How does payment of VAT/tax work in the UK on a watch imported from US?

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In previous years I’d just chuck stuff in a box, pay the postage and forget about it. As with everything these days everyone wants their cut 🤨
Governments are way over stretched, they all want their 'vig' to help balance the books.
 
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Simply put, you will be charged 20% vat on price of item plus shipping and import tax. To cover yourself add 30% on top of all items bought abroad. Basically, change Dollar to sign to GBP and depending on exchange adjust slightly!!
 
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World has gone tax mad.

I've bought over a hundred watches from all over the world and rarely paid tax. Maybe some 10% GST claimed by eBay, but that was it, and not all the time.
ATM it seems that every side of the sale wants a bite.
 
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This was explained to me when sending a package to the UK. Lets say the parcel item was valued at £1,000 that was the sale price - I received £1,000 from the UK buyer.I had to pay the VAT before the courier would accept it.

Example numbers:

So instead of paying 20 % VAT on top of the sale value - say £1,000 x 20% = £200 VAT to pay. I said the sale value of £1,000 includes the VAT that I was required to pay.

So I paid £167 VAT. The value of the watch of £833 + £167 VAT @ 20 % = £1,000 purchase/sale price.

That was explained to me when sending the package. The VAT was included in the £1,000 and was not calculated on top of the £1,000 - if that makes sense.
Okay!! The VAT is included in the £1,000 sale price, therefore you pay £167 in VAT and the item is worth £833. You may always use vatcalc.dev to double-check your maths and make sure everything adds up right.