Ordering goods from Amazon UK.. Duty?

Pariah · Post by **Pariah** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:04 pm

Hi

Do any of you wise dudes know if goods ordered on Amazon UK (specifically a camera) for delivery to Finand are subject to additional duty?

I will be paying VAT on the goods at purchase but don't want to find myself with a tax bill this end because the package has been held by Finnish customs.

The value of the camera and lens is about 500 euro.

Keetos

Richard

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betelgeuse · Post by **betelgeuse** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:12 pm

Pariah wrote: Do any of you wise dudes know if goods ordered on Amazon UK (specifically a camera) for delivery to Finand are subject to additional duty?

I will be paying VAT on the goods at purchase but don't want to find myself with a tax bill this end because the package has been held by Finnish customs.

For the time being UK is part of the European Union so no.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:42 pm

Pariah wrote:Hi

Do any of you wise dudes know if goods ordered on Amazon UK (specifically a camera) for delivery to Finand are subject to additional duty?

I will be paying VAT on the goods at purchase but don't want to find myself with a tax bill this end because the package has been held by Finnish customs.

The value of the camera and lens is about 500 euro.

Keetos

Richard

No problem. Amazon does enough business to Finland that it charges Finnish vat.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:44 pm

betelgeuse wrote:
Pariah wrote: Do any of you wise dudes know if goods ordered on Amazon UK (specifically a camera) for delivery to Finand are subject to additional duty?

I will be paying VAT on the goods at purchase but don't want to find myself with a tax bill this end because the package has been held by Finnish customs.
For the time being UK is part of the European Union so no.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_ ... hin_the_EU

sky2 · Post by **sky2** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:49 pm

No problem as long its being shipped from UK. Just check the item location, many UK based camera sellers ship directly from China/HK.

riku2 · Post by **riku2** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:11 am

sky2 wrote:No problem as long its being shipped from UK. Just check the item location, many UK based camera sellers ship directly from China/HK.

This is a good point. Also even things on amazon.uk which are sold by amazon.uk might be delivered from Germany instead of UK. This makes no difference to the customs though (since both are in the UK). Amazon marketplace sellers can be outside of the UK, and it's not always clear from the amazon page where they are.

A few years ago amazon.uk and some other companies (like play.com) posted items from the channel islands. This saved them UK vat but the UK government removed this exception (for things arriving in mainland UK) and most companies stopped (and many shutdown). This exemption still applies channel islands -> other EU countries. When arriving in Finland these might be subject to VAT (in the play.com times I had some higher value DVD's stopped by customs and I had to pay finnish VAT on them).

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:25 pm

Amazon will charge Finnish VAT rates is 24%. And apply their own euro conversion rate as well as P&P. Worth bearing in mind when you compare with local prices

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:40 pm

Rosamunda wrote:Amazon will charge Finnish VAT rates is 24%. And apply their own euro conversion rate as well as P&P. Worth bearing in mind when you compare with local prices

Iirc but wasn't it quite late in order process that you saw the final price with correct vat?

riku2 · Post by **riku2** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:00 pm

Rosamunda wrote:Amazon will charge Finnish VAT rates is 24%. And apply their own euro conversion rate as well as P&P.

Don't they give you a choice of payment currency ? at least amazon.com recognizes my card is in euro and I can choose to pay in US$ or EUR.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:43 pm

Yes, you can always choose between EUR or GBP on amazon.co.uk and I usually check to see what the delta is with the current bank rate.

The final VAT-adjusted price does appear quite late in the ordering process, but before you confirm your order. I think it is indicated after you confirm the delivery address (logically).

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