Showing posts with label duties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label duties. Show all posts

Monday, November 14, 2011

Know your overseas shopping limits

If you are going abroad to do Christmas shopping, or buying goods online from non-EU countries, you need to know how much you can buy before you have to pay import duty or VAT. Rules can be complex and easy to overlook. Here is a quick summary to ensure that you stay on the right side of the law:

Arriving in the UK by commercial sea or air transport from a non-EU country, you can bring in up to £390 worth of goods for personal use without paying customs duty or VAT (excluding tobacco and alcohol, which have separate allowances, and fuel). Arriving by other means, including by private plane or boat for pleasure purposes, you can bring in goods up to the value of £270. Above these allowances and up to £630, there is a duty flat rate of 2.5 per cent.