Import VAT UK: Duty, Postponed VAT Accounting & PVA

Short answer: when you import stock into the UK you usually pay customs duty (a percentage set by the goods’ commodity code, often 0% to 12%) and import VAT (normally 20% of the goods’ value plus shipping, insurance and duty). If you’re VAT-registered, postponed VAT accounting lets you put the import VAT on your VAT return instead of paying it at the border, so it costs you nothing in cash. If you’re not registered, import VAT is a real cost you can’t get back.

This guide is for UK online sellers who buy stock from abroad: Alibaba and 1688 suppliers in China, makers and wholesalers in the EU, and Amazon FBA sellers shipping stock into UK warehouses. To estimate the numbers for your own shipment, use our UK import duty calculator, a free customs duty and import tax calculator.

Import VAT and duty at a glance

Your shipment	Customs duty	Import VAT	Who collects it
Stock from China or elsewhere outside the EU, over £135	Rate for the commodity code, often 0% to 12%	20% (or 5% / 0% for reduced and zero-rated goods)	Your freight forwarder, courier or Royal Mail, at import
Stock made in the EU, over £135, with proof of origin	Usually 0% under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement	20%	Courier or forwarder, at import
Stock from an EU supplier but made elsewhere	Full rate for the commodity code	20%	Courier or forwarder, at import
Any consignment of £135 or less (not excise goods)	None, until the relief ends in October 2028	Charged by the seller or marketplace at checkout, or by you under the reverse charge	The seller, or you on your VAT return
You’re VAT-registered and use postponed VAT accounting	Paid at import as normal	Declared and reclaimed on your VAT return	You, on your return
You’re not VAT-registered	Paid at import	Paid at import, and can’t be reclaimed	Courier or forwarder

Figures and rules are current as of 28 October 2026. Watch this date: the Autumn Budget 2026 is today. We’ll update this page if it changes import VAT or the low-value import rules.

How import VAT is calculated

Import VAT is worked out in three steps. The rules are in HMRC’s import VAT guidance and delivery costs to include in the customs value.

Customs value. The price you paid the supplier, plus transport, insurance, loading and handling up to the UK border. If your supplier quotes FOB (free on board at the Chinese port), you add the sea freight and insurance. If they quote CIF, that’s already included. Convert foreign currency using HMRC’s exchange rates.
Customs duty. The customs value multiplied by the duty rate for your goods’ commodity code.
Import VAT. 20% of the VAT value: the customs value, plus the duty, plus incidental costs such as commission, packing, transport and insurance up to the goods’ first destination in the UK. That can include haulage from the port to your unit if it’s known when the goods are imported.

So, in short:

Import VAT = (customs value + duty + costs to first UK destination) × 20%

The VAT rate follows the goods. Children’s clothes and books are zero-rated, so they carry 0% import VAT, and children’s car seats carry 5%. See UK VAT rates by product.

Import duty UK: customs duty and commodity codes

Every product has a 10-digit commodity code (the international HS code with UK digits added) in the UK Trade Tariff. The code sets the duty rate, and whether you need a licence. Getting it wrong is the most common reason sellers pay the wrong duty. Use our commodity code finder to find yours.

Some typical UK import duty rates for goods from countries without a UK trade deal, such as China, from the UK Trade Tariff on 28 October 2026:

Product	Example commodity code	Third-country duty	Made in the EU, with proof of origin
Cotton T-shirts	6109 10 00 10	12%	0%
Stoneware tableware and mugs	6912 00 23 10	4%	0%
Imitation jewellery	7117 19 00 90	4%	0%
Handbags with a plastic outer	4202 22 10 00	8%	0%
Candles	3406 00 00 00	0%	0%
Make-up and skincare	3304 99 00 00	0%	0%

Treat these as examples: the right code depends on the exact material and construction, and some goods also carry anti-dumping duties. Look up your own product before you order.

Clothing tends to carry some of the highest UK duty import rates: cotton T-shirts are 12%. Many cosmetics and candles are 0%, but you still pay import VAT on them.

