US Custom form?

[Ozman1944]

I got a kilt from Kiltstore; they sent it by Mail. No charges, no duties, no nothing, just the Kilt.

[ozone]

I KNOW i posted stuff on tariffs for kilts before, but i cannot find it. Anyway, my previous post entitled "arghhhh!" has the basics. Wool garments only are supposed to get a 12% tariff.

Here's the link for that:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/a...ighlight=ozone

After some searching....Here's the official Tariff rules for kilts:

From: http://prototype.usitc.gov/tata/hts/bychapter/index.htm

This came from page 81 of the adobe file:
SECTION XI: TEXTILE AND TEXTILE ARTICLES
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (2008)
Annotated for Statistical Reporting Purposes
XI
62-81

6211 (con.) Track suits, ski-suits and swimwear; other garments (con.):
Other garments, men's or boys' (con.):
6211.39 Of other textile materials:
6211.39.05 Of wool or fine animal hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12%
Free (AU,BH,CA,CL,IL,JO,MX,P,SG)
3.7% (MA)

Free trade/minimal tariff states in order of appearance in the above abbreviations:

Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Singapore

Morocco



CLEARLY we all need some folks in Bahrain or Jordan to make some wool kilts to save us all from tariffs that we pay from the UK.

[Kiehlroy]

Hey guys, thanks for all the responses. The kilts here, I'm waiting for my girlfriend to get home for the unveiling. As to the customs charges thanks for the detailed info, If and when a bill arrives I'll go from there. But I definitely plan to fight any unnecessary charges that may arrive. I'll let you know how the kilt turns out.

[Atlanta Kiltie]

I just recently received my Argyle kilt outfit from the Scot Web. I found the FedEx process to be very easy. I looked the form up on line to figure out how to fill it out. I had my kilt outfit the next day, in time to wear for the holidays. FedEx will pay the customs, 21% of the total cost of the merchandise bill for you so you can receive the package. About a month later you will receive an invoice from FedEx for the amount. Next time I will use Royal Mail and wait the extra days just to avoid the extra cost.

[BoldHighlander]

After reading this thread I'm curious. Is this happening with just FedEx?
Any similar experiences with UPS?

[ozone]

Tariff collection happens with all private carriers: UPS, DHL, FedEx...etc.

In defense of Kiltstore and other UK retailers here's my two (or 3) cents:

Look, the tariffs do suck. But the deal is that collecting tariffs is the only LEGAL way to do business with the UK. Just because Royal Mail are idiots and don't collect the tariffs, doesn't mean it's right. For better or worse, the US government has tariffs against a wide variety of products from many different countries. Some of these tariffs are political (think ethanol derived from sugar cane with it's 54 cents a gallon tariff to protect the 51 cent a gallon subsidized midwestern corn ethanol). Some tariffs are historical and probably dont need to be utilized any longer.

Textiles in the USA almost always have tariffs associated with them to protect the last remaining textile producers in places like South Carolina. Even with tariffs of up to 300%, places like vietnam and cambodia can STILL make textiles cheaper that their US counterparts. So, the textile industry in the USA will soon go the way of the dinosaurs. BUT, it is highly likely that the tariffs will remain long after S. Carolina textile factories close....inertia isn't just for physicists.

A long-term strategy we could all consider on this board is to write our congressional and senate representatives and ask that the tartan/wool/kilt tariffs for goods from the UK be removed from the law.

[davedove]

Probably the real probem isn't so much the fees, it's the fact that they happen some time after the purchase. We in the States make a purchase from, let's say, the United Kingdom and we get our final price. Unfortunately, this isn't really the final price, because it still has to go through customs. If we order a product from a US company who imports its product from the UK, we don't see that fee, because the company has paid the fee and factored it into their price.

So, the impact of buying from overseas is that you have made your purchase and paid the price. But wait, now you have to pay a little more. Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done about it.

[Wompet]

Tariff collection happens with all private carriers: UPS, DHL, FedEx...etc.

In defense of Kiltstore and other UK retailers here's my two (or 3) cents:

Look, the tariffs do suck. But the deal is that collecting tariffs is the only LEGAL way to do business with the UK. Just because Royal Mail are idiots and don't collect the tariffs, doesn't mean it's right.

Small corrections:

• The tariff is the rate of tax or duty on a product. My co-workers and I collect duty, not tariffs.
• Royal Mail does not collect duty. U.S. Customs and our international counterparts collect the duty on goods coming into our respective countries. Parcels shipped by Royal Mail arrive at an U.S. Postal Service International Mail Branch, where they are sorted through by US Customs officers. We check the customs declaration forms on each package, scan them, shift them, shake the ones marked "FRAGILE" vigorously, etc and set aside some for further inspection or collection of duty. And we're the ones that send out the notices that duty must be paid.

Most of us don't have problems with tariffs and their collection, it's that FedEx has the practice of charging the highest tariff rate they can try to justify, even if it means using the wrong tariff. And I can say no more than that.

[McClef]

Non-government bodies who assess and collect duties on behalf the national exchequer are acting as unpaid agents of the State and therefore are likely to charge a processing/handling fee for doing so.

The question is whether or not these additional fees are fair and reasonable for the work undertaken and what recourse the recipient has when they charge the wrong duty rate to begin with.

At least with our VAT system we know what rate should be charged here and would have legal recourse if we were charged above that rate.

It sounds as if the US customs services should be investigating the situation, especially if somehow the amount remitted to them is correct when the recipient has been charged a higher rate or even if the overcharge has been remitted to them that the recipient is given the appropriate refund.

[Kiehlroy]

Well, $73.56 later and lighter. I waited as long as possible to pay. The first invoice/bill I received was headed: "Final Demand". I got that just 4 days after I received my kilt! I called them and asked if they could calm down, that I would send payment shortly. A few days later I received an even more impatient letter stating that the next letter would be from a collections agency?! I called again and spoke with someone who said that I had 120 days from first invoice before they use a collections agent. I stated that my invoice was dated Jan 29th and it was only Feb and the letters make it sound like FedEx is going under if they don't get my $73 now. She said it was a mistake and that I had 120 days from first invoice(Jan 29) to pay no prob.

So I waited till April 29th to pay

Kilt is nice though. I'm happy. I still need belt,buckle and sporran and then I'll post pics. All in all the product is as advertised, and Heavy!