fishing gear from us.

Could any one shed some light on how much worth of gear you can get in from the states before being liable for taxes,recently got hammered on a penn 525.did not get tax bill from FedEx until three months after getting reel.cheers.

Hi Pointer,

Anything below the value of 22 euro on a single commercial consignment and you will not pay import duty and vat - Any "Gift" item below the value of 45 euro and you will also not have to pay import duty or vat As long as it is marked as a gift :wink: Thats why ebay sellers from US, Hong Kong etc send packages with customs declarations as "Gift" Value: $20, Therefore avoiding duty.

Anything above 45 euro & / or not a gift will be charged as a percentage of the value and is calculated by different percentages for different goods (Called taric codes) and then vat is charged on the goods and import duty and postage all combined!!

The reason you got a bill from Fedex was that the government now charge couriers the duty on single packages and its up to the courier to get the money back from you, Rather than the government going to the massive expense of chasing thousands of ebay buyers all over the country for small import duty bills.

So if you are buying anything from outside the E.U the seller "Should be able" to mark its value to below 45 euro and as a gift - Although if it is opened by customs to check, they normally have a fair idea of the value of things, especially branded items, So in the case of a Penn 525, It would be easy to find out the value and charge it accordingly.

An example of your reel would be:

Market Value: 200 euro

Plus 3.5% Import Duty

Whatever postage you paid? 20 euro?

Vat ay 21% charged on all of the above, Total: 274.67 euro

cheers turbot,its a bit of a sickener to snap up a bargain and then get hit with tax on this side.

Tell me about it, You can normally dodge it if you mark it as a gift and change the value like I said, Its not really allowed to go on but it does & its just luck really if they open it or not! Most proper sites & traders wont do it now anyway, Just the ebay squad, But the government will probably start on that next!

if you have it marked 'repair' you should be able to avoid the taxes. or so i'm told

you would of got it at that price in a reputable tackle shop here!!!!