UK Shipping and

matter of time before someone gets burned by it. this is a great reason why the naming is problematic - it obviously falls under laser cutters.

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I wonder why there is a difference in duty between the two anyway. 3D printers and laser cutters are both computer controlled fabrication machines. I have no idea why they are taxed differently.

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one definitely creates way more pollution; i wonder if thatā€™s a factor.

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I should say I didnā€™t select this code. I typed in Glowforge and it produced the code itself. I did try after I order it in (26th Sept 15) and in the new year of '16 again and it didnā€™t come up. But now itā€™s coming up automatically when you type in Glowforge. Donā€™t know if this is something thatā€™s been decided and set in some sort of official capacity, or someone with more authorisation on that site has set it to that code?

Either way I think itā€™s the one Iā€™ll try to use for obvious reasons and it matches the description of the product by Glowforge. It may be we donā€™t have a choice in using it if this is some sort of ā€œofficialā€ code?

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that is a third-party site with no official affiliation. which means you canā€™t necessarily rely on that for accurate information; they probably scrape up new products and add to their database, and if they canā€™t computer match to a listing for customs, it probably pops up as zero duty with the standard VAT. i would check with a government body before you rely on this.

especially since i put in generic 3d printer and got a duty of 1.7%.

@dan, please can you tell us what tariff codes you will use when exporting the GF and the air filter?

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In the meantime, Iā€™ve spoken with HMRC and been advised to email ā€˜classification.enquiries@hmrc.gsi.gov.ukā€™ with regards to the commodity code, which I have duly done. Iā€™ll keep you posted.

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I wish I could find something like that for Canada. I have no idea what it will cost in customs fees but Iā€™m banking for around 800 dollars

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A lot depends on how Glowforge fill out the customs declaration and the commercial invoice. Unless you do your own brokerage I donā€™t think the end customer has any input.

I dont so much want to influence the cost. I just want to know what it would be :stuck_out_tongue:

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For that you need to find out what GF will put on the customs declaration.

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unless youā€™re getting raked for brokerage fees, you should only have to pay the 5% gst; i donā€™t think provincial sales taxes are dinged for imports.

fortunately for him there is no duty since itā€™s made in the U.S.

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I did find this in the last half hour or so.
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/dte-acl/est-cal-eng.html

I converted my invoice price to Canadian funds, selected my province and came up with a number of 952.22

I hope youā€™re right with the GST bit because that would reduce my cost dramatically

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i think something is hinky there, but itā€™s probably my understanding. i thought only gst was charged and not necessarily hst but i reread the gov page and see that it says only gst is charged on ā€œmost commercial imports,ā€ so i guess we might get dinged provincially after all (which is kind of bs).

it definitely pushes me up to 650 or so so yeah iā€™m also curious :stuck_out_tongue:

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I donā€™t know offhand - @rita might; Rita?

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Iā€™ve just had a reply from HMRC after a bit of back and forth to narrow down the specification and theyā€™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 Iā€™m not surprised to get two different responses. Those few percent here and there could add up though.

And weā€™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, ā€œgive certainty about the correct classification and how much duty youā€™ll need to pay when importing your goods into the EU.ā€ and is legally binding throughout the EU for 3 years.

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Not joking here, but with brexit how can a UK ruling apply for longer than the UKā€™s stay in the EU?

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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).

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The UK will adopt all the EU laws and regulations onto their own statute book and then change them afterwards. So there wonā€™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.

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Theyā€™re being deceitful trying to justify that the cost of certification hasnā€™t dropped to reflect the new shorter timeframe. Itā€™s not like they havenā€™t had plenty of time to update the website - only take a couple of minutes and could have had some intern do it :sunglasses:

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