I don’t know offhand - @rita might; Rita?
I’ve just had a reply from HMRC after a bit of back and forth to narrow down the specification and they’ve come back with 8456200000 for the Glowforge unit which is subject to VAT and an import duty of 3.5% and 8421392590 for the air filter which is subject to VAT and an import duty of 1.7%. All advice came with a disclaimer that the classification could change based upon the information provided. I provided the tech specs page from Glowforge and provided additional information on the materials it could cut, again as specified from Glowforge.
Interesting how this differs from @nevescatarina? The wording on some of the classifications seem to have come from a Harry Potter novel and its navigation is just as arcane, so I’m not surprised to get two different responses. Those few percent here and there could add up though.
And we’ll have to pay VAT on the postage.
@rita (Hello!) is probably on it already, but Glowforge can apply for a Binding Tariff Information ruling which will, to quote the Gov.uk website, “give certainty about the correct classification and how much duty you’ll need to pay when importing your goods into the EU.” and is legally binding throughout the EU for 3 years.
1 Like
Not joking here, but with brexit how can a UK ruling apply for longer than the UK’s stay in the EU?
1 Like
Transitions always suck because currently written regulations take precedence until new regs can be written on actual change.
Lawyers are just gonna love the transition period (read money in their pockets).
1 Like
The UK will adopt all the EU laws and regulations onto their own statute book and then change them afterwards. So there won’t suddenly be a new set of laws.
Customs tariffs might change over night but the classification will probably remain the same in the short term.
If you ever look at them they are nonsense anyway. One code might be a wide range of products and the next one might be a particular diode just because some company enquired about it.
4 Likes
They’re being deceitful trying to justify that the cost of certification hasn’t dropped to reflect the new shorter timeframe. It’s not like they haven’t had plenty of time to update the website - only take a couple of minutes and could have had some intern do it 
2 Likes
All kidding aside, I recently saw a cost estimate just in updating all the government websites in both the UK and EU for all the things that need to get adjusted due to brexit. That was a very, very large number.
Not to mention the number of regulations that need to either be adopted or changed for everything from milk to environmental regulation. Believe me, you want to see a slipped shipping date!
I heard this morning they’ve started detailed conversations and the first thing on the EU’s agenda is how much the divorce payment will be. Talk about an unresolvable problem 
They are only going to create hostilities with any payment and that will affect the rest of the negotiations. Better to leave it and just walk away from any financial compensation attempts.
1 Like
Lol, yeh if I were Dan right about now I’d be looking smug and thinking:
" ‘we don’t like the name’, they said, ‘it’s not really a printer’, they said… well, we’ll just see whose complaining when they’ve read the tax regulations, won’t we!"
6 Likes
I want them to ship tomorrow before the £’s worth nothing! It’s bad enough as is! 
If Paul’s VAT and Duty quote is correct then that’s about 25% tax in total eesh.
1 Like
Can’t you still do it in Euros? Isn’t that a better exchange rate right now?
No because you get tax bills in GBP.
With the advent of units being shipped overseas, and in this instance specifically to the UK, might it now be prudent to have this matter addressed? Was there ever a response to this?
What are you wondering specifically?
Hi @dan,
The thread was a discussion around import tariff codes so we could work out how much we would have to pay in import charges for the Glowforge (and air filter, but that is not pressing at the moment). The last comment you made on the thread was asking if maybe @Rita might know.
If you know that would be great, otherwise UPS are predicting my Glowforge Pro is arriving tomorrow (squee!) so we find out then or maybe even today if UPS can tell me already.
And finally thank you to you and the team. I know it’s not here yet, but I am overly excited and sincerely looking forward to receiving the Glowforge and also to finally be pew pew pewing things 
p.s. can someone submit to unicode.org an emoji with lasers shooting out of its eyes? I feel we need one now more than ever.
Ah - I’m not sure, and I suspect if anyone knows the answer, it’s Rita. Her team doesn’t see re-opened threads here, so the best bet is to open a clean topic in Problems & Support where the subject is the question. (I’ll also give her a heads up about this thread too, in case you don’t have a chance to do that!)
I’m sorry I didn’t get you this answer! The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) code for your Glowforge is 8456.11.9000.
5 Likes
Hi my Glowforge Pro arrived yesterday to the UK and had had to pay £1275 import tax!! Ouch!
Just received ours for our Primary School and paid around £880 on import duty and VAT combined.
All fair and square and the service from Glowforge and the UPS team was second to none.