On 9/10/12 11:03 PM, Chris Albertson wrote:
On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 4:11 PM, David Kirkby <david.kir...@onetel.net>wrote:
I've also had to pay inport duties and VAT on this, which comes to a
US equivalent of around $220. I doubt I will be able to recover that.
Talk to your customs people. Almost always oin most con tries if you
"re-export" an item you can apply for a refund. I don't know the rules in
the UK but it works like that in the US and Canada.
One amusing case was when I worked at Hughes Aircraft. The company
imported a rather large (close to $1M) diamond from Amsterdam and paid a
large duty on it. They sawed a section out of it to make an optical window
for a probe to be sent to Venus. Then after launch they applied for and
got a refund of the duty because the diamond was exported out of the US to
another planet where to this day it remains. My point is that re-export
is common and they should have a procedure for it.
We ship test equipment (and spacecraft) to other countries fairly
regularly. Generally, one acquires what is known as a "carnet de
passage" (or simply a carnet) for the dutiable goods. Such a carnet
requires posting a bond or letter of credit or government memorandum of
understanding that provides for payment in the event that the goods are
not taken out. It's not an "after the fact" thing, although I suppose,
anything is negotiable, given sufficient time and money.
It gets even more complicated if you send something into space and it
might come back (e.g. to ISS)
(same thing applies to taking an automobile through some places in
Africa or South America..where the duty is very high on cars)
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