buying a guitar in usa

[jmck66]

im thinking of buying a guitar in new york ,and my question is would the savings made be lost by the time i get it back to the uk and have to pay duty etc?

[Buenchico]

Only two minutes before you posted this, you'd already got 2 guitars. Are you thinking of getting another one? Is your family forming a rock group? ;-)

You're allowed �145 of gifts, souvenirs, etc, without having to pay tax.

The import duty on guitars is quite low (between 3.2% and 3.7%) but there's also VAT to pay.

I'll assume that the higher rate (3.7%) of import duty applies. I'll also assume that you've already used up your �145 allowance. Lastly, I'll assume an exchange rate of �1 = $2.

So, a guitar bought for $200 (�100) will attract import duty of just �3.70. VAT is charged on the purchase price and on the duty. So the VAT is 17�% of �103.70 = �18.15. So the total to be paid is �3.70 + �18.15 = �21.85. i.e. the total amount payable will be roughly 22% of the purchase price.

Chris

[JK2]

Can't you look at some US prices on line, add 20% import duty + 17.5& vat (if there is VAT on guitars which I guess there is) - that will give you an idea.

[JK2]

I shouldn't even have attempted to answer this one Chris!!!!!

[spudqueen]

I'd contact your airline and check that you won't have a problem flying these home with you. When we went to Florida Mr Spudqueen looked into buying a guitar and the shop said they would ship it home for us. He thankfully didn't buy it in the end, we have enough guitars at home already!

[Narolines]

Having it shipped home is probably a better option than bringing it yourself, but bizarrely it's often cheaper to buy an American-made instrument from a really big dealer in Europe, where all the relevant taxes are already paid and you usually get free delivery as well!