CustomsLookup
🇬🇧

Importing to United Kingdom

Customs duty, VAT, and import regulations, updated 2026

Import tax
20%
Import VAT, standard rate
Low-value rule
GBP 135
Tariff system
10-digit UK Trade Tariff commodity codes
Last verified 2 September 2026. Figures below are checked against HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Key facts at a glance

Customs authority
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
Low-value rule
GBP 135
Import tax
20%. Import VAT, standard rate
Duty this site serves
0% to 16% across 110 codes
Code system
10-digit UK Trade Tariff commodity codes
Currency
GBP

The low value rule

GBP 135, relieving customs duty.

The threshold is tested against the price of the goods alone.

  • the goods are not excise goods, so no alcohol, tobacco or fuel

Import VAT is a separate charge and is not relieved. On a purchase at or under this value the seller normally charges it at checkout.

Source: HMRC, Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad, on gov.uk. Compare every market →

Low value imports: the £135 duty relief is going

A consignment at or under £135 still arrives free of customs duty. Draft legislation amending the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 withdraws that relief on a day the Treasury appoints by statutory instrument, by October 2028 at the latest, and no instrument has been made. What is charged below the threshold afterwards has not been published anywhere, so this site quotes no figure for it. Verified 2 September 2026. What is decided and what is not →

What this site prices into the United Kingdom

This site holds 110 duty rows for the United Kingdom, read from its own tariff schedule, and they run from 0% to 16%. 44 of them carry no duty at all. A further 10 codes are charged per unit rather than on value, so no percentage prices them and this guide does not try.

For comparison, the simple average MFN rate across all products is 3.8% on the 2025 profile. That is the figure the calculator falls back to where this site holds no row for the code you asked about. Source: WTO Tariff and Trade Data, United Kingdom member profile: simple average MFN applied 2025, all products.

A worked shipment into the United Kingdom

090121, coffee, roasted, not decaffeinated, invoiced at GBP 2,000.00 and shipped to the United Kingdom. Duty at 6%.

GoodsGBP 2,000.00
FreightGBP 120.00
InsuranceGBP 30.00
Customs dutyGBP 129.00
Import tax at 0%GBP 0.00
Landed costGBP 2,279.00

The tax on this line is 0% rather than the 20% standard rate, because that is the rate this code carries in the United Kingdom. A standard rate is not the rate on every commodity.

The consignment above is over GBP 135, so its duty is charged in full. The same code invoiced at exactly GBP 135 with no freight would be charged GBP 0.00 of duty and GBP 0.00 of tax.

Priced with the same function the duty calculator answers with, so this total is reproducible. See the full table for 090121 →

What this site does not price into the United Kingdom

19 of the codes this site carries have no United Kingdom figure, and each says so on its own page rather than showing an estimate. The reasons, from the verification registry:

  • 12 because the schedule splits the subheading into lines that do not share one rate.
  • 4 because neither official reading completed.
  • 3 because only one of the two official readings completed.

180620, 420212, 420219, 420222, 420232, 420292, 611241, 640399 and 11 more.

Selling into the United Kingdom rather than buying?

The same tariff, the same shipment, and the five questions a seller has instead of a buyer's. The exporter's guide to the United Kingdom →

2026 tariff update

The Border Target Operating Model is fully in force, and safety and security declarations have been required on EU imports since 31 January 2025. The government confirmed on 13 July 2026 that the £135 customs duty relief will be removed by October 2028. A UK to EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement is intended to take effect in mid 2027 and would remove routine border checks and health certificates on most agrifood movements with the EU. The UK India trade agreement entered into force on 15 July 2026.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Last verified 2 September 2026 (2026-09-02).

Overview

Since Brexit, the UK operates its own UK Global Tariff (UKGT), separate from the EU. Goods from the EU generally enter at 0% duty under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), provided they meet Rules of Origin requirements. Import VAT at 20% is due on imports above £135 and is collected at the border. For a consignment of £135 or less the VAT is charged at the point of sale instead: the overseas seller, or the online marketplace where one is involved, must register for UK VAT with HMRC and charge it at checkout. The UK is not in the EU Import One Stop Shop and there is no UK equivalent of it, so an IOSS number does nothing for a parcel going to Great Britain.

Import process

1. A safety and security declaration, also called an entry summary declaration, is filed before arrival. This has applied to EU imports as well as the rest of the world since 31 January 2025, on a reduced dataset of 20 mandatory fields 2. Goods arrive at a UK port such as Heathrow, Felixstowe or Dover 3. The customs declaration is submitted through the Customs Declaration Service. Authorised traders can use the Simplified Customs Declaration Process instead, filing a simplified frontier declaration or an entry in the declarant's records first and a supplementary declaration afterwards 4. Animal products, plants and high risk food and feed need pre-notification on IPAFFS and may be inspected at a Border Control Post 5. Customs duty is calculated on the CIF value. Import VAT is charged on the customs value including freight and insurance plus the duty, together with any excise and the incidental costs to the place of delivery, and both are paid before release 6. VAT-registered businesses reclaim import VAT on their next return

Practical tips

Get an EORI number before importing commercially
EU goods: claim 0% TCA rate with a supplier declaration proving EU origin
Use Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) to account for import VAT on your VAT return
Duty Deferment Account lets you pay monthly rather than per shipment
Selling into the UK from abroad at £135 or less: register for UK VAT and charge it at checkout. An EU IOSS registration does not cover Great Britain
Pre-notify animal, plant and high risk food consignments on IPAFFS. PEACH was closed permanently in April 2024 and is no longer an option for plant imports

Restricted and prohibited goods

Endangered species (CITES), certain food products without UK import licence, firearms, counterfeit goods

What to re-check first

Each claim on this page was checked against a published source on 2 September 2026. These are the items most likely to have moved since.

Duty relief

October 2028 is the outer deadline the government has committed to, not a fixed commencement date. The draft legislation published on 13 July 2026 is the thing to re-read before you plan around it.

EU border checks

The UK to EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement is intended for mid 2027 and would remove most of the certificate and inspection burden described here. Detailed guidance was promised for autumn 2026.

Low value VAT

The government is still assessing whether VAT on low value imports should move from point of sale to the border alongside the customs change. Nothing has been decided.

Duty range

The 0% to 16% range above is the span of the codes this site prices into the United Kingdom, not a band for the UK Global Tariff as a whole, which this site does not read end to end. Check your own commodity code in the UK Integrated Online Tariff rather than relying on a range.

Calculate duty for the United Kingdom

Get an instant estimate for any product shipped to the United Kingdom.

Other countries

All countries →

Common HS codes

Full HS directory →

Quick links