Any help please with customs and excise duty???!!!

[alopezg1]

Hello

I have just recieved a letter from parcel force telling me that my parcel - containing the wholeleaf tobacco, 20 lbs to be exact- has arrived and is being held by until i pay the customs and excise duty . They have calculated the total cost at £2192.24 !!!!!!!!!! about ten times the amount i paid for the tobacco. Is this a mistake , can anyone please help . I am in the UK . Thanks

Alex

 

[FmGrowit]

Unfortunately an uneducated customs agent assessed your order. Request a reassessment for tariff schedule number 2401.10.10. Tell them the tobacco is "unmanufactured" or "unstemmed tobacco".

Let us know what happens.

 

[alopezg1]

Just been on the telephone with customs . Some idiot openned the package and declared it rolling tobacco . I have asked them to re-asses and provided original invoice declaring it as whole leaf and provided the assesment number you mention . I told them it was for making nasal snuff - which is tax free in the uk- for personal use, which is halfway true , i intend to make snus with it which is still technically snuff , just wet. Hopefully this will resolve itself soon. I almost spat my coffee out from the shock!

 

[holyRYO]

I told them it was for making nasal snuff - which is tax free in the uk

Interesting, as a side note, I was wondering why nasal snuff was so cheap from the UK (in comparison to smoking tobacco).

 

[Hasse SWE]

In Sweden, the tobacco is not taxed as long as it needs to be processed then it's 380ssk/kg snuff and chewing tobacco and 1700 ssk/kg for smokable tobacco

 

[POGreen]

It should be looked upon as an agricultural product , not as tobacco since it comes to you in wholeleaves and being unprocessed in any way.
See what you can find out about this : Harmonized Tariff Code nr:2401.10
Where I live , the only duty we should pay to get that product is VAT , 25 % on the whole amount including shipping .
I did not find this myself , I was told by another feller.

 

[squeezyjohn]

Oh dear ... I'm really sorry to hear that ... I've not had that kind of problem with whole leaf in the past ... as far as I know they have made a mistake in the eyes of UK law - but convincing them that they have might be a whole lot of trouble.

The UKBA (UK border agency) is who I expect is at fault here - they normally are ... but you need to fight your corner ... whole leaf is clearly defined under law as a non-taxable product ... tobacco is only taxable at the point of processing it in to a taxable form - not the raw material.

 

[Markw]

Don and Squeezy are correct there should be no duty on it as it is classed as un-processed. the Duty code that Don mentioned will tell them this. you will still need to pay the Vat on the cost of it as well as the shipping.
I hope that they don't muck you around to much as they can be very difficult sometimes. I would always store it in it's un-processed state. as soon as you cut the rib out it is classed as processed and you should pay the duty. !!

 

[rustycase]

Sry to hear abt ur problem w the tax collector.

Why don't they tax something like socks, or cats. or golf balls. or pigeons!

Yah, why don't they do that!
rc

 

[POGreen]

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2013/01-99/ch24-2013-eng.pdf

http://hts.usitc.gov/Table 24.xml

http://www.wcoomd.org/en/topics/nom...~/media/E0AEA457CC654CD397196F7EC8E72DE7.ashx

 

[POGreen]

https://www.gov.uk/classifying-tobacco#classifying-raw-and-unprocessed-tobacco

 

[POGreen]

I myself ordered 10 Ibs last Christmas and got an issue with customs.
Ordering less amount of wholeleaf tobacco makes it a lot easier I came to experience.
Seems like 4 Ibs would go through customs in a jipee.

 

[POGreen]

https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff/commodities/2401209591
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_custom...ion.jsp?Lang=en&nomenc=2401209591&Expand=true

 

[alopezg1]

Hi Everyone

thanks for the help and advice. I have been speaking with hmrc ( her majesty's revenue and customs) over the last few days . They have re-classified my items and have dropped the £2000 excise duty . They are still going to charge me VAT costs and import duty . A total of £109 , which is a lot better than before .... but it is a lot more than 18.4 % and still quite a sizeable amount of money for me at the moment. I will pay it if I have to , but will keep trying to get it further adjusted

 

[rustycase]

al, apparently you are dealing with one of her majesty's minions who is well aware the art of taxation may be compared with getting a feather from the goose for the pillow with the least amount of hissing, biting, and squawking.

It's obvious they will negotiate.

Ask them if this matter can be re-visited, because you had 18.4% in mind...
Should not hurt much to ask!

If they are not caring for that leaf well, as it ages, well, then they can pay the damages!

Best
rc

 

[POGreen]

How much is the total amount of your purchase for tobacco and shipping in USD ?

 

[alopezg1]

Hi POGREEN . The original cost was $330.80 or about £190 , quite a bit less than the £2200 they tried to charge me . As i mentioned they have re-classified , but still have it wrong , and have classified it as chewing tobacco/snuff at around 48% . I have asked them to re-asses again and given them the correct comodity codes for dark air cured and flue cured tobacco . By the way dark air cured tobacco in the uk is only 11% tax in this country , the flue cured should be taxed at 18.4% . Hopefully they will get right this time.

 

[alopezg1]

Thanks all for the help

 

[POGreen]

Its not tobacco , it's an agricultural product and should be classified as one too. ( according to the EU ? ) can't say
Unprocessed on top og everything as well.
Is your shipping included in the 330.80 USD ?

 

[alopezg1]

Yes shipping is inclusive of that £330 ... It still comes under the catagory of tobacco i believe , just not tobacco product . Unprocessed pr raw tobacco is exempt from excise duty and is taxed differently ; I have found the exact commodity numbers for dark air cured and flue cured and e-mailed it to them .... who knows maybe they'll offer me a job at border force.