does anyone know how to calculate duty on something imported from US to UK?

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

is there a simple way to find out how much an imported item will cost onces it reaches my country? I have the cost of the item & the postage cost, and i found some code for the uk that says 20% sales tax.

so how do you put it all together and get the duty amount?

[Crisp]

20% on top of the final purchase price?

Either way prepare to have your wallet raped!

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

i think that's what it meant, it was on dutycalculator.com, i can't do anymore calculations though as it's not free to use....

meh, if it's too much I won't bother. just want to know how to calculate it without using some paid service...

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

times 1.2

[jamieakers]

It's 20% of the current retail value of the item on the UK market. Thus, if you import something and you spent $30 but it's worth ?100 on the UK market then expect to pay ?20 duty on it. If you're importing via Royal Mail then they also charge a preposterous "handling fee" on top which is around ?18 if memory serves me correctly.

I would strongly advise reading http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&propertyType=document&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014 for specific details. Print a copy and take it to the Post Office as in my limited experience they over-charge at every opportunity on duty.

[GreenMartian]

It's 20% of the current retail value of the item on the UK market.

Seriously? What's the point of buying anything overseas for cheap then?

[jamieakers]

Seriously? What's the point of buying anything overseas for cheap then?

Most of the time customs simply take the declared value of the package, which may be lower than it's true value as sellers usually write the value of the item in their country. I've personally imported over 50 items over the past 5 years or so and I've only ever had 1 package opened and inspected and had to pay additional duty.