Does import fee applies to wedding dress bought overseas before moving to UK?

I moved to London early November 2023. I ordered a wedding dress in person in Canada shortly before my move (October 2023) and is recently ready and shipped to London for me to fit. The wedding dress is for my wedding in Aug 2024 in Canada. The dress will therefore only be in the UK for fitting and in less than 3 months it will be brought to Canada and stay there permanently. I have also applied for ToR and was approved when I moved here. UPS has been billing me over £1000 for import fees for the dress, I wonder if those fee truely applies in this situation?

Hi Charley.P,
Goods have incurred customs charges as there was no relief claimed at the time the customs declarations were filled.
If the dress is coming into UK temporarily, temporary admission relief is used in such scenarios.
You can now pay the charges and look into reclaiming it back using C285 form, more information on below link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-apply-for-a-repayment-of-import-duty-and-vat-if-youve-overpaid-c285
Thank you.