TOPIC:

Hi I imported Harvoni from India to U.K. 5 weeks ago and have today received a reminder from FedEx that I have an invoice outstanding of £55.97 for duty and tax?!!

Can someone advise if this is a genuine invoice or a scam as I wasn't aware that I had to pay any additional costs once I had made my purchase.

Many thanks

Hi Mic52, yes duty is payable on imported meds. Ca'nt quite remember at what rate but it depends on the declared value on the import documentation. It may be as much as 20% but not sure. but yes it is down to the courier to recover this from the importer. use the search on here, there has been past discussion on this.

I received it as well. I have received similar invoices in the past when presents from overseas friends were sent to me or when I ordered food supplements from abroad. I am not sure whether it is taxed correclty as medicines might be exempt from tax. I just paid it.

Hi,

Yes, for some countries, the importer has to pay VAT for the medication. However, you can always claim it back!

Mic52 wrote: Hi I imported Harvoni from India to U.K. 5 weeks ago and have today received a reminder from FedEx that I have an invoice outstanding of £55.97 for duty and tax?!!

Can someone advise if this is a genuine invoice or a scam as I wasn't aware that I had to pay any additional costs once I had made my purchase.

Many thanks

Hi Mic52,

Yes, this is normal. In the UK, you have to pay VAT on everything you buy. Usually this is handled by the seller, so the price you see in the shop is what you pay, but it already includes the VAT. Same thing for anything you buy from within the European Union - the seller will have already paid the VAT. And thanks to being a member of the EU (maybe not for much longer after Brexit), you don't have to pay VAT on anything you buy from europe because the VAT is already paid by the seller.

But for importation to UK from outside of the EU, the UK customs assume that no tax has been paid by the seller. And since UK customs often don't really know the pre-tax value of the product, they usually charge VAT on the value declared by the shipper. But if the declared value is less than £15, then UK customs will not charge VAT on it.

To be completely honest, and for insurance purposes, it is always wise to ask the shipper to write the correct value on the shipment.

But if I was buying something that the NHS could not afford to provide after all the National Insurance contributions that I have paid over 30 years or more, I wouldn't much care about insurance or VAT

[little ps. for any HepC victims in the UK who voted for Brexit: I hope you realise that you will soon probably have to pay VAT on all that nice French wine that you will soon be able to drink after you have cured yourself with imported generics ]

How can I claim it back ?
Thank you

Hi Countless,

Please check here:
"You can reclaim the VAT paid on the goods you’ve imported as input tax. You will need the import VAT certificate (form C79) to show that you’ve paid the import VAT. A shipping or forwarding agent can’t usually reclaim this input tax because the goods weren’t imported to be used in part of their business."

www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-imports-acquisit...urchases-from-abroad

Hi Hieupham,

The link you gave about UK tax is for UK businesses. Individuals generally cannot reclaim VAT.

In the UK, some medical services are exempt from VAT:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-n...rmaceutical-products

(see section 3.2)

But generally, this only applies to certain prescription medicines obtained from a (UK) registered doctor, dentist or pharmacist.

If you're buying from abroad, tough luck!

Thank you for replying , sorry I am still non the wiser - it looks as it applied to traders only and I could not find the form anywhere by googlling it

I got this extra charge.... and wasn't expecting it....after a few phone calls and emails I got it ' written off'
Was a bit time consuming and a bit of a pain...but they did cancel mine eventually....good luck with sorting yours out x

Hi again Donna
Who did you phone if I may ask ?

Although it can be a bit of a crap shoot, if there is a UK script my undesrtanding is that VAT can be avoided. If there is not a UK script it can't (unless they forget about it which does happen).

I spoke with Barbara Birney HMRC 03000 518 707

They said I should have filled in C285 form to reclaim the VAT charge paid

Fed x put it through under the wrong code...

After several phone calls and emails it was decided to not charge me...... it wasn't easy though x

You need your import/ entry number and also customs procedure code...
Fed x declared meds under wrong code
To be honest it was a few hours on the phone etc and wasn't easy to get it written off
Good luck x