Customs value
Customs value is the value of imported goods on which duty and import VAT are calculated — in the UK usually the CIF price at the border.
Last reviewed 16 July 2026.
Customs value is the figure customs uses as the base for charging import duty and import VAT. The primary method is the transaction value: the price actually paid or payable for the goods, adjusted to a defined delivery point. In the UK, that base is generally the CIF value — goods plus freight and insurance to the port or place of entry.
Getting the customs value right matters because duty is a percentage of it and import VAT is charged on it plus the duty. Certain costs must be included (such as royalties or tooling in some cases) and certain costs can be excluded (such as freight incurred after the goods arrive in the UK), so the invoice total is not always the customs value.
Where the transaction value cannot be used, customs falls back through a hierarchy of alternative valuation methods based on identical or similar goods, deductive value, or computed value.
How it affects your landed cost
Customs value is the pivot of the whole landed-cost calculation: duty is a percentage of it and import VAT is charged on it plus that duty, so an error here compounds through both taxes. Because UK customs value is normally the CIF figure, freight and insurance sit inside the taxable base — something our calculator builds in when it works out duty and VAT on your goods.
Calculate your landed costRelated terms
See also
Know your real cost per unit before you order.
Duty, VAT, freight, FX and fees — calculated per SKU in seconds. Free for your first shipments, no card required.