Guide for the international trader

[enki_ck]

Due to this being an international forum and packages changing hands often, not only Christmas, I thought it would be nice to have a reference thread for people to familiarize themselves on the international customs regulations. Not only for our Christmas gifts but the trade that go on here throughout the year.

So post your countries regulation or correct if anything I wrote was wrong (I used info I could find on the forums on this subject and some of it may have changed).
 
Croatia:
You pay customs if an Item is marked at $50 or more including postage if it’s a gift. If you bought something it’s $27. You have to pay 12-25% (depending in the item) customs fees on the item + shipping and an extra 23% VAT + $4 for the postman to bring them the money back. So the formula is: (item+shipping)x1.12)x1.23+$4. And sometimes if you're unlucky and your item arrives during holidays they charge you for storage.
 
Norway:
Everything above $33 for a purchased item(including the shipping cost), you have to pay 25% VAT, sometimes Custom depending on the products and on top of this; $12 and up to $18 in fee just to have the paperwork done. If the stuff is from a friend and is a gift then the limit is 170$. The customs fee is 20$
 
Finland:
If the value of the package is less than 45 Euros or so ($58), it's free of customs. If it's worth more than that, the VAT is 22% (soon it will be 23%) for most things, it's less for some stuff, e.g. books. And then there's a variable tax, which depends on what you have bought, generally 3-10%.
 

Serbia:
You pay customs fees and VAT on everything above 50 Euro ($65) including postage if you bought something from a store or 75 Euro (98$) if a private person sends you something as a gift.

Portugal:

Packages up to 45€ ($58) are free from custom duties, however there is NO VAT exemption in any case.

The final formula will be: X * VAT + re-expedition cost, where X is (PACKAGE VALUE + PACKAGE PORTS + PACKAGE INSURANCE) * CUSTOM DUTY PERCENTAGE + SOME LEGAL STUFF THAT GIVES AROUND 3 to 4 EUR. Receiving ANYTHING from any non-EU country by mail always have the risk of getting caught by customs, no matter its value.

 
Canada:
If the value of the item is below $100, it’s free of customs fees.


United Kingdom:

Customs Duty is payable if the value of the gift exceeds £135, but will be waived if the amount of duty is £9 or under. Import VAT is payable if the value of the gift exceeds £40 ($62).(Mods, please remove if against the rules or if posted in the wrong section) I posted it here cause it seemed fit, and it could be a nice sticky)

[Medic82]

The 30$ limit in Norway, well 33$ at the moment, is for goods that you have purchased. If the stuff is from a friend and is a gift then the limit is 170$. The customs fee is 20$


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[user24]

it could be a nice sticky)

nice work

[enki_ck]

nice work

It was badwolf's idea, I just did the leg/mouse work.

The 30$ limit in Norway, well 33$ at the moment, is for goods that you have purchased. If the stuff is from a friend and is a gift then the limit is 170$. The customs fee is 20$


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Thanks, edited.

[Carlos]

Portugal status for online trade, particular to particular, without commercial purpose:

* packages from EU members are NOT subject to customs;
* everything else, no matter what value, gift status, or whatever, is subject to customs.

The customs apply mainly 2 kinds of costs:
- custom duties: a % defined by EU specific to each kind of product;
- VAT, that's 23% for the general case.

Packages up to 45€ are free from custom duties, however there is NO VAT exemption in any case (contrary to some urban myths running around).

The final formula will be: X * VAT + re-expedition cost, where X is (PACKAGE VALUE + PACKAGE PORTS + PACKAGE INSURANCE) * CUSTOM DUTY PERCENTAGE + SOME LEGAL JUNK THAT GIVES AROUND 3 to 4 EUR

Some notes:
* marking the package as gift or anything else is useless: customs don't care;
* declaring a small value, "covering" it with more postage cost is useless: custom's sum all price items they can get before apply taxes;
* to find the package value, customs may open it to search for billing information;
* if there is no indication of package value, they ask the destination end to send them the value;
* if even so they think that value is incorrect, they can arbitrate the value they think the package is worth.
* they always use the better to them conversion, for example, if I get a 55 USD package, they use 55 EUROS for the value (they should use about 42), but if I get a 55 GBP they make the conversion to 65 EUROS;
- if they note some pattern, i.e. if they note that I'm receiving international packages too frequently, they can retain them all together and charge them as one.

Having said that, receiving ANYTHING from any non-EU country by mail always have the risk of getting caught by customs, no matter its value.

I have empirically found that if the package is small (in size), has a small declared value and was sent with regular mail (non priority stuff), it tends to pass free, though.

[enki_ck]

Thanks Carlos for the info and I feel your pain. They sometimes do the arbitrary value here too. And I got warned from them that they would declare me an importer of goods if I continue to receive so many packages from abroad. (If I get more than 6 a month, they can charge me for every single one even if the value of it is $1) 


I'm cross threading this on EDCF to gather as much data as possible.

