UK Customs charges – shipping secondhand bike…

How do I play this one? We have shipped with Sevenseas a second hand Stumpjumper from NZ to UK.

Sevenseas told us not to fill in TOR1 form, I have this on email.

HMRC also say TOR1 only needed when relocating on their website. This is either moving to UK permanently or returning after being a resident of another country. But son was basically on a long holiday.

Sevenseas are telling us everything else on the container was someone moving to UK, and so HMRC classed everything as that but they did not have a TOR1 for the bike hidden in the corner, so stung for VAT and Import Duty.

All addresses on all documentation are UK, and they have two UK passport holders information on record to prove our residency. The bike was hand delivered in Queenstown, so they have no NZ address or connection.

Currently facing a £679 import duty and VAT bill I could do without.

So the son’s bike was just sharing a container with someone else who was emigrating? The bike will be a different consignment then? Explaining to HMRC that the bike is coming back to the UK after a temporary trip to NZ should make the bill go away as the VAT is already paid. Evidence of the export to NZ (either the original receipt from the UK or some shipping info) will certainly help

So from customs point of view, two UK residents have imported a bike from NZ

Do you have anything to prove otherwise?

A good point honourablegeorge – that is basically what we did. He happened to ride it for 6 months though….

It’s an import then. Customs could charge you based on value rather than purchase price, but that’s the only possible concession. It’s not a duty or VAT free import.

FFS.

So the boy was on a long holiday but the bike wasn’t? Yeah not good news in that case

Crazy thing is if he had flown no-one would have looked or asked…

yeah, most likely it comes in with no paperwork if he flew, just some lad with his dirty bike.

Unless maybe he can show that he flew out there with a bike six months ago, obviously on shaky ground there legally

If he’d flown out with an old bike, left it there, and brought the new bike back… no one would have noticed.

So – can I claim back if I pay the VAT & Import duty now and subsequently could argue that the bike is second hand and worth less than it was put on the form?

Looks like Sevenseas want to charge a daily charge for storage so I need to move quickly on this.

If he’d flown out with an old bike, left it there, and brought the new bike back… no one would have noticed.

Correct. We even discussed flying his brothers bike bag out empty with him. The issue is he went via Japan for 8 weeks (no cycling) and home via Australia for 8 weeks (no cycling). SO he did not want to lug a bike around with him….

The correct way to do it is to cough up and pay the import taxes and VAT asked for in the UK, and then to reclaim the GST or whatever it is in NZ as it was exported.

This may not be the easiest option from an admin point of view…

The correct way to do it is to cough up and pay the import taxes and VAT asked for in the UK, and then to reclaim the GST or whatever it is in NZ as it was exported.

I have family in NZ so this may be OK.

So did it he actually take it out with him from the UK or not? If it was just bought in NZ then yes, going to have to cough up!! EDIT: should’ve refreshed the page first 😂 (the answer is clearly no!!)

Don’t you have a recipt or similar for it’s purchase in the UK?

No, his UK bike was to small. So we hatched a plan to sell that here, him have 8 weeks in Japan, and on arrival in NZ would buy a new bike from my brothers LBS in Auckland…which is what he did. His original plan was to go to Canada with the bike as luggage, and then home from Canada. Except plans changed and he went to Australia with a friend and shipped the bike back.

I have paid 🙁

So presumably you’re going to try to get Nu Zulund tax back from bro?

matt_outandaboutFull Member
No, his UK bike was to small. So we hatched a plan to sell that here, him have 8 weeks in Japan

Japan was the perfect market to sell a small bike

probably best to hatch the plan to swerve import duty before actually doing the importing 🤔

This is a bit of an aside, but was he working in his six months there? If so, because he wasn’t there for a full tax year he’ll be able to reclaim all income tax he paid while he was there. I did this when I left Australia – I got an accountant to sort it and it was a few grand. NZ has a similar policy.

Japan was the perfect market to sell a small bike

I said it was too small for him. Not a small size. He’s 6’3″…

@munrobiker – correct. Looks like we have a few evenings working out claiming back VAT and his income tax shenanigans, plus there’s that NZ bank account with a wedge in which has geo-locked him out the app.

Gah.

matt_outandabout

I said it was too small for him. Not a small size. He’s 6’3″…

lol… they do tend to spring up, those youngsters