Hi,

I've got a nice sparkling empeg Mk2a sitting at my brother's house in Canada, which I was planning on collecting at Easter, but for reasons various (no, not nefarious ) I will no longer be able to get over there to collect said toy. So I'm looking at getting it shipped here to England.

In order to get quotes from shipping companies, I need to know the approximate size of the box it comes in, and more importantly, the weight of the box.

Also, if anyone knows how best to get it through customs (i.e. what value would be best to declare it as, and would it be advantageous to describe it as a car stereo or as computer equipment) that would be very helpful.

Many thanks,

A.

It weighs 3Kg - not sure of the dimensions, but if it is in the regular box then the volumetric weight is lower than the physical weight so it's not an issue.

It's best to be honest with the value (e.g. US$199), because customs have seen a lot of these (at least, FedEx and TNT clearance contractors have). Your brother will have to fill out a commercial invoice (on which he can state that the goods are a gift). You could also state Harmonized Code 8471503000 but that's of more help when going in the other direction.

You can expect to pay up to 10% import duty (or nothing if you're lucky) and 17.5% VAT.

Rob

Thanks a lot, Rob... that's a great help. I figured I was gonna cop for the VAT

By the way, what does the Harmonized Code actually *do*?

Cheers,

A.

The harmonized code describes the goods and relates them to a particular taxation class. In this case:

"Computer peripheral, capable of receiving and processing TV/communication/audio or video signals."

A little obscure, but FedEx found it for us and it's zero rated in the USA. In most countries this is preferable to the car audio class.

Rob