Okaya

Hi,

Feels quite daunting, but am due to leave Japan at end of June and can't work out how to post items home without being hit for hefty VAT bills (and i thought border rackets were unique to Nigeria...).

All are personal and used items, but have read on the UK customs website that if i try and post them, and if they're over £145 allowance (ridiculous allowance for folks who have been living overseas) i'll be hit for 17.% on each thing. Is that really true?

I plan to travel back as a back-packer so won't have be able to carry anything.

Anyone know if there are any exemptions for personal items for those who have been living overseas for bringing their items home?

Also can anyone recommend any couriers?..

Grateful for any advice on this one. Did read in someone elses thread, that they were able to post a laptop home and not get whacked with a vat bill - how did they manage this one? Just luck?

Thanks,
Rich

bromleygirl

One way to get round it would be to under value the items you are sending when you complete the paperwork. You could also be quite non-specific in your descriptions of the items you are sending or seperate the items into lots of smaller parcels that are less than the 145GBP allowance in value. If they are used items then they would not hold the same value as say a brand new item.

jojosan

But be aware - customs and excise define it as whether you have been abroad for more than 12 months, and whether you have owned the goods for more than 6 months. They could also ask to see receipts...

I agree it is total rubbish - you would have paid tax on the goods when you bought them; why do you have to pay just to get personal items back home. Esp when it is evidently clear they have not just been bought to make a quick buck.. Grrrr

Okaya

Hi, thanks for your posts. Really appreciated.

It is rubbish. Had a long chat with customs last night after spending hours on their crazy website trying to fig out what if any forms I needed... took ages and several calls to get through to someone who didn't keep redirecting me to their incomprehensible online 'advice docs'. They confirmed the must own the goods for 6months (tick), but be out of UK for 12months (I would have been shy of 3weeks... how frustrating!). Assume they check the passport on this?..

With the £145 option, do you know how this works? Do you need to fill out that C3 form and attach it to the parcel? or send it to Customs in advance? I can't see how they'd be able to keep a running total if I just trickled my stuff back through the post. If I sent it back via the post am figuring it would have to be under the generous £18 limit as they wouldn't know it was part of a £145 allowance.

Anyways, anyone recommend a reliable courier? Have had a look round and the prices are scary e.g. FedEx and the alike. At this rate, its looking cheaper to fly back with the stuff and then come back out here.

What a nightmare for expats. What a HMG con.

Any advice welcomed!

Viking Man

Hi Okaya,

We moved back from Japan 2 years ago. We had been living there for 8 years. We went to our local hardware superstore in our town and bought about 30 flat-packed cardboard boxes that are super-strong double-layered, meant for sending bags of rice, and a load of bubble-wrap off a roll, wrapped up eveything in bubble wrap and stuffed it into boxes, making sure that the boxes are as near as dammit 20kg in weight. You can send 20kg boxes at the poost office via SAL air mail in Japan which is cheaper than regular air mail (and much cheaper than air mail from the uK!) but takes a little longer to arrive. Better confirm that this is still the weight limit. The boxes are insured up to a certain value as well, can't remember how much. We filled in the Japanese customs form at the post office and stuck it to the boxes - we just wrote stuff like CD's, clothes, books, stationery, stuff that sounds like it is personal effects. Make sure that value you declare is low enough, and send it off. All 30 boxes arrived together, undamaged and untaxed, at our house in England about 6 weeks after we sent them.

Anything small and expensive like a laptop should be brought in your hand luggage in my view - I had my receipts and my international export form for my laptop that I bought in Japan but I was never asked to show any of these papers, or turn on my computer.

I thought it might help to hear how we did it anyway. Good luck

Okaya

Really sorry for late reply, move home was hectic to say the least, but wanted to say a big thank you for all your advice on getting stuff home. Was read, taken and much appreciated =0)))