TheMadMan

As the title suggests - any body from the UK received a VAT bill yet for their shiny N1?

I received mine exactly a week ago and haven't received mine yet (not that I'm complaining). Interested to find out how much it comes too.

markouk

Thanks for pulling this out of the other thread and into the open Martin. I await my bill as said before.

tdiboy

I ordered mine at 12:02am on the 6th Jan (arrived on the 8th) and still nothing from DHL...

johnboyw

From what ive read on a few message boards, its looking like the people who have had their box opened by customs will get a charge. Those who have not like myself have got away with it.
Dont take this as gospel but i believe its true.

markouk

Hmmm, I'd be surprised if that was the case. Can you link to these other forums please?
It'd be great if it was true!

MartinS

Still nothing...

oniongirl

how would we know if our box had been opened by customs? would it stink of red tape?

ALIHISGREAT

How much does the Nexus one come to without the VAT charge? maybe google are picking up the VAT tab? but maybe thats just wishful thinkin

daffyduck

It is possible - doubt it though as DHL send customs advice in advance electronically (i believe). Wait till the end of month catch up on invoicing

markouk

Mine cost ~£350 without VAT but I doubt that'll be the end of it. The VAT man always wins. There have been others that have been billed but I don't know the background, whether the box had been opened or not?
I don't think they need to open the box as the VAT stuff will all be processed through DHL. DHL know what they are shipping so they'll have to arrange paperwork accordingly.

daffyduck

Afraid so - I used to work in a Commercial department for a Logistics company & the invoicing always used to play catch up at month-end. There is always the possibility that it may be missed though....but don't hold your breath.

TheMadMan

I've read a few similar threads on other forums and nobody seems to have received a VAT bill (as yet). Maybe, as the N1 was only released at the beginning of this month, and that month end (for accounting/invoicing purposes) won't happen until the end of this month, we won't actually see anything until at least early Feb 10.

r-j-y

I've heard of a couple of stories of bills arriving. I order mine on day #2 and no bill yet. My fingers are crossed.

Rusty!

Surely it's quite easy to work out how much it will be Pretty sure that covers it anyway

FLT

Exactly.

TheMadMan

thanks for that. £60 ain't too bad then.

TOR

Important question, was the VAT invoice sent via Royal Mail, or by DHL? I only ask because DHL don't deliver to my house, they can't find it. That's ok as I can go to the depot to pick up the phone, but I don't want the VAT bill to go missing because DHL get lost on the way to my house!

lutherinlondon

Still waiting for mine....

tdiboy

I had a letter on my desk yesterday morning from DHL...It had to happen really so it's best getting it over with really. It was for £61.40 (including the £1.25 DHL admin fee for coughing up the VAT on my behalf).

I phoned today and made the payment. Very straightforward and painless (bar the money leaving my account...).

One thing that is a little puzzling is the item value on the invoice was £343.74. I was charged (initially) on my CC £348.34 on the 6th Jan (date of purchase). This changed to £351.98 the next day. Santander (CC company) said that the difference was because the money actually left the card the day after purchase and the exchange rate was not as good. Not ideal but only a couple of pounds really.

Total including VAT was £413.38 so not too bad really. Bonus for me was I got sent a UK micro-USB charger and didn't order one (nice mistake on Googles part). As it wasn't on the order, no duty was charged. Nice one...

Last edited by tdiboy; 02-04-2010 at 04:42 PM.

ROBIN50N

got my vat bill today, £59.21. i hadnt ordered the charger so thats for just the phone.

Rusty!

Royal Mail I'm afraid.

EDIT: Still not got one

Last edited by Rusty!; 02-06-2010 at 05:32 AM.

daffyduck

£61 bill received - bummer

markouk

Bollocks. Mine won't be far behind then. Next week for fuck sake.

jthreads

Got mine yesterday and it's £ 57.96

Rusty!

You say that, but my last DHL VAT bill took a month to arrive.

markouk

Yeah but I ordered the 8th Jan and got it 14th Jan. It will appear in the next week. I wonder what would happen if I didn't pay it. You think they'd send me to jail? If I was that way inclined it might be a nice wee holiday. Although, I'm too pretty to go to jail

Rusty!

If you don't pay they'll just start with legal proceedings or pass it to collections.

TOR

Thanks very much, Royal Mail is what I wanted (I don't want the VAT invoice to disappear and result in additional charges/proceedings!)

dhevans

Sounds like people are getting random VAT amounts, not linked to whether there is a UK charger on top?

