Buying goods from the Canary Islands

[john10001]

Does anyone know if I buy goods online from the Canary Islands will I be stung by HMRC for tax and duty when they arrive in the UK?

[peterh]

The Canaries are in the EU (as part of Spain), but are outside the EU VAT area, so it might be complicated! You might just have to pay VAT if the value is above a threshold.

[Hardgrafter]

The goods will also be delayed a couple of days, unless you have an account with the delivery company (unlikely) as they will probably want payment of VAT upfront.
As an indication of the hassle (in reverse direction to your situation), last week my company needed a small inexpensive cable (from UK) to connect an instrument on a plant in Tenerife for overnight delivery. We were told by our courier company that it would be almost as cheap and certainly quicker, to fly someone from Tenerife to Stansted, pick it up, and return the same day.

[quelquod]

my experience of importing from outside of the EU is that it makes no discernible difference whether for personal or business use and typically adds 3 days to delivery (to notification of goods available and duty/charges payable, executing payment electronically and arranging delivery). All of the international carriers handle it smoothly. Typically HMRC charge VAT on anything over £15 total including carriage costs and the carrier charges £10-£20 to collect it (I think Royal Mail charge £8 presently).

I can't really imagine that it would be cheaper to collect in person from the UK. VAT would still be payable if declared and carrier charges don't approach airfare costs - maybe Spanish services are different. Quicker naturally.

[dspp]

By the way, post-Brexshit, get ready for a 3-day wait on almost everything.

[quelquod]

Well that depends on what we decide/are allowed to do - maybe still a vat-free area?

[dionaeamuscipula]

Well that depends on what we decide/are allowed to do - maybe still a vat-free area?

As far as I can see movements between EEA-but-not-EU countries such as Norway and the EU are classed as imports/exports, so even these countries sit outside the customs/VAT union.Therefore it seems very highly likely to me that even a soft Brexit will mean that transfers between EU and UK post-Brexit will be dutiable and VATable, and subject to freight forwarding fees.

Good for freight forwarding companies, not good for small UK retailers with an export business to the EU (or indeed vice versa).

DM

[Lootman]

I can't really imagine that it would be cheaper to collect in person from the UK. VAT would still be payable if declared

It might work out if it was a courier who walked the item through customs at the UK airport, and that courier was a foreign national who was returning overseas. Customs typically are interested in UK residents returning from overseas and not foreign visitors arriving here.

As an example, I have an expensive camera that I take on overseas trips. Outgoing UK customs don't care and the foreign customs officer sees my UK passport and figures that I will be taking the item back with me. But when I return to the UK, I've been asked about it a few times and always am sure that I have the original receipt with me.

In practice the courier could probably walk the item through the green zone and, if stopped, claim that he is taking the item back home with him.

[quelquod]

I suppose so, but from the point of view of dubious legality it could also be freighted as a sample of no commercial value or some such. Probably not what the courier company had in mind.