Ordered a new muffler from the US. Part arrived reasonably quickly – (I have used the vendor before for exhaust parts).Shipped with UPS.
UPS generated address label, commercial invoice, packing list, waybill all have some combination of “aircraft parts” or “aircraft exhaust parts” typed all over them, invoice has additional qualifier of “non-military”.
Doorbell rang middle of last week, with friendly UPS driver standing there, holding expected cardboard box. Amount to be paid c. 123GBP.
I said something like “I know I have to pay VAT, etc. but this is more than I expected”. UPS driver “it’s probably something to do with Brexit”.
I can pay online – there is no invoice – just a 2 line amount “government charges (or something to that effect)” c. 112 GBP, UPS Brokerage Fee c. 11GBP.
I only remember approximately – there is no invoice to download, and it disappears as soon as it accepts my credit card.
Amount – clearly stated several times, with currency clearly marked in USD445.00 for the part, and USD 136.80 UPS shipping = 581.80USD total
How did they get to 123GBP (or 112GBP not including their brokerage charge)? 581.80US = c. 416GBP on the delivery date
416*20%VAT = 83GBP. The parts should be zero rated, but lets assume there is some duty. The value of the goods is 445USD (318 GBP), so the missing 29GBP would mean duty was charged at about 9% – is there some aircraft related code that would correlate to this?. I was originally thinking that they may have forgotten to convert the invoice to GBP first, but 581.80*.2 = 116.30, so more than the 123 once the brokerage is added.
You might think it would be easy to just ask UPS for the breakdown, but almost no matter who you call, they do not have access to the invoice. They can only see that I paid them. There is a number and option in the UK, but the recorded message says “send an email to [email protected]”, and “that due to current circumstances” (I am guessing a COVID-related excuse) they may not get around to answering your call. I did try holding several times with the hold music on speakerphone in the background. One of the customer service people said that they would send a notification to the team at ukpostclear to have a look at this.
So unlikely to get an answer from UPS. Can anybody here guess?
Yes, I know, not worth my time for the 29 GBP. Sunk cost fallacy, etc. But still……………
Part of it is probably the ‘VAT Deferment Charge’ which they add on for the privilege of them paying your import VAT and then you paying them back. It’s in addition to their brokerage charge.
Yes; the couriers all make a charge for collecting import VAT.
However, many/most US firms forget to (or don’t know they should) put AIRCRAFT PARTS prominently on their paperwork and then you pay a few % import duty, which then leads to another charge 
UPS driver “it’s probably something to do with Brexit”.
I don’t recall the US being in the EU… not in recent years for sure, but he probably doesn’t know that. Anyway, it’s nonsense; this procedure has been the same all the time the firms like DHL etc have been in business
No surprise – in my experience UPS is the most unresponsive courier I have ever dealt with.
I had a similar thing the last time I used UPS for import from the US and the extra was a £26 “storage charge”. I only know this because I told them I was not going to pay until they gave me an itemised bill. They had also added 2% duty, even though they were declared as civil aircraft parts. Eventually (after months) they capitulated but they made the mistake of delivering the goods before I had paid, so I had the upper hand. The essence of my argument to them was (a) duty is not payable on these items; and (b) I was not told about the storage charge when I placed the order so I’m not going to pay it. I think the way these companies do business is probably not defendable, as I don’t see how they can add random charges(as opposed to disbursements) when you don’t have a contract with them (their contract is with your supplier, not you). I’ve had similar with FedEx but (a) more modest charges; and (b) easier to deal with when they get it wrong. USPS/parcel force have the lowest charges in my experience but they have not been the quickest.
You do have to impress quite hard on the US vendor to put AIRCRAFT PARTS all over the paperwork. This is not always easy; I have already posted about it
There isn’t anything which UPS etc can do if the supplier doesn’t do the paperwork right. The system hangs together only because > 99% of the time it works ok.
Postal services are great value but require some intelligence on the part of the sender (which is a dodgy assumption) and are not reliable in the CV19 climate. I can report a 100% (100%) loss of airmail packages to China. And one to Hungary has just gone missing.
UPS seems to have very different standards across different receiving countries: Last time I got a shipment from the US with them it came with about 10 pages of double sided paper explaining every little detail of the VAT and duty calculation (including split up of shipping fees by base fee, fuel surcharge, etc. as these line items seem to be taxed differently…
VAT is payable on the total amount – the part and the shipping charge – this was a change made about 3 years ago for most countries where they started including the shipping in the VAT calculation.
