Importing Wine and Beer from europe

[les saisies]

When we return from holiday we always bring back a small quantity of "good" wine and beer not normally available in uk.

The wine maker we deal with will ship wine to us but does anyone know what the duty situation would be. Obviously we pay no duty when we bring it back ourselves in the car.

As the wine if for personal use is it also duty free?

[Buenchico]

You can only import your wine duty-free if you do so in person. Otherwise you'll have to pay UK duty which is currently �1.26 per bottle.

If you have beer shipped to you, the duty on 1 litre is 13p multiplied by the ABV of the beer. (So a typical continental lager of say, 5% ABV, attracts duty of 65p per litre).

These figures have been calculated from the information here:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channels PortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageExcise _RatesCodesTools&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_P ROD1_023923

To get information on how payment could be made, call HMRC on 0845 010 9000.

Chris

[Buenchico]

Addendum:
Routine customs checks are carried out by Post Office staff, acting on behalf of HMRC. (I believe that the Post Ofice still carry out this function even when another carrier, such as DHL, is used).

When your consignment is delivered, you normally pay the customs charges to the postman (or courier) but you should note that the Post Office may levy an additional charge for carrying out the examination. Details of their charges should be on the Royal Mail website.

Chris