New Import Duty/VAT Thread. Read Post #1 for Rules Updated 10/9/2024

homer911

Am I correct in thinking books are not subject to VAT and if my total book purchases including shipping are less than €150 then no duty or VAT is applicable (when purchasing from outside the EU)?

Thanks

Collibosher

corblimey wrote: »

I know that a UPS guy will arrive at my door any day now with his hand out, so does anyone know if they'll accept a cheque or even a credit card. I contacted UPS customer services and got a quite confusing answer, so I'd appreciate any personal experiences.

I've had deliveries from UPS (and DHL) and they've always sent me on a bill for any duty/vat/service fees a week or so after delivery.

They've never been particularly high bills, so maybe if it's a large amount they look for payment upfront.

bri007

I bought 2 books on play.com, they are coming from the usa. The total cost was 35euro for the two college books. Is there any VAT or DUTY due on these?

rubadub

No VAT on books, not sure about duty but they are below the €150 limit for duty.

brady23

Can you argue the amount of tax on your goods if you can produce an invoice for them?
I am due delivery on sporting goods which I picked up very cheap and am worried I'm going to pay way more than what is actually owed?

Jarren

How much did you pay including shipping ?

brady23

Jarren wrote: »

How much did you pay including shipping ?

Paid like 211e including shippage so I figure it will be around the 65e+ ups handling of 5-15e

corblimey

Collibosher wrote: »

I've had deliveries from UPS (and DHL) and they've always sent me on a bill for any duty/vat/service fees a week or so after delivery.

They've never been particularly high bills, so maybe if it's a large amount they look for payment upfront.

In case anyone finds this thread, the local UPS called me the morning when the package was sent out in their van (it took about another 6 hours to get to me), and told me how much was due. They were then able to take my credit card and pay up front, so the receptionist at work just signed for it without issue. The box had a big COD sticker on it, so I suspect they wouldn't have left it with her if I hadn't paid up front. It was due over 80 quid, in case as Collibosher says, it's a threshold thing.

Lazy Bhoy

A friend of mine told me that I would not have to bay duty or VAT on an item that I purchased abroad which could not be purchased here.

With that in mind, I then ordered a DVD box set from Amazon.com which was region 1. This DVD set was never made in region 2.

The DVD set plus postage was valued at 33.99 euros which led to a 13.77 euros charge (inc An Post charge)

So is there any truth to my friends statement or was he talking nonsense?

Lucky enough it is not a huge charge but it would be nice to know for future reference.

Beano

Lazy Bhoy wrote: »

A friend of mine told me that I would not have to bay duty or VAT on an item that I purchased abroad which could not be purchased here.

With that in mind, I then ordered a DVD box set from Amazon.com which was region 1. This DVD set was never made in region 2.

The DVD set plus postage was valued at 33.99 euros which led to a 13.77 euros charge (inc An Post charge)

So is there any truth to my friends statement or was he talking nonsense?

Lucky enough it is not a huge charge but it would be nice to know for future reference.

I'm afraid your friend is spouting nonsense.

Lazy Bhoy

Beano wrote: »

I'm afraid your friend is spouting nonsense.

Cheers Beano

I thought as much.

Lucky enough I didn't go mad and order a heap of stuff and so learned a small inexpensive lesson.

Mr.T05

Hi

I am living in Australia and am moving home soon. I have quite a bit of electronic, hard drives and a tablet and a few other things. These are used and I don't have receipts for them. If I post them to Ireland do I have to pay import tax on them?

Thanks

househero

Mr.T05 wrote: »

Hi

I am living in Australia and am moving home soon. I have quite a bit of electronic, hard drives and a tablet and a few other things. These are used and I don't have receipts for them. If I post them to Ireland do I have to pay import tax on them?

Thanks

Post them from OZ???? That will cost a bomb and you will have to insure the parcel. Don't bring back your summer clothes (you won't need them here) fill your suitcase with your expensive electronics and leave behind your cheaper clothes.

househero

If goods are declared as being worth 44 euro, the vat due at 13.5% would be 5.94 (under the threshold of 6 euro for collection of VAT)

Does that mean they wouldn't charge you the 5.94 due, and you wouldn't have to pay the an post/fed ex handling charges???

