Import Camcorder from Singapore

[Hammer]

A friend of mine lives and works in Singapore, and I'm considering asking him to buy a camcorder there and ship it here, to save a few quid. Is there any way to avoid paying the VAT? This is not a for-profit transaction, and I'm willing for him to open & use it before sending if that helps?

[Drewhound]

You can try but I don't think anyone would guarantee succeeding. You may well end up paying a lot more than the VAT as well

[stevie21]

Send it as a *gift* and state the value as 99p.

[Hammer]

stevie21, is that not illegal? I was wondering if there was a legal way of not paying. Maybe for example if it was second-hand?

[tomd]

Buying second hand things on Ebay I've found you still are pressured to pay VAT on items, but I believe you can have �145's worth of items tax-free (if it's the same as airports, & not alcohol & tobacco). Him declaring it as a gift may be deciteful, but I don't think they're going to kick your door down about it.

[stevie21]

For all that I know it may be a genuine gift. People give each other all sorts of presents all the time. Enclose a birthday card with it :-) Either that or if your friend is ever returning to the UK, ask him/her to bring it back with them. I'm sure you'll have thought of that one yourself!

[Drewhound]

It'll be VAT free up to �18 or �35 for a gift so that won't help. If it were me I'd try it but assume I will need to pay the VAT, if I got away with it all well and good. If they find you have falsely valued it (or your friend) they are likely to stick a penalty on top You may find the warranty is a more thorny issue. Check it out because often you'd have to ship it back to Singapore and that isn't cheap to do, also chasing a company up isn't much fun if they are slow repairing it