I've arranged for the airfreight import via fedex of a used tablet computer to the UK from Canada. It's required to run a scientific instrument for ~2.5 months on a field campaign in Antarctica. I am leaving in five days. After this I will return it from the UK to Canada.
It's being held up in customs and fedex is asking us to pay ~£250 VAT on it. I'm slowly becoming aware that I should have arranged for a Carnet ATA as it's a temporary export and falls under "professional equipment". But since I haven't and I need the tablet quickly, I'm wondering whether I can just pay the VAT and somehow claim it back when I send the tablet back to Canada?
