How to read your estimate

The breakdown above separates the three things that can be charged on a parcel arriving in the UK, because they come from different places and behave differently. Understanding which is which explains most of the surprise bills people receive.

Import duty

This is the customs tariff, set by the UK Government. It is a percentage of the value of your goods plus the cost of getting them here, and the percentage depends on two things: what the item is, and the country it was made in — not the country you bought it from. An item manufactured in China but dispatched from a warehouse in Germany is Chinese as far as customs is concerned.

Duty is frequently £0. It is zero on anything worth £135 or less, zero on many categories including books, laptops, phones, cosmetics and most furniture, and zero where the UK has a trade agreement with the country of origin and the sender has supplied proof of it.

Customs cost

This is mostly import VAT, charged at 20%. It catches people out far more often than duty does, for two reasons. It applies to almost everything, and it is calculated on the value including any duty already added — so where duty applies, you are paying tax on a tax.

If you ticked the courier handling fee, that is included here too. It is not a tax and does not go to the Government: it is what the carrier charges for paying HMRC on your behalf so the parcel is not held up. It is commonly £8 to £15, which is why a parcel owing only a few pounds of VAT can still arrive with a much bigger bill.

Shipping

If you entered a postage cost, it appears as its own line because customs treats it as part of the value of the consignment. Both duty and VAT are charged on it. Leaving the field blank will make the estimate lower than the real bill.

A worked example

A £500 jacket made in China, sent with £50 of postage. Duty on clothing is 12%, so customs works from £550 — the goods plus the shipping — and charges £66 of duty. VAT is then 20% of £616, which is £123.20. The total to pay on arrival is £189.20 on top of what you already spent, and the parcel has cost £739.20 all in.

Change one thing and the answer changes completely. The same £500 spent on a laptop attracts no duty at all, because computers are zero-rated, so you would pay £110 of VAT and nothing else.

When you pay nothing at all

Plenty of parcels arrive with no charge. The common cases are worth knowing before you assume a bill is coming:

Orders of £135 or less. No duty is charged, and overseas sellers are generally expected to have collected UK VAT at checkout — so the tax was already in the price you paid.

This threshold will not last forever. The UK Government confirmed on 23 June 2026 that it is bringing forward the end of this relief to 1 October 2028, after which duty will apply regardless of value. Nothing changes yet — this page reflects the rules as they stand today, and we will update it when the new rules take effect.

Genuine gifts under £39, sent between private individuals for a personal occasion. No duty and no VAT.
Zero-rated goods from a trade-agreement country, where duty is 0% on both counts. VAT can still apply above £135.

Where this estimate can differ from your bill

This is a simplified model and there are three honest reasons the real figure may not match. First, the tariff sets rates against specific product codes rather than broad categories, so an unusual item may sit at a different rate than the representative one used here. Second, some goods carry a duty per item rather than a percentage — watches are charged at roughly £0.20 each — and those are treated as zero. Third, alcohol and tobacco attract excise duty, which is a separate system this tool does not model at all.

For a definitive answer you need the commodity code for your exact product, which you can look up in the UK Trade Tariff. For the reasoning behind all of the above in more depth, read how UK import charges work, or check the FAQ for the questions that come up most often.

More guides

Buying from China — what changes when there's no trade agreement.
Buying from the EU — why Brexit means an EU order can still get a customs bill.
Buying from the USA — standard rates, and where the exchange rate quietly matters.
Courier fees compared — what DHL, FedEx, UPS and Royal Mail charge on top of duty and VAT.
Reclaiming import VAT — when you can get it back, and when you can't.
Sending a gift to the UK — the rules that actually qualify a parcel as a gift.

This is a simplified estimate, not an official HMRC calculation. Duty rates come from the UK Trade Tariff for a representative commodity code in each category, but the tariff sets rates per product code rather than per category, so your exact item may differ. Check the UK Trade Tariff tool on gov.uk for precise figures. Alcohol and tobacco are not covered — they carry separate excise duty. Gift relief thresholds are HMRC's published figures, but Border Force decides whether a parcel actually qualifies; ticking the criteria here does not guarantee it.