i did a big favour for some one in usa ---they asked if i wanted anything sent over---anyone know the rules  on duty for gifts from the us----thanks lr

I did this with a garmin from the US bought on Ebay,the company

marked the receipt with a $15 value and all was well.(dishonest i suppose but we get taxed enough)

You could get them to put "repaired xxxx" on the tag. That works.

Usual disclaimer etc.... 

Remember though if it gets lost its only worth whats on the declaration

£18 is the normal import limit, or £36 if it's a genuine gift.  If it's more than £36 then you have to pay import duty on the cost of the item(s) with the shipping cost added, then you pay vat on the goods+shipping + import.  And as a final kick then you get hte joy of paying the post office £13.99 for paying the customs fees on your behalf and then you repaying them. 

The import duty may be zero though, and of course some things are VAT exempt too.  The rules are a bit odd to say the least (ie 4.7% on bike parts, 13% on complete bikes). The HMRC website has a handy guide. 

I just brought £70 of triathlon top and shorts over.  Cost me £35 in duty and fees.

Trying to dodge tax as well as being morally dubious is also getting much harder as the HMRC aren't stupid, and so can be alert to the 'it's only worth  £15' scam and the 'repaired' one. 

Be VERY careful.

Under UK law, it is the receiver of the goods who is prosecuted for evasion of customs duty should fraud be detected.

UK customs randomly open incoming parcels, even those declared under the limit and sent as gifts.

Is getting a criminal record worth the risk?

And if it helps then my pack was in clearing for 4 days as there is a big backlog whilst they go through them.  The days where it was a trickle of trade that they turned a blind eye to are long gone.

Of course in your case you aren't trying to get something on the cheap by importing and evading customs fees, you're genuinely wanting to receive a gift. 

But Mike, either of those "2" could have ended with you getting a criminal record!

It is far to say that in most cases you just get clobbered wiht the taxes and charges, but if it is perceived to be a deliberate attemt at fraud, then they WILL prosecute!

I did not intend to suggest that you did Mike, and perhaps I sould not have said "you" in the above post.

The point I was making is that if  there is a clear attempt at marking the parcel incorrectly to evade customs duty, the receiver cannot claim ignorance and blame the sender.

Full details can be found here

My bad, I did suggest that, and although I tried editing it I can't now.

I''ve heard that only about a third of packages get checked by customs, which would fit with Mike's experience.

I've been a bit luckier, I've bought half a dozen or so items from the US and Australia which were over the duty limit and I've not had to pay anything yet. 

Next time I'm sort of expecting it though. 

If there is indeed no action taken like deliberately mis-marking the value and that it is a "gift," then it is indeed just a matter of pot luck, what I was cautioning against however was the "advice" contained in the first couple of replies.

Insidentally, this only applies to private "person to person" transactions, so any commercial pakaging is a bit of a give away!