Guidance - Simplified rates for bringing personal goods into the UK

Thursday, 13 August 2026 11:10

Find out about the simplified rates of customs and excise duty used when you declare your personal goods online. From: HM Revenue & Customs Published: 7 May 2021 Last updated: 13 August 2026 See all updates Contents Overview Import VAT Goods of EU origin Simplified rates tables Overview If you're bringing personal goods into the UK for your own use, or to be given as a gift and you're...Request free trial

Find out about the simplified rates of customs and excise duty used when you declare your personal goods online.

From: HM Revenue & Customs

Published: 7 May 2021

Last updated: 13 August 2026 See all updates

Contents

Overview

If you're bringing personal goods into the UK for your own use, or to be given as a gift and you're transporting the goods yourself, you can use the online service to:

check your personal allowances
make a declaration
pay any tax or duty due

The online service will calculate the duties owed by using simplified rates of customs and excise duty. This is a quick and easy way to make your declaration, and by using the online service, you can pay any tax or duty due before you arrive in the UK. The rates we use to calculate the duties owed will depend on the type of goods and total value of the goods you're declaring.

By using the online service to declare your goods, you're choosing not to use the customs tariff rates and main Alcohol Duty and Tobacco Products Duty rates to calculate the amount of customs and excise duty you owe.

If you think that using the online service does not give you the best overall outcome for all the goods you're declaring, then you can make an oral declaration to Border Force on arrival in the UK. If you choose to make an oral declaration using the customs tariff rates and main alcohol and tobacco duty rates, they will apply to all the goods you're declaring.

When you enter the value of your goods in a foreign currency, the online service calculates the tax and duty owed using HMRC's exchange rates for customs and VAT. We use the rates that apply at the time you make your declaration.

Import VAT

If you're making an online or oral declaration, you may have to pay import VAT. Import VAT is calculated on the total value of the goods you're declaring plus any customs and excise duty due and is charged at the current UK VAT rate.

Goods of EU origin

If you're travelling from EU countries to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), you may not need to pay any customs duty on goods you're declaring if those goods have been made or produced in the EU. Find more information on bringing personal goods into the UK.

Simplified rates tables

The following tables show the simplified rates used to calculate the Excise duty and Customs duty owed on the different types of goods you can declare. If your goods are of EU origin and you meet the conditions for the preferential rate of customs duty, the rate of customs duty will be 0%.

Alcohol

Description	Simplified rate of excise duty	Simplified rate of customs duty
Beer	95 pence per litre	£0
Still wine	£3.52 per litre	11 pence per litre
Sparkling wine	£3.52 per litre	26 pence per litre
Cider	48 pence per litre	£0
Sparkling cider of an alcoholic strength not exceeding 5.5% alcohol by volume	48 pence per litre	6 pence per litre
Sparkling cider of an alcoholic strength exceeding 5.5% but less than 8.5% alcohol by volume	£1.86 per litre	16 pence per litre
Other fermented products	£3.52 per litre	6 pence per litre
Spirits	£12.75 per litre	£0

Tobacco

Description	Simplified rate of excise duty from 26 November 2025	Simplified rate of excise duty from 1 October 2026	Simplified rate of customs duty (as a percentage of the total value of the item)
Cigarettes	£471.93 per 1,000 cigarettes	£518.75 per 1,000 cigarettes	50%
Hand rolling tobacco	£503.80 per kilogram	£574.30 per kilogram	70%
Other smoking tobacco and chewing tobacco	£193.87 per kilogram	£248.07 per kilogram	70%
Cigars	£440.93 per kilogram	£508.12 per kilogram	25%
Cigarillos	£440.93 per kilogram	£508.12 per kilogram	25%
Tobacco for heating	£109.01 per 1,000 sticks	£127.94 per 1,000 sticks	16%

Alcohol and tobacco upper thresholds

If you go over your personal allowances when bringing personal goods into the UK, you must make a declaration and pay any tax and duty due.

When making a declaration, there are limits to the amount of alcohol and tobacco you can declare using the online service. These limits are known as the upper thresholds'.

If you go over these upper thresholds, you will need to declare all your goods to Border Force when you arrive in the UK.

The following table shows the maximum amounts of alcohol and tobacco you can declare using the online service, when you go over your personal allowances.

Alcoholic beverages and alcohol	Upper threshold
Beer	110 litres
Still wine	90 litres
Sparkling wine	60 litres
Cider	20 litres
Sparkling cider of an alcoholic strength not exceeding 5.5% alcohol by volume	20 litres
Sparkling cider of an alcoholic strength exceeding 5.5% but less than 8.5% alcohol by volume	20 litres
Other fermented products	20 litres
Spirits	10 litres

Tobacco products	Upper threshold
Cigarettes	800 cigarettes
Hand rolling tobacco	1 kilogram
Other smoking tobacco and chewing tobacco	1 kilogram
Cigars	200 cigars
Cigarillos	400 cigarillos
Tobacco for heating	800 sticks

A cigarillo is a cigar weighing no more than 3 grams each.

Other goods

If you're bringing in other goods (non-excise goods) with a total value of over £630, the online service uses the simplified rates shown in the table to calculate the duty due.

If the total value of the other goods declared is £630 or less, the online service uses a 2.5% flat rate to calculate the customs duty on:

clothing
televisions
carpets
fabrics
table and kitchenware
glassware
footwear

However, the online service uses the simplified rate for goods in the remaining categories, which have a duty rate lower than 2.5%.

The simplified rates used to calculate customs duty on other goods are as follows:

Description	Simplified rate of customs duty
Antiques and works of art	0%
Jewellery	2%
Perfume and cosmetics	0%
Televisions	14%
Watches and clocks	2%
Carpets	8%
Fabrics (including embroidery, textiles, tapestry and knitted)	8%
Clothing adult	12%
Clothing children	12%
Footwear	16%
Furniture	0%
Glassware	10%
Computers, tablets, mobile phones and record players	0%
Books or publications, disability equipment, protective helmets	0%
Mobility aids, smoking cessation products, sanitary products, children's car seats	0%
Tableware and kitchenware	8%
All other goods	2%

If your goods do not fall into any of the categories listed, then select the all other goods' option on the online service.