I would like to know if I should expect to pay tax when my Glowforge will be entering the UK and how much would that be
You should definitely expect to pay tax. I don’t know how much in the UK but you can ask customs. It’s worth investigating because it could be quite a lot of money
Yes you should.
The amount depends on what you ordered Pro/Basic, Filter/not.
https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff
Hi @dan,
is it possible you could let us know the trade tariff that you will be shipping glowforges under? My best guess was 85 15 80 9000.
We ask so we can see the VAT rate plus other tariffs that might be applied. Thanks.
For 8515809000 there will be a 20% VAT charge plus another 2.7% in the UK. This should apply to the cost of the goods only.
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VAT applies to the shipping cost as well.
canada too, i’ve always found it an absurd concept.
just an fyi chances are pretty good you won’t be able to get any of these answers until you get the email.
Very probably. I’ll check about the shipping though. Surely that is paid at source and not subject to VAT at destination. I’ll do some digging.
maybe; i moved to canada and they do the same thing - you get charged based on order total, including shipping. it makes me mad every time, haha.
Yes they charge VAT on the shipping if it is stated on the commercial invoice. If it isn’t they make up a number which is based on the weight and that is usually many times more. In this case perhaps not as the shipping is very expensive.
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I don’t know, and I’m not sure if that’s been determined yet - you can email support to check.
It does but I don’t understand how. At work when I enter work expenses Postage does not have a VAT component we can reclaim.
Postage via Royal mail is VAT free. Couriers charge VAT for destinations in the EU, its VAT free outside for the sender. But when you receive you pay import VAT on the total cost including carriage.
If you didn’t then it would be unfair to local traders as they could be undercut by imports from outside the EU.
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Ah thanks for clearing that up!
I will get mine shipped to austria and asked customs how much I will have to pay on taxes. They answered really fast and helpfully listed how I could figure out how much it will be (depending on the convertion rate $ » € at that time). It’ll be a substantial amount I have to say.
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Yep 
with the £ currently taking a nose dive I image my forge is going to ship at a really bad time lol. Thankfully, I put about £1000 to one side to cover all the extra bills associated 
Not everyone will be lucky enough to manage that
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Ok, so after months of guessing, I’ve decided to contact HMRC directly today to find out how much we’ll have to pay once the Glowforge arrives in the UK. This is what I’ve been sent back…
For classification ref: 8465119000 (for machine tools for working any material by removal of material operated by laser or other light or photon beam, assuming the cutters main function is not a printer.)
Import duty: 4.5% (of the cost of your goods plus shipping and insurance)
Import VAT: 20% (of the cost of your goods plus shipping and insurance)
I have ordered a Basic unit ($2400) so it will turn out roughly (don’t know how much insurance is) £85 for import duty + £375 for VAT, £460 in total. With insurance, I’m hoping that it won’t be more than £600.
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Since you haven’t paid for the insurance, it must be part of the GF cost or the shipping cost, so I don’t think you have to pay any more tax.
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That is a tricky one when the manufacturer defines it as a 3D laser printer.
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Hey all,
Don’t know if this is right, but what about this?
Which comes to:
Let me know if the links don’t work.
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Interesting that if you call it a 3D laser printer it is duty free but a laser cutter is 4.5%. I wonder if GF had that in mind when they named it!
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