ronki23
Well-Known Member
Hi. Over the next year I SHOULD be going to South Korea, Japan, Canada and USA so would like to do some electronics shopping for personal usage.
One thing I don't really understand is the notion of import duty. I have read you are allowed up to a certain amount duty and tax free but what I don't understand is if you take your own personal electronics abroad, would they charge you import duty when you return as they would assume you brought it from abroad? And what about taking items abroad- would your destination charge import duty?
Because when I went to India in 2015 I took a low value laptop-tablet convertible with me and while in India I bought a medium value smartphone (if it makes any difference neither were in any box as they were for personal use).
So how did customs from both sides know that a) I bought laptop and my old mobile phone in UK so have already paid VAT (r.e. returning to UK) and b) it's mine so I don't need to pay import duty to my destination (in this case India).
One thing I don't really understand is the notion of import duty. I have read you are allowed up to a certain amount duty and tax free but what I don't understand is if you take your own personal electronics abroad, would they charge you import duty when you return as they would assume you brought it from abroad? And what about taking items abroad- would your destination charge import duty?
Because when I went to India in 2015 I took a low value laptop-tablet convertible with me and while in India I bought a medium value smartphone (if it makes any difference neither were in any box as they were for personal use).
So how did customs from both sides know that a) I bought laptop and my old mobile phone in UK so have already paid VAT (r.e. returning to UK) and b) it's mine so I don't need to pay import duty to my destination (in this case India).