Importing from the EU: the Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Since 1 January 2021, goods from the EU are imports, just like goods from China. Import tax from the EU to the UK works like this:

Import VAT is always due (at the goods’ UK rate) on consignments over £135. Your EU supplier should zero-rate the sale as an export and not charge their own VAT.
Customs duty is usually 0%, but only for goods that originate in the EU or UK under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement rules of origin. Goods have to be made, or sufficiently processed, in the EU.
You need proof. The usual proof is a statement on origin: set wording the EU supplier adds to the invoice. For consignments over €6,000, the supplier also needs a registered exporter (REX) number. Alternatively you can claim on “importer’s knowledge” if you hold the supplier’s production details.
EU-shipped isn’t EU-made. Phone cases made in China and sent from a Dutch warehouse pay the full third-country duty.
Keep your origin evidence for 4 years.

If your EU supplier won’t provide a statement on origin, assume you’ll pay the full duty rate.

Orders of £135 or less

Small consignments follow different rules (VAT and overseas goods sold directly to customers in the UK):

The overseas seller or marketplace charges UK VAT at checkout, not the courier at the border. That’s why buying small orders on AliExpress or Temu usually means no charge on delivery.
If you’re VAT-registered, give the seller your UK VAT number. They then shouldn’t charge VAT, and you account for it on your own VAT return under the reverse charge, reclaiming it in the same return.
The £135 is per consignment, based on the price of the goods. Transport and insurance are excluded unless they’re included in the price and not shown separately.
No customs duty on non-excise consignments of £135 or less, for now. The government has announced it will end this relief in October 2028, six months earlier than first planned.

Gifts and samples

Gifts have their own rules, but they only apply between private individuals: a birthday present from a relative abroad, not stock or free samples from a supplier. VAT isn’t charged on genuine gifts worth £39 or less. Above £39 you pay VAT, and above £135 customs duty may be due (tax and duty on goods sent from abroad).

A supplier who marks a commercial shipment as a “gift” to avoid charges is making a false declaration. You’re the importer, so ask them not to.

Courier and Royal Mail handling fees

When duty or import VAT is due on a parcel, Royal Mail, Parcelforce or the courier pays it to HMRC for you and sends you a bill before delivery. On top of the tax they add their own handling or clearance fee. Each carrier sets its own fee, and couriers usually charge VAT on it. Check your carrier’s current fee before you order: on a small parcel it can be bigger than the tax.

If you don’t pay, the parcel is usually held for about 3 weeks and then sent back.

For bigger shipments by sea or air, a freight forwarder or customs broker makes the customs declaration for you in HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS) and charges a clearance fee. That fee carries VAT you can reclaim if you’re registered.

Postponed VAT accounting (PVA)

Postponed VAT accounting, often shortened to PVA VAT or just postponed VAT, lets a VAT-registered business account for import VAT on its VAT return instead of paying it at the border. You declare the VAT as output tax and reclaim it as input tax in the same return. For a fully taxable business, the two cancel out: no cash leaves your account.

Who can use postponed VAT accounting?

According to HMRC’s PVA guidance:

You must be VAT-registered in the UK.
The goods must be for your business, and you must have the right to dispose of them.
It covers imports into Great Britain from anywhere outside the UK, including the EU. For Northern Ireland, it covers imports from outside the UK and EU.
You don’t need approval. There’s no application.
It’s optional. You can choose it shipment by shipment.

How to claim PVA on an import

Have an EORI number starting with GB linked to your business. See EORI numbers.
Tell your courier, forwarder or customs agent in writing that you want to use postponed VAT accounting. They must have this before they make the declaration. Keep a copy of what you sent.
They put your VAT number on the import declaration. The choice can’t be changed once the declaration is submitted.
Pay any customs duty as normal. PVA only postpones the VAT, not the duty.
Download your monthly postponed import VAT statement from CDS (see below).
Fill in your VAT return from the statement.

Royal Mail can’t use PVA for postal parcels over £135: you pay the import VAT when the parcel arrives and reclaim it later. Royal Mail’s commercial (non-postal) services can use PVA if you ask.

Monthly postponed import VAT statements

Every month HMRC publishes a statement showing the import VAT you postponed in the previous month. Get your postponed import VAT statement through the Customs Declaration Service. You need to subscribe to CDS first.

When: usually available by the 10th working day of the month
How long: only 6 months from publication. Download and keep every statement
Evidence: the statement is your evidence for the box 4 reclaim, so file it with your VAT records

PVA on your VAT return: boxes 1, 4 and 7

HMRC’s VAT return guidance for import VAT says, for the period covering the date you imported the goods:

Box	What to include
Box 1	The import VAT postponed in the period, from your statement
Box 4	The same import VAT, reclaimed as input tax (if you’re entitled to reclaim it all)
Box 7	The total value of the imported goods, excluding VAT

If you’re on the Flat Rate Scheme, add the postponed import VAT to box 1 after doing your flat rate calculation.

