How to declare and prepay excise duty on cigars ordered from abroad

[Lascaux]

The average robusto weighs in at 12g
A box of 25 robustos comes to: 300g

Excise Duty on Cigars: ?173.13 per kilogram;

You would pay excise duty of ?51.94

Your box of robustos are Partagas D4 which cost $157.36 or ?104.98

They then charge Customs Duty on the ?104.98, which is a variable rate you can find from the Customs Tariff (though you have to pay to have access to the Tariff) I'm taking this to be about 2.5%:

"Where the value of gifts is below ?290 per consignment, a flat rate of duty of 2.5 per cent will be applied - but only if it is to your advantage. With effect from 1 December 2008, customs duty will not be applied on goods with a value less than ?105."


Being below ?105 there would be no customs duty on this box of D4s

So! You would be paying 17.5% VAT on ?156.92... = ?184.38
plus ?8 post office handling fee

Grand total = ?192.38
Overall you payed ?87.40 to customs.

Does that sound about rightfrom people's experience?

[Lascaux]

oh yes, forgot that too

3. Charges

3.1 How are import charges calculated?

Charges are calculated by Customs staff at the postal depots where the packages are received. However, in some cases special arrangements are in place for goods purchased on the internet (see paragraph 3.4 below).
Value Added Tax (VAT) - Import VAT is charged at the same rate that applies to similar goods sold in the UK and applies to commercial goods over ?18 in value, and on gifts that are over ?40 in value. The value of the goods for import VAT is based on the:

• basic value of goods, plus
• postage, packing and insurance, plus
• any import (Customs or Excise) duties charged

Customs duty - Customs duty becomes payable if the goods are over ?135 in value but is waived if the amount calculated is less than ?9. Customs duty is usually charged as a percentage of the value of the goods.
The amount of customs duty charged will depend on the type of goods imported and their value stated on the customs declaration CN22/CN23 (converted using the rates of exchange for the month of importation as shown on our website).
The percentage varies depending on the type of goods and their country of origin. Duty is charged on the price paid for the goods including any local sales taxes plus postage, packing and insurance costs. However, the cost of postage is excluded from the calculation for customs duty on gifts except where the sender has used the Express Mail Service (EMS) as opposed to a standard mail service.
Where the value of gifts is below ?630 per consignment a flat rate of duty of 2.5 per cent will be applied, but only if it is to your advantage.
Excise duty - this is charged on alcohol and tobacco products and is additional to customs duty. The excise duty on alcohol products such as wines and spirits depends on the alcohol content and volume. In the case of wine and cider whether they are sparkling or still. Duty on cigarettes is based on a percentage of the recommended retail selling price plus a flat rate amount per 1,000 cigarettes. On other tobacco products, for example, cigars or hand rolling tobacco, excise duty is charged at a flat rate per kilogram.

[EugeneSax]

...and then don't you also have to pay VAT on the total value including tobacco duty & import duty?

[Lascaux]

From what I understand ON TOP of the Tobacco excise duty, you pay customs duty on the price of the item... but nowhere do they say how much or how to work out what customs duty will be. You (or the seller) write on the form how much the item costs . They also say the seller puts an invoice for the item inside the package, but this isn't compulsory as far as I can see.

There is also ?8 charge by the post office for handling the duty - if its calculated that you have to pay anything to customs, you then have to pay ?8 on top.

[gt3911]

You do right. Let us know if all goes smoothly. My first cigar import was nailed with tax exceeding the value of the smokes by a huge margin, at the time I didn't think to question it, or understand it.

Once it was to late to contest the charges I realised it was based on weight only, and they had clearly weighed the package, I had cigar accessories in the box, including a Csonka Deodorizer which was a few times heavier than the sticks! ooops!

Correct me if I'm wrong, you've clearly done your home work, Do we have an insentive to import higher value sticks based upon these rules? IE;
Box 1 weights X grams and costs $150 - Tax on X weight is $50
Box 2 also weighs X grams but costs $250 - Tax on the same weight remains at $50

Do we get taxed also on the item value based up standard import rules? With the Additional tax being measure in weight - or is the entire tax based only on weight? Not like its to hard for the item to be undervalued if that is the case...

[Lascaux]

Re: How to declare and prepay excise duty on cigars ordered from abroad

Yeah, I'm making sure the net weight is stated clearly in bold so they can't pull that little stunt,


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[tippexx]

[QUOTE=cj121;74678]Rocco, our customs charge tobacco imports by the weight when it comes to cigars unfortunately.

'Cept they don't. They weigh the lot packaging included.

[Habana-Habanos]

Wow they don't make it easy at all...

[Lascaux]

Christ, they really don't make it freekin easy do they...

still not sure but looks like all you need is a CN23 form for products over ?270. Or a bog standard CN22 form (as you fill out for any package leaving the EU) for products under ?270.

I'm guessing most countries have their own customs declaration forms but Mexican registered post doesn't seem to so I'll be using the CN23 form.

Lots of information on Customs Cuty for tobacco.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageExcise_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000268&propertyType=document

It was also suggested to me that I may need to clear it with the VAT office as well but I can't find anywhere online confirming it.
I was unsure if the box needed to have a fiscal mark on it too, but upon reading the above link, cigars for personal consumption do not need the fiscal mark.

anyways, ill put the links up on the first post of this page for anyone else interested in the procedure...

[Seriesteve]

Missing link Doh

[Deano]

Would be nice to know where to get the forms etc from?

[daverave999]

Very interested how this turns out!

[cj121]

Rocco, our customs charge tobacco imports by the weight when it comes to cigars unfortunately.

Lasc, goodluck with navigating the paperwork and let us know how you get on?

[Rocco]

ask your vendor to fill out the customs declaration as "cigars" with the estimated value. Maybe its enough to avoid being over taxed. In Canada we can contest the customs charges after we paid for them, and usually it works out for the person who received the goods. Is that an option in the UK? If so, I say roll the dice my friend.
Good luck Lascaux

[monkey66]

let us know how you get along with the process lasc.