Marks & Spencer

[Duncan74]

If it's being sent outside of the EU then VAT isn't charged. If the retailer chooses to increase the retail price by 17.5% (ie keep the same price) then they can, but it's the retailer pocketing the difference, not the tax man. Unfortunately oon smallish items then it becomes a big proportion of the price. There's the 'trivial amount' where they don't bother collecting, but then once you go over that it's not jsut the taxes it's the fixed costs of MAF and collecting the duty. Which is why it seems a bit steep at a value just over the point that you have to pay duty.

[alldone]

If you ordered $200 of clothes or shoes then you will have been charged duty and GST.

They only collect this if the total duty/GST amount calculated on goods and postage combined is more than $50.

The charges work like this

amount of goods $200 + postage (guess $25)= $225

Duty @10% (clothes, shoes, hats and rugs) x $225=$22.50

GST at 12.5% on $225+$22.50 = $30.93

Duty $22.50+ GST $30.93 = $53.43.

So you will be liable to pay as over $50. However there are additional customs charges of $37.25

So now you are up to $90.68. Some of the courier companies also charge a fee up to around $30. (Fedex doesn't). You are a bit unlucky as you have only just gone over the threshold. I either keep under or go enough over that the fees are a small portion of the import cost.

So if clothes or shoes are involved, keep goods and postage under about $210. For most items only GST is charged so $400 is OK in those cases. See the list on the link posted above for individual items.

[chocolate cake]

Outrageous that customs would attempt to apply the law in this way. Do they not realise that is our right to shop from overseas and not pay duty either in the UK/US or NZ on what we buy? They must be joking if they think I'm going to buy stuff from the shops here as things are always at least 12.5% more expensive than in the uk and 30% more than I can get them off the internet. If local shops want my business then they can find some way of avoiding duty on the goods they buy and that pass that saving on to me.

Fair point, but 50% seems abit steep.

[KatieBen]

Fair point, but 50% seems abit steep.

It does, until you read the logical breakdown above by Alldone - and then it makes sense. Although a very annoying and probably unexpected sense.

Good advice to keep the threshold value low enough to avoid this, but possibly better advice to find NZ equivalent items for your M&S shopping? Support local businesses, local companies and the planet (the carbon cost of clothes made in Asian sweatshops, shipped to the UK and then over to NZ must be reasonably high).

[cathgates]

I'd love nothing more than to support local businesses, and find NZ equivalents, this is my home now, and I want to support it.
But, it is so hard to find alternatives to so many things and at a cheaper or equivalent price. I think that having lived in the UK all my life - I'm now 43, it's hard to accept a lower standard of product at a higher price after living with the competative business models that the UK offers.

Cath XX

[Duncan74]

ok, but we dont complain that we want to pay six times as much for car insurance do we? I'm fully with you in what you say about being used to a certain level of quality at a certain price point but its all part of settling here. my main issue is working out what quality goods actually are. In the uk then i'd know based on a combination of brand and price. for now its a bit of a lottery.

[April]

You have to pay duty somewhere, but that does sound a bit steep.

[sweet pea]

my babies due 24 aug, i couldnt find a pram/pushchair that faced the mother with 4 wheels and of good quality for under $3000.00, which i would refuse to pay ( they were all 3whellers or facing away from mum etc) so i found one which i liked on mamas and papas uk, family purchased it as a gift and sent it over from the uk,
well it went missing somewhere in auckland then we managed to track it down and it was brought down to wellington, the only problem was when oh went to pick it up he had to go to maf then customs and they wanted $365.00 gst to release it, we had to pay as it was the only way to get it, and that was on a gift!!!!!!!

[bluesky]

my babies due 24 aug, i couldnt find a pram/pushchair that faced the mother with 4 wheels and of good quality for under $3000.00, which i would refuse to pay ( they were all 3whellers or facing away from mum etc) so i found one which i liked on mamas and papas uk, family purchased it as a gift and sent it over from the uk,
well it went missing somewhere in auckland then we managed to track it down and it was brought down to wellington, the only problem was when oh went to pick it up he had to go to maf then customs and they wanted $365.00 gst to release it, we had to pay as it was the only way to get it, and that was on a gift!!!!!!!

Gifts attract charges too, but they may get a duty/GST-free allowance of $110. i.e. if the item costs $500, the GST and duty is calculated as if the value was $390. The important thing is that this is not guaranteed, and also it only applies to unsolicited gifts. i.e. you can't use the "gift" category to get round customs duties. Your pushchair clearly wasn't unsolicited - you chose it on the mamas and papas website! So you should have been charged GST and duty in full.

[girlwithanewf]

Let me get this right, if someone sends me a present from abroad to here in New Zealand and the value is over $110 I have to pay duty on it?