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G4EBT > FAGS 26.08.05 15:00l 159 Lines 5924 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : E90545G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Buying fags on t'internet.
Path: ON0AR<F6KMO<F5GI<DK0WUE<SP7MGD<ON0BEL<GB7FCR
Sent: 050826/1407Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:63978 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:E90545G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : FAGS@WW
Some people try to get round import duty by buying over the internet.
(Many cigarettes bought this way, and contraband cigarettes are actually
counterfeit - not even the genuine article).
This info is from the UK Customs and Excise website:
Buying tobacco over the Internet:
Always check with Customs before buying tobacco on-line.
Most sites offering cheap cigarettes are a rip off.
All cigarettes bought via the Internet must bear U.K. taxes.
There are NO allowances or loopholes.
Cigarettes bought from sites that do not arrange payment of U.K. taxes
are liable to forfeiture. In the last year Customs have destroyed over
10 million such cigarettes.
Detailed below is a series of frequently asked questions concerning
the purchase of cigarettes over the internet
Tobacco purchases from within the E.U.:
Q. Is it legal to buy tobacco over the internet from another European
Community country?
A. Yes, but ONLY if the U.K. VAT and excise duty is paid on the goods.
The person who sells the goods must make arrangements for these taxes to
be paid before they are sent to you. If you are a customer, it is in your
interests to ensure this has been done, otherwise the goods are liable to
forfeiture by Customs at the postal depot.
Q. What if the tobacco is a personal gift?
A. There are no statutory reliefs for tobacco goods posted as gifts from
other E.U. countries, however Customs will not normally make additional
charges provided that :
* It is a bona-fide gift sent from a private person in another E.U.
country to a private person in U.K.;
* It must be for your own personal use and cannot be sold to others;
* You must not have paid for it, either directly or indirectly.
* There must be no commercial or trade element to the contents of the
consignment
* It must be of an occasional nature (e.g. birthday, anniversary etc.).
Purchasing cigarettes from an internet company in another E.U. country to
send to a family member or friend as a gift will NOT qualify for relief of
duty and VAT.
Q. Why can you go over to France and buy what you want for your own
personal use but you can't do the same over the Internet?
A. Under an E.U. directive (Council Directive 92/12/EEC), tobacco
dispatched by a vendor in one member state to a private individual
in another forms a commercial transaction and is liable to duty in
the member state of destination.
Q. How much U.K. duty and tax should be paid on 200 cigarettes?
A. The current rate of Excise duty on 200 king size cigarettes is around
œ32.20. Before placing an order you should ask yourself whether the prices
being advertised on the web site indicate that the vendor is taking these
charges into account and properly accounting for them. If not, your goods
are liable to forfeiture and put yourself at risk of prosecution.
Q. If I pay the U.K. duty and VAT on seized cigarettes can I keep them?
No.
Customs only restore seized cigarettes in exceptional circumstances.
We do not ordinarily restore seized goods as we wish to:
* ensure that excise goods not normally available in the U.K.
from legitimate outlets do not become commercially available.
* protect the revenues of both the U.K. Government and legitimate
wholesale and retail trade.
Q. Is it illegal to import tobacco and not pay the U.K. taxes if
the duty & VAT has been paid in another E.C. country?
A. Yes - even if the relevant taxes have been paid in another E.C.
country, the U.K. duty and tax must be paid when the goods enter this
country.
Q. Is it true that the end of duty free means this is now legal when it
wasn't before?
A. The end of duty free within the E.C. has had no effect. "Duty free"
remains a concession available to travellers to and from countries
*outside of the EC*.
The Excise Goods (Personal Reliefs) Order 1992 requires that to qualify
for relief of duty, the goods purchased abroad must be personally imported
by the traveller.
This means that the goods must be carried with them at the time of their
return to the U.K. Purchasing goods over the Internet does not qualify for
this relief of duty.
Q. What is Customs doing about the Internet sites selling these goods?
A. Customs is well aware of these sites and we are vigorously pursuing
action against them. Our officers at postal depots are actively targeting
postal importations of cigarettes.
End quote.
The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association provides the following information
on the UK tobacco market:
There are around 15 million adult smokers in the U.K. which equates to
one third of the adult population.
U.K. consumers spent almost œ12.5 billion on U.K. duty-paid tobacco
products in 2000.
Sales amounted to 56 billion cigarettes, 2.8 million kg of hand rolling
and pipe tobacco and 900 million cigars.
The U.K. market for tobacco products has declined. In recent years this
trend has been accelerated by the rapid growth of bootlegging and
smuggling.
Between 1993 and 2000, cigarette sales fell by 38%.
Over the same period sales of pipe tobacco, hand rolling tobacco and
cigars fell by 57%, 39% and 30% respectively.
It's estimated that last year, non-U.K. duty paid consumption of
cigarettes stood at around 30% of total consumption. 70% of hand rolling
tobacco consumption avoided U.K. taxes.
This is not an argument for relaxing the taxation regime to make it not
worthwhile, but for tightening controls on smuggling and increasing the
penalties so as to deter and detect smuggling.
That would ensure that consumers pay their taxes so that their smoking and
drinking habits are not subsidised by non-consumers having to carry the
taxation burden (through say, higher levels of income tax).
73 - David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Eddystone User Group Member
G-QRP Club Member No: 1339
QTH: Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 15:06 on 2005-Aug-26
Message sent using WinPack-Telnet V6.70
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