Hey, very good post I know there are lots of questions regarding just this from people on the forum. Heres some more info specific to people in the UK that I think is useful.
If your importing for commercial purposes you must get a TURN (trader's unique reference number) if you are VAT registered or a Pseudo Turn if your not. It is really simple you need to phone one of these numbers Tel: +44 (0) 1792 634004, 634005, 634006, 634007. And they will send you a form and help you fill it in if needed. Can be done on the day but best to get it before your goods are shipped. You still need one if your a sole trader etc as long as you intend to sell the goods, i.e not for personal use.
You will also need a commodity code, which is ten digits long. There are 65,000 different commodity codes. If you are not sure what the code is you can phone +44 (0)1702 366077 between 9.00 and 17.00 Mondays – Fridays.
Once the goods arrive in the UK and HMRC agree with the documentation they will not be cleared until payment is made, if you use the likes of UPS they will pay it on your behalf and then you repay them. You can set up a deferment account with HMRC, this requires a bank guarentee.
To work out the value of goods which you declare you must work out the CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight). So if shipping is included this is just the price you paid for the item. If not it must be added to the total. It also includes any adminstration involved in sending the items to you and also and commission that may have been paid.
If your importing more than £6500 worth of goods, so only about 60 iPods. You have to submit a General Valuation Statements (GVS). This will require you to show how you got to your valuation and prove it. You then have to sign that its correct. They are individualy checked when you submit one.
If for example you purchased your items in US$ HMRC will use a coomon exchange rate, which is changed monthly and can be found here
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...d=EXRATES_2006
Hope some of this is of use.
TARIC code/product code
Ok so we bought 10 units for 900$ and we have invoice: +shipping total price 1000$.So the custom taxes are none but don't be happy we forgot VAT 
. I've added to your rep 
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November 2009