[enki_ck]

Just heard back from Vladimir. The laws in Serbia changed recently so it's now a bit better I edited the first post with new data.

[edcgear]

Thanks Enki!!

Hvala!

[rayraychil]

Great Job there buddy this will be very useful for future trades/swaps and of course xmas pools !

[nuphoria]

The UK duties depend on where the package is coming from - I think your post shows the EU charges?

The limits are a lot lower if you are receiving from the US etc... I think it's $30 for a purchase and $40 for a gift roughly. Then we also get stung for an extra £8 from the PO (or whatever they are currently trying to justify as "handling fees").

[cerbera147]

The UK duties depend on where the package is coming from - I think your post shows the EU charges?

The limits are a lot lower if you are receiving from the US etc... I think it's $30 for a purchase and $40 for a gift roughly. Then we also get stung for an extra £8 from the PO (or whatever they are currently trying to justify as "handling fees").

Definitely not £135; wish it was 

I ordered goods from Saddleback totalling $82 / £53 not including shipping. Got stung for £18 

Great thread 

[enki_ck]

The UK duties depend on where the package is coming from - I think your post shows the EU charges?

The limits are a lot lower if you are receiving from the US etc... I think it's $30 for a purchase and $40 for a gift roughly. Then we also get stung for an extra £8 from the PO (or whatever they are currently trying to justify as "handling fees").

I was going by this:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/buying.htm#3

Specificity 

All other goods
If you order or send purchased goods other than alcohol, tobacco, perfume and toilet water from a country outside the EU then you:
 

• don't have to pay Excise Duty
• may have to pay Customs Duty on goods with a value that exceeds £135
• will have to pay Import VAT on goods with a value that exceeds £15

Note that on all goods from outside the EU, Customs Duty is waived if the amount of duty calculated is £9 or under.

But as I'm not in the UK I don't know all the little regulations that only the ones that have experienced it know.


That's why I started this thread. To get educated.

[enki_ck]

New info

Finland:
 If the value of the package is less than 45 Euros or so ($58), it's free of customs. If it's worth more than that, the VAT is 23%  for most things, it's less for some stuff, e.g. books. And then there's a variable tax, which depends on what you have bought, generally 3-10%.
 If the VAT or the import tax is less than 10 Euros, they won't collect it. So 10/0,23 = 43,47€ or less and you won't have to pay the VAT. Same with the other taxes, but they are more variable so there's no exact amount. Postage is included in the value for the VAT, but not for the import tax. And curiously, the below 10 Euros rule is applied separately to both, so often you have to pay the VAT but not the import tax.
 
 The VAT for books is 8% or 9% I think, and for foodstuffs it's something like 13% IIRC. But for "things" it's 23%.

Germany:
 All packages from outside of the EU are free of VAT and customs fees to up to 22€ (Shipping expenses included). The packages from outside the EU are free of customs fees till up to 150€, but you have to pay the german VAT - 19%. For packages above the 150€ limit you have to pay the customs fees and VAT. Customs fees differ depending on the content, but it's roughly a third of the value of the package. The Gift label on the package is irrelevant, cause the customs officers know it often isn't true. There is a rule though that you can get gifts up to 45€.

[Carlos]

I've seen a lot of "familiar" figures on UE member countries, which I believe are not just coincidence. The international trade on UE countries is defined by UE directives. As such they should be common to all UE members.

There are two different "costs" to observe: the custom duties and the import VAT. The custom duties is common to all UE and it's revenue is income to the UE and not to the country itself (that is my understanding), while the VAT application is subject to each country and it's revenue is to the country.

The common directives say:
- particular to particular packages may be exempt* of custom duties up to 45€
- business to particular packages may be exempt* of custom duties up to 150€
(note how these two numbers have appeared before for other UE countries)

* "may be exempt" means as defined by the CEE regulation 1186/2009


As for VAT, which is the biggest burden after all, my guess is that each state can define its own limits. The portuguese case defines a 22€ limit which benefits from VAT exemption, BUT this limit is not applicable to mail orders, which includes electronic commerce. Because of this, AND because small value packages usually are not processed by customs, many people wrongly believes that packages up to 22€ are exempt from VAT.

This is an official resume the portuguese authorities have "prepared": http://www.dgaiec.min-financas.pt/pt/informacao_aduaneira/encomendas_contrafaccao/
It cuts most of legal blah blah and points to the concrete laws.
Note that while the custom duties regulations points to CEE/UE documents, VAT stuff points to local laws.

[AHB]

Denmark
The limit is $16 for purchased goods. Everything above is hit with 12% custom + 25% VAT + $30 "handling" fee.. 
The limit for gifts is around $60.