ROBIN50N

varys slightly due to when was bought and what the exchange was at the time.

dhevans

Ah ok, I've budgeted £60 anyway.. Will curse when it comes even still lol..

ST Kyle

I got mine, just the phone no charger, £78.95 they've added on duty at 5% going to have to ring them to complain, mobile phones are duty free!

Rusty!

Looking at the Google Help forums, that's not uncommon.

markouk

Oh bugger. That doesn't sound good.

mkrmec

LoL you get the phone before you pay VAT? Not how it works in my country pay first or get lost

Rusty!

It's how DHL do things, others don't.

johnboyw

I know there is another thread on this and in it i said that if the box isnt opened you wont get a bill. Well that is wrong.
I know now different from lots of sites ive read.
I have had my Nexus One 3 weeks and only just got my bill!
The worst thing is i bought my phone from ebay because the guy said he would send it as a gift. He sent it direct from Google the T**T.
So not only did i pay over the odds i now get a vat bill, plus i oredered a dock the other day thinking i wont have to pay tax on that!!!

Rusty!

You can't guarantee you'll get an invoice, some people do get lucky. It's just not very likely that you'll get away with it.

You are right that there is no need to open the box though, as the paper work is on top.

MartinS

I don't see how they reason when they are sent out? I ordered my N1 on the 6th January and received an invoice dated 22nd January around a week later than that.

Surely there should be a process where people getting deliveries at certain times are invoiced at standard terms?

oniongirl

Tax bill just arrived here.

Shows the shipper's invoice value at £331.23 with VAT totalling £57.96 plus £1.25 admin fee, so total is £59.21.

Very pleased with this as my bank account shows the amount I paid for the phone as £353.83. Saved myself a whopping £2.71. Gotta love exchange rates

kam187

You will ALWAYS get a VAT invoice if its declared for the normal amount. There is no 'getting lucky' about it.

The only time you can 'get lucky' is if you declare it as a gift OR the acompanying customs declaration is of a lesser amount. In that case they will still scan it and could catch it and still bill you.

Google will always declare the phone for the value it is and that it is a comercial sale as they legally should. So customs will never ignore that and let you off. The stories on the internet about 'getting lucky' when the phone came direct from google are just people who havnt got their invoices yet or are lying.

markouk

That's quite a good amount to get VAT on. I've seen that a few times, must be how they process it that day and what value the pound is at against the dollar when they process the VAT invoice. Obviously doesn't take into account how much is actually charged. Very weird way of working things but it's good to know for the future. Just hope that the exchange rate improves in our favour so I can purchase some stuff from the US mucho cheapo in future. I'll need to track down the link to the duty liable items first though. Well I'll probably get mine today or at least by the end of the week.

Rusty!

I'm not just talking about the Nexus One here, I frequent a car owners club forum where parts are very often sort from Japan/US from companies who do things legally and getting away without paying VAT.

It does happen, maybe not often, but it does.

theartfullodger

N1 arrived yesterday: Wow!! Amazing (Never had a smartphone before...) ordered 3rd Feb 19:19, arrived 8th 13:01.. .

Awaiting VAT bill...

Cheers!

Lodger

MartinS

I really want to get the dock, but dock $45 (£27) + delivery $29 (£17) plus VAT bill gives just over £50 pounds for a dock which seems a bit steep to me.

Rusty!

My invoice has arrived. I had it delivered to my work and they slapped a £10 admin fee on instead of £1.25

Still, girl on the phone is quite helpful and they're raising a credit for it.

When that's sorted, I'll have the same to pay as Oniongirl making my phone a total of £412.41

ROBIN50N

same here i just thought they hadnt added the delivery charge to final amount.

theartfullodger

Yup..

These guys have an alternative dock with a spare slot for a 2nd battery... only £25:99 + UK shipping

Amzer Desktop Cradle with Extra Battery Charging Slot For Google - Cradles

(No, I have no business relationship with them other than I'm waiting for a case for my N!..)

Cheers!

Lodger

MartinS

Thanks for the info.

ST Kyle

Is there anyone who's managed to get the duty removed? I spent ages on the phone to them getting passed from person to person and no one managed to sort it, used the email on the invoice to contact them and they've emailed back saying that the email address wasn't for invoice enquiries and provided a web address which is for account holders. DHL are proving to be a complete nightmare, first they lost my phone no they're charging me duty where as most other people are getting invoices duty free.