If you’re not VAT-registered

Most small sellers who import their first stock aren’t registered yet. If that’s you:

You pay import VAT and duty upfront to the courier, Royal Mail or forwarder before they release the goods.
You can’t use PVA, and you can’t reclaim the VAT.
Import VAT is part of your cost of stock. Build it into your landed cost and your prices.
Keep your C79 certificates or carrier invoices anyway. If you register later, you can usually reclaim VAT on stock bought in the 4 years before registration that you still hold. See backdating VAT registration.

Your imports don’t count towards the £90,000 VAT threshold. Only your sales do.

C79 certificates vs postponed import VAT statements

	C79 import VAT certificate	Postponed import VAT statement
Shows	Import VAT you paid at the border	Import VAT you postponed to your VAT return
Who gets it	The importer whose EORI is on the declaration	VAT-registered importers using PVA
Where	CDS	CDS
When	Usually by the 10th working day of the month	Usually by the 10th working day of the month
Available for	6 months	6 months
On your VAT return	Box 4 only (you’ve already paid)	Box 1 and box 4

A courier’s invoice showing the VAT they paid for you isn’t the same as a C79. If your goods went through a courier on their own EORI or under DDP terms, the import VAT may not be in your name at all, and you can’t reclaim it.

Watch out for DDP quotes. Some Alibaba suppliers and forwarders offer “DDP” (delivered duty paid) shipping, where they act as importer and pay the duty and VAT. It’s convenient, but the import VAT isn’t yours to reclaim, and you have little visibility of what was declared. If you’re VAT-registered, importing in your own name with PVA is usually cheaper.

You need an EORI number

You need an EORI number starting with GB to import goods into Great Britain as a business. Your forwarder or courier will ask for it before they clear anything. It’s free to apply on gov.uk. Our EORI number guide covers when you need an XI number for Northern Ireland as well.

Worked example: £2,000 of T-shirts from China by sea

Priya runs a Shopify clothing brand from Manchester and is VAT-registered. She orders 400 plain cotton T-shirts from an Alibaba supplier at £5.00 each, FOB Ningbo, so £2,000 of goods. The commodity code is 6109 10 00 10, with 12% duty.

Item	Amount
Goods (400 × £5.00)	£2,000.00
Sea freight and insurance to Felixstowe	£320.00
Customs value	£2,320.00
Customs duty: £2,320.00 × 12%	£278.40
Haulage from Felixstowe to her unit (known at import)	£80.00
VAT value: £2,320.00 + £278.40 + £80.00	£2,678.40
Import VAT: £2,678.40 × 20%	£535.68

With postponed VAT accounting, Priya’s forwarder pays the £278.40 of duty (and bills her for it, plus their clearance fee). The £535.68 of import VAT appears on her monthly statement. On her VAT return she puts £535.68 in box 1, £535.68 in box 4 and £2,678.40 in box 7. Net VAT cost: £0.

Without PVA, she pays £278.40 + £535.68 = £814.08 at import and reclaims the £535.68 on her next return. That’s over £500 of cash tied up until her VAT return is filed and HMRC repays or offsets it.

If she weren’t VAT-registered, the £535.68 would be a permanent cost:

	VAT-registered (with PVA)	Not VAT-registered
Goods, freight, haulage	£2,400.00	£2,400.00
Duty	£278.40	£278.40
Import VAT (not recovered)	£0.00	£535.68
Landed cost	£2,678.40	£3,214.08
Per T-shirt	£6.70	£8.04

Before the forwarder’s clearance fee. Her supplier invoices in US dollars, so she converts using HMRC’s exchange rate for the month of import, not her bank’s rate.

Worked example: a £600 order from an EU maker

Sam sells homeware on Etsy from Cardiff. He orders £600 of stoneware mugs from a pottery in Portugal that makes them in its own workshop, with £45 courier delivery. The commodity code is 6912 00 23 10: 4% third-country duty, 0% for EU-origin goods.

