Oona

I live in the US and my best friend lives in the UK. I want to send him a wall plaque as a gift. It has no value other than sentiment. If there are fees and duties to be paid, I want to pay them. I choose to be the sender; I think it's ungracious to expect my friend to pay to receive his gift:

"Here's your prezzie. No payment, no joy. Hope you can afford it! (lol lol lol)"

So, how can I send it in such a way that *I* pay any customs and VAT due?

Pulaski

How much did the wall plaque cost?

What is its fair value?

(The two numbers are probably not the same)

Oona

I am having a plaque custom-made with a personalized message to my friend. It is going to cost $75 to make but since it's customized and has a religious message, it's going to have very little resale value. So I'm not sure what fair value would be. No one without his name and birthdate and who is not a member of our faith would pay a dime for it.

GeoffM

If you send it by Fedex/UPS etc (not USPS), don't they hold it and invoice you if duty is to be paid? By email notification then you can pay online for it to be released?

Stormer999

With Royal Mail into the UK the receiver is notified of duties to be paid to HM Customs and any double handling charge which they will add and not the sender who will be too far away to contact.

yellowroom

something like that. I returned a purchase to a UK retailer, and got an invoice for the customs from the courier. Think it was UPS or FedEx. They didn't hold it though even though I owed them $80(!).

BritInParis

Ticking 'Gift' on the customs declaration means that unless it's worth more than £36 your friend won't need to pay any duty or VAT on it.

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

Pulaski

So further to posts #2 & #3, I'd value a craft made item at around $40 and mark it as a gift.

Problem solved!