Import Duty Calculator UK

How the number is derived

UK customs value is CIF, goods plus freight and insurance to the border. Duty = CIF value × the UK Global Tariff rate for the commodity code. Import VAT at 20% is then charged on the CIF value plus the duty.

The two layers compound, so a 6.5% duty in a 20% VAT country produces a border charge of roughly 27.8% of customs value rather than 26.5%.

An example

Goods £14,400, freight £1,920, insurance £76, a CIF value of £16,396.

Duty at 6.5%: £1,065.74. Import VAT at 20% on £17,461.74: £3,492.35. Total at the border £4,558.09.

For a VAT-registered business only the £1,065.74 is a cost; the VAT is recoverable. And with postponed VAT accounting the £3,492.35 never leaves the business at all; it is declared and reclaimed on the same return.

What gets missed

The £135 threshold relieves duty only, not VAT. Below it, VAT is charged at the point of sale by the seller rather than at the border, which means an overseas seller shipping to UK consumers needs a UK VAT registration regardless of how small the consignments are.

Northern Ireland operates under different arrangements from Great Britain for goods movements, and the position has changed several times since 2021. Any calculation for NI needs checking separately rather than assuming the GB answer applies.

What this changes

Register for postponed VAT accounting if you are not already using it. It costs nothing, requires no application beyond electing on the customs declaration, and it removes the entire import VAT cash flow, £3,492 per shipment on this example.

Then check whether a preferential rate applies under the UK's trade agreements. The UK Global Tariff is the default, and preference under an agreement with the origin country is frequently zero.

The UK-specific administration worth getting right

An EORI number beginning GB is required to import commercially, and it takes a few days to obtain. Attempting to clear goods without one is the most common first-import failure and it produces storage charges while it is sorted out.

A duty deferment account with a customs comprehensive guarantee lets duty settle monthly rather than at each entry. For a regular importer that converts an unpredictable payment at every clearance into a single direct debit, and it removes the broker's disbursement fee entirely.

Records must be kept for six years and HMRC audits look backwards across that period. The specific risk for UK importers is a valuation or classification position that was never documented: accepted for years, then challenged, with back duty and interest across the whole period. Documenting the reasoning at the time costs minutes and is the only defence that works.

An overseas business selling goods already located in the UK, or selling consignments under £135 to UK consumers, has a UK VAT registration obligation regardless of turnover. The usual registration threshold does not apply to non-established businesses.

That catches out overseas sellers who assume they are below a threshold. Registering late means accounting for VAT that should have been charged on past sales, out of margin that has already been spent, plus penalties.

Checking the registration position before the first sale rather than the first audit is the whole of the advice, and it takes one conversation with an accountant familiar with non-established businesses.