With a statement on origin on the invoice:

Customs value: £600 + £45 = £645.00
Duty: £0 (EU origin, TCA preference)
Import VAT: £645.00 × 20% = £129.00

Without proof of origin:

Duty: £645.00 × 4% = £25.80
VAT value: £645.00 + £25.80 = £670.80
Import VAT: £670.80 × 20% = £134.16
Total: £25.80 + £134.16 = £159.96

Sam isn’t VAT-registered. So the courier pays HMRC and bills him £129.00 (with origin proof) plus their handling fee before delivering, and he can’t reclaim it. If he were registered and had told the courier in writing to use PVA, he’d pay only the courier’s fee at the door, and the £129.00 would go in boxes 1 and 4 of his return.

The pottery shouldn’t charge Portuguese VAT on top: an export to the UK is zero-rated in Portugal. If you see EU VAT on an invoice for goods shipped to the UK, ask the supplier to correct it.

Common import mistakes

Using the wrong commodity code, so you pay too much duty, or too little and get a bill later
Leaving freight out of the customs value, or adding UK-side costs to it (they belong in the VAT value, not the customs value)
Assuming EU goods are duty-free without a statement on origin
Not telling the courier you want PVA before they declare, so you pay the VAT upfront
Not downloading statements and C79s within 6 months
Accepting DDP shipping when you’re VAT-registered and could reclaim the VAT yourself
Letting suppliers declare stock as gifts or under-value invoices

GoodVat and import VAT

GoodVat isn’t a customs broker: your forwarder or courier still makes the customs declaration and pays the duty. What we handle is the VAT side once your stock is in the UK. GoodVat tracks your sales against the £90,000 VAT threshold across Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Amazon, Etsy, Square, Stripe and PayPal, registers you when you need to be, calculates the right VAT on every sale, and files your Making Tax Digital VAT returns, including the postponed import VAT figures from your monthly statements. If you sell abroad, we watch EU and US thresholds too.

FAQ

How is import VAT calculated in the UK?

Import VAT is 20% of the VAT value of the goods for most products. The VAT value is the customs value (the price you paid plus shipping and insurance to the UK border), plus any customs duty, plus other costs such as UK transport to your premises if they’re known at the time of import. Children’s clothes, books and other zero-rated goods carry 0% import VAT.

What is postponed VAT accounting?

Postponed VAT accounting (PVA) lets a UK VAT-registered business account for import VAT on its VAT return instead of paying it at the border. You declare the import VAT in box 1 and reclaim it in box 4 of the same return, so for most businesses the net cost is nil and there’s no cash tied up. You don’t need HMRC’s approval to use it.

Can I use postponed VAT accounting if I’m not VAT-registered?

No. Only UK VAT-registered businesses can use postponed VAT accounting. If you’re not registered, you pay import VAT and any duty to the courier, Royal Mail or your freight forwarder before the goods are released, and you can’t reclaim the VAT.

Do you pay import tax on goods from the EU to the UK?

You pay import VAT on most goods from the EU, the same as from anywhere else. Customs duty is usually nil on goods that originate in the EU, because of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, but only if they meet the rules of origin and you hold proof, such as a statement on origin on the invoice. Goods made in China and shipped from an EU warehouse don’t qualify.

Do I pay import VAT on orders under £135?

Not at the border. For consignments worth £135 or less, the overseas seller or online marketplace charges UK VAT at checkout instead. If you’re VAT-registered and give the seller your VAT number, they don’t charge VAT and you account for it yourself under the reverse charge. Customs duty isn’t charged on non-excise consignments of £135 or less, although the government plans to end that relief in October 2028.

What is the difference between a C79 and a postponed import VAT statement?

A C79 import VAT certificate shows import VAT you actually paid at the border, and is your evidence for reclaiming it. A monthly postponed import VAT statement shows import VAT you chose to account for on your VAT return instead. Both are downloaded from the Customs Declaration Service, are usually available by the 10th working day of the month, and stay online for only 6 months.

Do I need an EORI number to import goods?

Yes. You need an EORI number starting with GB to import goods into Great Britain as a business. Your courier or freight forwarder will ask for it before they clear your goods through customs. It’s free to apply for on gov.uk.

UK import duty calculator: estimate duty and import VAT on your next shipment
Commodity code finder: find the right UK Trade Tariff code for your goods
EORI numbers for online sellers: when you need one and how to apply
UK VAT rates for online sellers: the VAT rate that applies to your products
VAT threshold monitoring: track your sales towards the £90,000 threshold
Selling on Amazon UK: tax and VAT checklist for Amazon and FBA sellers
How to register for VAT: register so you can reclaim import VAT