Looking at buyi another bike to add to my fleet and I’m looking for a little advice regarding import duty

The bike I’m looking to buy is around £4200 in the country whereas at the current exchange rate I can purchase the bike from the us for £2742…….what I wanted to know is how much/what percentage I need to pay in import tax and other charges when it gets to the uk?? I did a quick google but couldn’t find an actual percentage.

Any help would be great,

Thanks

Rob

20 % tax ,plus an admin fee of around £8 – its sucks !

At a minimum add 20% for VAT on top on bike+shipping costs.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/

from zippy’s link it says 14% import duty and 20% VAT. Yikes.

If you get the bike sent over as two consignments (e.g. the wheels packed separately) the duty falls to 4.7% (IIRC). Of course, you then have two postage and admin charges, but do the sums and see if it works out cheaper that way.

Not worth it. The saving is as good as gone once her magesty takes £1058 off me to bring it into the country. Don’t think it’s worth the hassle, cheers for the link that was perfect

You could fly out there for that

Indeed I could fly out with my bike bag and bring it back with me for less, couldn’t bring it back as a new bike though ornibwould still have to pay 👿

couldn’t bring it back as a new bike though ornibwould still have to pay

Even used, it’d still attract VAT IIRC.

Okay here’s what you need to do. Take the value of the bike and add the cost of shipping (this will be expensive if you want the full value of the bike to be insured). Take this new value (price + Shipping) and add import duty at 14% (strangely parts are only charged at 4.8%. Now total up the cost + shipping + duty and add VAT on at 20%. Still not finished yet though as the courier company/shipper will add a handling fee for clearing the parcel through customs.

You could take an older banger in the bike bag and chuck it away in the USA. Then buy your dream bikes, ride it in the mud a few times then bring back in the bag, pretending it’s the same bike. No duty or charges and whilst you pay for the flight you would also get a nice holiday.

slowboydickie – Member

You could take an older banger in the bike bag and chuck it away in the USA. Then buy your dream bikes, ride it in the mud a few times then bring back in the bag, pretending it’s the same bike

Customs NEVER look at what you take out.

IME they don’t look at what you bring back either 😉 – don’t tell George Osborne though 😉

^^ I would do this.
Get a scrapper to take out with you, muddy up the new one, and come back…

DrP

timthetinyhorse – Member

Indeed I could fly out with my bike bag and bring it back with me for less, couldn’t bring it back as a new bike though ornibwould still have to pay

IA – Member

Even used, it’d still attract VAT IIRC.

Once upon a time, timthetinyhorse went on holiday to America, taking with his bike, safely packed in his bike bag. The exact details of this bike are unclear, it could very well be a complete shed he’d bought for £25 on eBay or even got for nowt on Freecycle.

Unfortunately, whilst on his holiday in America, timthetinyhorse’s bike fell into a skip and was never seen again. timthetinyhorse was very sad so, to cheer himself up, he went into a shop and bought himself a shiny new bike, timthetinyhorse was now happy again, the sun shone and all was right with the world.

The next day, timthetinyhorse decided to write a letter to his Mummy and Daddy. In the letter, he included the receipt for his new bike so his Mummy could keep it nice and safe, along with the user manual for the bike because he knew his Daddy would be interested in reading it.

At the end of his holiday, timthetinyhorse put his lovely new bike in his bike bag, got on a big aeroplane and flew home. When timthetinyhorse walked through the airport, his bike bag did not seem unusual to the men and ladies who worked in there, as it was the same bike bag he had been carrying when he went on his holiday. Some of the men and ladies did want to look inside the bag though, but they were happy because the bike inside had little bits of dried mud on it and a couple of tiny stone chips here and there, timthetinyhorse had clearly owned the bike a while and had taken it on his holiday with him.

The end.

When timthetinyhorse walked through the airport, his bike bag did not seem unusual to the men and ladies who worked in there, as it was the same bike bag he had been carrying when he went on his holiday.

Do you actually think they record and correlate data on what bags anyone took out and then brought back?

I regularly bring back a different number of bags than I took out and no one has ever even asked why, simply because they have no idea.
If you want to bring a bike back and hope you don’t get quizzed on it’s origin, do it but don’t bother with the play acting because there’s no audience

I bought a Ridley TT frame and fork from the US and paid $2,299. Then a further £278 when it got here.

ask the nice bike shop to send it as a gift .. no tax/import duty

Tax avoidence in action? NOt only do you want to do EU retailers out of a sale but diddle the taxman as well. Nice.

Tax avoidence in action?

I think you could call it tax evasion 😀

It never ceases to amaze me the private stuff people are prepared to talk about on on open forum……law breaking, tax evasion, what next I wonder????

For a sale that arguably would not take place at all if the lower US price were unavailable… I don’t think the current state of the wider European economy is in any way due to a few enterprising STWers buying themselves a bike in the US here and there.

. . . If the price quoted is in US you will need to add local State sales tax, so make sure you know the all up cost before you buy the tickets

you will need to add local State sales tax, so make sure you know the all up cost before you buy the tickets

Of course if you’re not staying in the state you’re buying the bike from it won’t attract local sales tax either, provided you’re not bothered about test riding or taking on the IRS too.

Of course if they did quiz you at the airport you could always dismantle it there and then and bring it in as parts…

enjoy your holiday.

Are you going to loose the warranty as a result of this. Worth figuring in something for this…….

Don’t forget that prices quoted in the states are before local sales tax, so what looks like a huge price difference between US and UK prices is a lot less than it seems.

A few US websites won’t ship to the UK or abroad, because they already have UK distributors and wouldn’t want to cut their profits right down 😉

Although this does shoot themselves in the foot if you decide that their UK price is too expensive and you buy a different brand, yet they would have got your business if you could have bought from the US….

tarquin – Member
A few US websites won’t ship to the UK or abroad, because they already have UK distributors and wouldn’t want to cut their profits right down

Although this does shoot themselves in the foot if you decide that their UK price is too expensive and you buy a different brand, yet they would have got your business if you could have bought from the US….

Which lends weight to the argument for collection in person.