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Posted by Christopher Tidy on January 18, 2008, 9:46 pm
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Hi folks,
I want to buy some academic textbooks. They're much cheaper in the US,
even once delivery has been taken into account. But I'm wondering if I'm
going to get charged VAT for importing them.
HM Revenue & Customs confusingly list the rate for books as either
"Standard" or "Zero", and give no further information. I e-mailed them
about it, and they unhelpfully failed to reply. Has anyone here bought
books from abroad, and does anyone know the answer for sure?
Many thanks,
Chris
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Posted by Allan Waterfall on January 19, 2008, 2:06 am
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I regularly get things sent from America and I think it usually depends
on the
value,less than $50 seems to be okay.
From past experience,if they do stop it to charge duty,the Post
Office/Parcelforce will stick extra postage on it for collecting it and
delivering it.Whether any of this applies to books I don't know.
Strangely enough,things from Asia seem to mostly come through
unchallenged.
Allan
--
Allan Waterfall
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Posted by Peter A Forbes on January 19, 2008, 4:06 am
Please log in for more thread options On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:46:41 +0000, Christopher Tidy
>Hi folks,
>
>I want to buy some academic textbooks. They're much cheaper in the US,
>even once delivery has been taken into account. But I'm wondering if I'm
>going to get charged VAT for importing them.
>
>HM Revenue & Customs confusingly list the rate for books as either
>"Standard" or "Zero", and give no further information. I e-mailed them
>about it, and they unhelpfully failed to reply. Has anyone here bought
>books from abroad, and does anyone know the answer for sure?
>
>Many thanks,
>
>Chris
No VAT is charged on books, period.
You might trip over the Import Duty, but in my experience, even a $500 shipment
didn't attract any attention or duties.
Peter
--
Peter & Rita Forbes
Email: diesel@easynet.co.uk
http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel
http://www.stationary-engine.co.uk
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Posted by Tony Jeffree on January 19, 2008, 4:44 am
Please log in for more thread options On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 09:06:17 +0000, Peter A Forbes
>>
>>HM Revenue & Customs confusingly list the rate for books as either
>>"Standard" or "Zero", and give no further information. I e-mailed them
>>about it, and they unhelpfully failed to reply. Has anyone here bought
>>books from abroad, and does anyone know the answer for sure?
>>
>>Many thanks,
>>
>>Chris
>
>No VAT is charged on books, period.
>
>You might trip over the Import Duty, but in my experience, even a $500 shipment
>didn't attract any attention or duties.
There are grey areas - conventional books (paper only) are zero rated
for VAT. However, e-books (books on CD or DVD for example) and audio
books are standard rated (17.5%). Not sure how they treat a paper book
that has a supplementary CD included - could go either way I guess.
If you stick to buying paper books there should be no problem.
Regards,
Tony
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Posted by JG on January 19, 2008, 5:43 am
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> Peter A Forbes
> >>
> >>HM Revenue & Customs confusingly list the rate for books as either
> >>"Standard" or "Zero", and give no further information. I e-mailed them
> >>about it, and they unhelpfully failed to reply. Has anyone here bought
> >>books from abroad, and does anyone know the answer for sure?
> >No VAT is charged on books, period.
> >
> >You might trip over the Import Duty, but in my experience, even a
> >$500 shipment
> >didn't attract any attention or duties.
> There are grey areas - conventional books (paper only) are zero rated
> for VAT. However, e-books (books on CD or DVD for example) and audio
> books are standard rated (17.5%). Not sure how they treat a paper book
> that has a supplementary CD included - could go either way I guess.
In the case of 'Multi-media' (CD included) the VAT is charged on the
value of the CD content.
There is another 'grey area' though - but for fully printed text books,
which I assume is the subject, it has no effect - if a book is a 'work
book' with some printed text plus blank space for filling in answers
etc. then VAT would be charged if the blank space amounted to more than
25%. This was the figure in the original V700 book that was issued when
VAT replaced Purchase Tax and I haven't checked to see if there have
been adjustments since but I doubt it.
JG
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>
>I want to buy some academic textbooks. They're much cheaper in the US,
>even once delivery has been taken into account. But I'm wondering if I'm
>going to get charged VAT for importing them.
>
>HM Revenue & Customs confusingly list the rate for books as either
>"Standard" or "Zero", and give no further information. I e-mailed them
>about it, and they unhelpfully failed to reply. Has anyone here bought
>books from abroad, and does anyone know the answer for sure?
>
>Many thanks,
>
>Chris