I'm looking to buy something (art) from America and the postage is 'free'... I don't know if that's what would be written on the customs declaration, or If it would say the actual shipping charge too.

Mr.T05

househero wrote: »

Post them from OZ???? That will cost a bomb and you will have to insure the parcel. Don't bring back your summer clothes (you won't need them here) fill your suitcase with your expensive electronics and leave behind your cheaper clothes.

I get free post through work

househero

Mr.T05 wrote: »

I get free post through work

Post your clothes then and bring your expensive potentially taxable (if posted) items in your luggage, unless your flying back with ryanair you should have plenty of room.

...hold up, I just read your name. Are you planning on importing big gold chains without declaring their value MR.T?


I pity the fool

rubadub

househero wrote: »

If goods are declared as being worth 44 euro, the vat due at 13.5% would be 5.94 (under the threshold of 6 euro for collection of VAT)

Does that mean they wouldn't charge you the 5.94 due, and you wouldn't have to pay the an post/fed ex handling charges???

I believe this is the case, there should be no charges at all, thats if they agree it is 13.5%.

househero wrote: »

I'm looking to buy something (art) from America and the postage is 'free'... I don't know if that's what would be written on the customs declaration, or If it would say the actual shipping charge too.

The postage is of course not free, there will usually be a price they can see on the stamps or franking machine thing, or on the invoice. This is the problem with this "free postage" nonsense, its included postage, and if they split up the invoice to show the true price they can charge the proper amount.

However your case is unusual as the say the item is really €34 and post is €10. Now the VAT on that €10 is at 23% and so pushes you over the €6 limit.

embraer170

A friend in the US has managed to order a pair of Google Glass. Any ideas for what's the best way to minimise my exposure to Irish duty when the product is posted on to me in Ireland.

According to http://www.dutycalculator.com

Price: $1605
Shipping and insurance to Ireland: $110 (my guess)
Total customs value (CIF): €1261.72
- Duty: €0.00
- VAT: €290.20
Total import duty & taxes due: €290.20

Is the 0 duty too optimistic?

whiterebel

Mr.T05 wrote: »

Hi

I am living in Australia and am moving home soon. I have quite a bit of electronic, hard drives and a tablet and a few other things. These are used and I don't have receipts for them. If I post them to Ireland do I have to pay import tax on them?

Thanks

You are entitled to bring personal effects home without Duty/VAT, but I'd send an email to Revenue to see what you need to do. I think you put the details on a sheet, and enclose it with the shipment. probably a lot easier to bring it with you, though.

RUDOLF289

embraer170 wrote: »

A friend in the US has managed to order a pair of Google Glass. Any ideas for what's the best way to minimise my exposure to Irish duty when the product is posted on to me in Ireland.

According to http://www.dutycalculator.com

Price: $1605
Shipping and insurance to Ireland: $110 (my guess)
Total customs value (CIF): €1261.72
- Duty: €0.00
- VAT: €290.20
Total import duty & taxes due: €290.20

Is the 0 duty too optimistic?

Hello Embraer170.

Suggest to contact the Tariff Classification unit in Nenagh for the tariff number and the rate of duty. Email them : tarclass@revenue.ie

Cheers,
Rudolf289

RUDOLF289

whiterebel wrote: »

You are entitled to bring personal effects home without Duty/VAT, but I'd send an email to Revenue to see what you need to do. I think you put the details on a sheet, and enclose it with the shipment. probably a lot easier to bring it with you, though.

Hello Mr.T05,

You need to fill out a "transfer of residence" form. Follow this link for further information ; http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/leaflets/tax-relief-transfer-residence.html

Cheers,
Rudolf289

frash

Hi,

My wife bought spare wooden parts for a game from China.
The value is US$60 but the parcel arrived & customs are looking for €30.

How do they calculate that?
Parcel would weigh maybe 1.5kg so not sure how much shipping costs would have been.

