engagedgirl

Hi Thanks but this doesn’t fully answer my question. I’m aware that the personal allowance is £390 - my dress will be 3600€. My questions are: - does the zero rate custom duty on EU products which are bought, made and sold in the EU apply to import VAT as well? - would I not need to pay import VAT on something I wore on the plane coming into the UK?

Could I ask - if you do some shopping on holiday abroad and then bring it back in your hand luggage (or even, say, wearing it), do you have to pay import VAT on it (as opposed to having it shipped over)?

I want to buy my wedding dress from Spain and plan to go over to Madrid and bring the dress back in my personal luggage on the plane. It’s value exceeds the personal allowance (3600€) but it’s resale value will be low because it is being custom made to my size and style preferences. I note that under the heading ‘Declaring goods made or produced in the EU’ at this page: https://www.gov.uk/bringing-goods-into-uk-personal-use/arriving-in-Great-Britain, I would be entitled to claim a zero rate on custom duty because the dress will be made from French fabric, I will pay for it and bring it from Spain. Would this exemption extend to import VAT as well? The value of the dress is only personal, and unlikely to resell for much if any value. Additionally on the Gov UK Q&A page here ( https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/customerforums/ie/1017cce2-ca41-ef11-a81d-002248c8eb60) it states ‘ "you can bring some goods from abroad without having to pay UK tax or duty, if they’re either: for your own use or you want to give them as a gift’ - so would my dress not incur customs/VAT? Thank you