Customs tax

Thanks Silverbrooks.
I thought I'd paid afterwards and wasn't just going mad!

The FedEx website clearly states:

If duty and tax charges are due when importing a shipment then FedEx may pay the duty and tax charges to the customs authorities on your behalf so that your goods can clear customs.

If the receiver does not have a FedEx account, duties and taxes may need to be paid before goods are released for delivery. If so, shipments may be held at the destination station until payment arrangements are made.

Why didn’t FedEx advise me of this at the time of delivery?

Where possible, we will contact you in advance with the estimated cost of duties and taxes to arrange the payment.

However, this isn’t always possible as we may not have received confirmation of the exact amount to be paid or been able to invoice you until after we have delivered your package.

www.fedex.com/en-gb/billing/duty-tax.html#pay

If I get a fedex bill, it always has to be paid before the item is released. I always double check that it is genuine by going onto the fedex site direct. My goods came from Canada and I was suspicious in case the e mail was a scam.

A few years ago my son ordered some trainers from America. The postman that delivered them informed me I had to pay £17 custom tax! It was totally legitimate and I received a receipt. Beware when ordering from abroad.

You would have to pay tax before the goods are released by customs. Scam.

I have stopped buying online from UK. I live in Europe. So it works both ways.customs , vat and admin charge.

I don’t think it is a scam. FedEx did deliver it.

I do wish people would read the thread.

FedEx sometimes pay the customs duty and import VAT so that goods can be delivered more quickly and then recoup the cost from the recipient. What determines whether they do is up to the business. Maybe it’s to do with the cost of warehouse space compared to the amount of the duty and admin charges due. Perhaps FedEx are prepared to risk having to write off charges say up to £50 if the customer doesn’t pay.

OP didn’t say whether it was FedEx who actually delivered the bag. The courier responsible for collecting customs duty and import VAT is the one responsible at the first entry point into the UK, in other words, which courier was chosen by the seller or buyer

I am assuming it was delivered by FedEx but it might not have been which could trigger fear of a scam - which I really don’t think it is. Downstream delivery services are sometimes contracted out to other couriers e.g. Royal Mail delivers some Amazon orders.

I have done so far😀. I just don’t know how a scammer would know my details and the details of the purchase. I did look on the YouGov site to see if anything has shown up on the bit where it tells you about tax owed, but there is nothing. Whether or not that is significant, I have no idea though.

It sounds like a scam to me. Surely it wouldn’t have been delivered without the payment? I wonder what would happen if you just ignore it!

Slightly different scenario, but as a company we test construction materials and on items arriving from outwith the UK we need to pay customs tax (or provide our EORI code) prior to receiving the delivery. I would think you wouldn't have gotten the goods had there been a charge to pay, the same way RM send you a postcard to say we have this item at the sorting office, but as it was underpaid you need to collect (and pay the shortfall)

It is the sender’s fault, they are supposed to attach a customs declaration form to the parcel, the form includes a description of the goods, whether or not they are a gift and a value. It happened to me when I bought a CD which came from America or Canada, it wasn’t very expensive but because they didn’t attach the form it ended up being much more expensive.

Clarify

Get well Doodledog and update us on your attempts to clarufyb

If it's a scam it's a well-developed one. It was posted (not emailed) and listed the bag, with name, price etc. The only way it could be a scam would be if the seller were in on it.

I've been ill all weekend, but will get onto it tomorrow. I wish we could post photos again, so I could redact the invoice and show you all.

My "tax invoice" was definitely separate to the goods...
I'm 99.9% sure it came after the wine.
It was Fed ex I think.

Now I'm going to have to check my emails!

I think a number of people have been scammed here.

You do not pay customs charges AFTER receipt of goods.

I have a very tiny Noritake dish inherited from my MIL.
Probably only worth a fiver, but you never know 😀

Ha ha. Yes. Allira just googled it.
I've only ever noticed it in America and assumed it was developed in America.

Apologies.
I assumed you were buying from America where import duties etc have always applied.

The rules for buying goods from Europe did change on 1 January 2021 as result of leaving the EU.

From 1 January 2021 following the end of the transition period with the EU the VAT rules applying to movements of goods from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to the EU, or from the EU to Great Britain will be the same as those currently for transactions with countries outside the EU (with some exceptions).

www.gov.uk/government/publications/accounting-for-vat-on-goods-moving-between-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-from-1-january-2021/goods-moved-between-great-britain-and-the-eu-from-1-january-2021

There were already customs duties on goods imported from non-EU countries.

Before Brexit, buying goods from Europe as a UK resident meant you could purchase items from any EU country without incurring additional import duties or customs charges. That has now been lost.

NotSpaghetti

Azalea - isn't Noritake American though?

Isn't Noritake a Japanese company?

Azalea - isn't Noritake American though?

I paid taxes/important duties and fees on a bottle of wine after receiving it.
I challenged everything but found they had overcharged me just pennies!
The charges were more than the (fairly expensive) wine would have cost to buy here.
It was bought from Italy by my son in America.

It was, however, a pretty lush wine!

I'm sure you will have to pay.
Sorry.

About 12 years ago I had to replace two Noritake soup bowls. I ordered them online and, like the OP got a bill from FedEx several weeks later. So nothing to do with Brexit, but equally infuriating.

I was caught in a similar way. I purchased some of my favourite label clothes from an online store sale. At the time I was unaware that the store was based in Northern Ireland. I was notified of despatch by the store, but a few days before delivery I was contacted by the courier to say that I had to pay £43 in customs tax before they could deliver. I googled customs tax and realised that I had to pay a percentage of the value of the items. To add insult to injury, I had to return an item and it cost me again for the store to 'import' from me. I wished that I had kept the item, it would have been cheaper. A lesson learned.