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 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 ]

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.”

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-imports-acquisitions-and-purchases-from-abroad

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

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

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