tax on returned items. The method of claiming repayment has typically depended on how the initial customs declaration was made.

If it was dealt with by the Customs Handling of Import Excise Freight (CHIEF) system, customers are still able to claim repayment online — provided you have a Government Gateway number and are already registered for the service.

If the custom declaration was made via the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), customers are able to submit a claim using the CDS version of Form C285.

In both these cases you’ll need a whole list of items to tick off including the sales invoice, the packing list, the amount of import taxes paid, and your bank details if the refund is to be paid directly.

But did you know, there’s an easier way?If you’ve returned unwanted items purchased within 90 days of the import date and damaged or defective ones up to a year, You can make a claim for a refund by using Duty Refunds, which is hassle-free and has no fee if your claim isn’t successful. As the first and only online import duty and VAT refund platform for UK shoppers – we’re experts at getting money back that is rightfully yours! We have successfully claimed refunds on returned goods worth over £500,000. When your claim is successfully paid by HMRC we’ll pay it into your bank account minus our 15% fee.

About Duty Refunds:

As the first and only online import duty and VAT refund platform for UK shoppers, Duty Refunds has helped customers refund their purchases amounting to half million pounds and is rated 4.9 excellent on Trustpilot. We also work extremely closely and are integrated with courier companies (eg: DHL, DPD, Fedex and Parcel force) and HMRC.

At Duty Refunds, we believe returning an item should be just as easy as buying it in the first place. Money and time should be spent on enjoying the fun bits of shopping and unboxing. If you need any help on duty & tax refund for your international shopping return. Please feel free to chat with us through our live chat, or fill in our online form in 5 mins and start your claim straight away.