Buying parts from the good old USA

[Moosey Moose]

Evening All,
Can anybody please shed some light on the Taxes/duties that you pay to customs when buying things from America?
I think I am right in saying that you pay tax @ 20% on the item price, but to who? and some other fees, so what looks like a good deal can sometimes not be that good.
Any help much appreciated.

Rachael.

 

[pete_mcc]

Re:

Depends on what you're buying but take the total price including shipping and then add 20% for VAT, then add either 15% for a whole bike or 5% for a bike part, then add a handling fee of around £15...

There are a few import duty calculators around, this one is quite good:

http://www.dutycalculator.com

Fees are paid to import agent, ie parcel force, Fed Ex etc, they then pay HMRC

 

[Moosey Moose]

Thank you, that is a very helpful website.