Customs Allowance?

[mushumadness]

Hiya

What is the actual customs allowance, my dbf thinks 145.00 and I think 1000.

just need to settle the argument and to see how much I can push it lol, I lov my
shopping

 

[Goofyish]

It's only £145

The chancellor wanted to put it up to £1000 in the last budget - but ti do that it had to be approved by the European parliament - for some reason!

 

[mushumadness]

so dbf wins, im still gonna shop for england lol

 

[homerdog]

it had to be approved by the European parliament - for some reason!

The way the EU see it is that "in the area without internal frontiers of the EU, it is important to ensure freedom of movement of intra-EU travellers baggage. To this end, rules had to be introduced in order to organise controls on baggage coming from or going to other countries." In other words, if you're not travelling within the EU, your baggage may contain items subject to duty and VAT and they want the money owed.

Therefore, legislation was approved to control this, which can only be altered with the agreement of the other member states. EU legislation concerning allowances for travellers can be found in Directive 69/169/EEC (as far as VAT and excise duties are concerned) and in article 46 of Regulation 918/83 as far as customs duties are concerned.

Simply put, EU Legislation has primacy over national law!

Hope that makes sense, sorry for being so boring!

 

[lil.disney.princess]

so does that mean if we buy an item in the US-say a digital camera for $400 we will have to pay more money on it when we get back to the UK??

 

[Miffy2003]

so does that mean if we buy an item in the US-say a digital camera for $400 we will have to pay more money on it when we get back to the UK??

In theory, yes you should declare it.

 

[AlanUK]

Personally I don't think I have ever returned from a trip to WDW with less than £145 pounds in goods in my case. I don't know a lot of people who have either. I also don't see an awful lot of people making a beeline for the red channel at customs when they land desparate to declare what they have been buying.

It's all down to how you feel about it personally and whether or not you are unlucky enough to get stopped.

We always walk through the green channel eyes front and centre and don't stop until you are about 20 metres clear at the other end

 

[maggs]

I always stay within or just on the limit. I know for sure I would be the one that would be stopped. I would have to declare any extra as I know I would be hauled in!

Maggs

 

[Laurafoster]

i know someone that did get stopped and had to pay 21% on all purchases over the £145 limit! i always thought is was the 17.5% you needed to pay?!

 

[Claire L]

i know someone that did get stopped and had to pay 21% on all purchases over the £145 limit! i always thought is was the 17.5% you needed to pay?!

21% is made up of VAT and import duty, some items are zero rated for import duty but others can be alot more depending on what they are. During the trade dispute between the EU nad US every month 1% extra was added to most items and it got up to about 15%, not sure if this has been settled yet!!!

Claire

 

[mikki.young]

We always go through the red channel. Get varying responses from the customs officers - some are matter of fact about it and apply the composite rate (think this has gone up to 22.5%), some make out they are doing you a favour by applying the composite rate and some are just plain nice and say as you have been honest we won't charge you anything!

 

[ERICS MUM]

We always go through the red channel. Get varying responses from the customs officers - some are matter of fact about it and apply the composite rate (think this has gone up to 22.5%), some make out they are doing you a favour by applying the composite rate and some are just plain nice and say as you have been honest we won't charge you anything!

me too, and very rarely have to pay much. Average £20 per trip, although I must confess my list of shopping that I declare is not always 100% complete. My bags have never been searched in the Red channel, so they must be reasonably happy with the goods I declare.

I started going through Red after getting stopped in Green. I had only overspent the allowance by about £20 but I was made to feel like a mass murderer!

Linda aw:

 

[mushumadness]

hiya

just another question

is the 145 just on gifts? for other people

or include what you buy for yourself?

 

[AlanUK]

Hi Anna,

The £145 is for everything you buy and want to bring back into this country

 

[Goofyish]

hiya

just another question

is the 145 just on gifts? for other people

or include what you buy for yourself?

This includes everything that you buy in the US that is not got a specific customs limits (i.e. drink, perfume, tabacco etc.).

So the £145 will include clothes, trainers, electrical items, cameras, laptops, DVDs, CDs, games, even ride photos!

If you purchase sometinhg at the airport duty free on the way out, and then bring that itme back into he country with you, ha will also count towards your £145

 

[mikki.young]

So the £145 will include clothes, trainers, electrical items, cameras, laptops, DVDs, CDs, games, even ride photos!

I must admit we never include ride photos or pictures with characters in our calculations as they don't have a monetary value to anyone else. Oh and books are still VAT exempt so you don't have to pay anything on them but I always list them separately just in case!

 

[mushumadness]

now i am panicking

i am doing a christmas shop!!!!

 

[Laurafoster]

The customs in the UK are always more picky in December ive found - i personally saw loads of people get "picked" to have their bags searched! Its like they can sense all the xmas goodies people buy!