Thanks.

RUDOLF289

Hello Frash,

You would need to ask for a breakdown of the charges from the carrier looking for the charges, e.g. the values over which customs calculated the duty (unlikely since parts for games should be zero) and the VAT. It is also likely that there is a handling fee involved of anything upto € 15.00, depending on the service used (e.g. An Post or Courier).

If you read the original post of this thread, it lists the amounts of duty / VAT tresholds and what is included in the calculation of the values over which the duty and/or VAT are calculated. Postage / shipping costs would need to be included.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Rudolf289

doing

If I order something eletronic second hand from the UK and it comes to ROI via Belfast (Parcel Motel) would I still have to pay extra to customs?

rubadub

doing wrote: »

If I order something eletronic second hand from the UK and it comes to ROI via Belfast (Parcel Motel) would I still have to pay extra to customs?

There should be no charge if it genuinely did come from the UK. Many ebay sellers will falsely pose as UK sellers but could send from China.

Mrs Dempsey

I don't have time to search the thread so forgive if a repeat issue.
LensWay UK had being supplying my disposable contact lenses & no issues arose untill today. My most recent order was overdue & a wee letter arrives from the Dublin Mail Centre looking for vat / duty.
My contract was with LensWay.co.uk & payment was in sterling so my assumption was that this was an internal EU transaction & that no additional payment would be due.
Any enlightment for a confused consumer please & thanks?

PenguinForce

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask and might be a bit of a silly question. When using the duty calculator do you use the currency from the country you are importing from or in Euros?

I am asking this because I'm planning to order two Gundam model plastic kit from Hobby Link Japan website and they display the price of the items both in Euros and in Japanese Yen as well as USD. So I am not sure if I should input the price of the items + shipping costs into the calculator in Euros or Yen as the result differs depending which currency I enter with.

Thanks!

whiterebel

PenguinForce wrote: »

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask and might be a bit of a silly question. When using the duty calculator do you use the currency from the country you are importing from or in Euros?

I am asking this because I'm planning to order two Gundam model plastic kit from Hobby Link Japan website and they display the price of the items both in Euros and in Japanese Yen as well as USD. So I am not sure if I should input the price of the items + shipping costs into the calculator in Euros or Yen as the result differs depending which currency I enter with.

Thanks!

Whichever currency the invoice you in. If they are going to show Yen and convert it to euro on the invoice, you're probably better off using the Yen amount

RUDOLF289

PenguinForce wrote: »

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask and might be a bit of a silly question. When using the duty calculator do you use the currency from the country you are importing from or in Euros?

I am asking this because I'm planning to order two Gundam model plastic kit from Hobby Link Japan website and they display the price of the items both in Euros and in Japanese Yen as well as USD. So I am not sure if I should input the price of the items + shipping costs into the calculator in Euros or Yen as the result differs depending which currency I enter with.

Thanks!

Hello PenguinForce,

this is the link to the Customs rate of exchange. They change from month to month. http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/businesses/importing/exchange-rates/index.html

In principle you need to apply the currency in which you are being invoiced. The Us$ and Euro currencies may only be for comparisson purposes ?

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Rudolf289

PenguinForce

whiterebel wrote: »

Whichever currency the invoice you in. If they are going to show Yen and convert it to euro on the invoice, you're probably better off using the Yen amount

RUDOLF289 wrote: »

Hello PenguinForce,

this is the link to the Customs rate of exchange. They change from month to month. http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/businesses/importing/exchange-rates/index.html

In principle you need to apply the currency in which you are being invoiced. The Us$ and Euro currencies may only be for comparisson purposes ?

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Rudolf289

Thanks for the replies I am pretty sure the Euros and USD prices are for comparison purposes as it said so on their website they are only for "references".

Another question probably a silly one :P When importing two items or more from the same website. Am I right to presume that they charge import duties/VAT on each of your items individually and not just charge you based on the total price?

Btw, I didn't know duty calculator was a paid service. Using the android app instead.

Thanks

Beano

PenguinForce wrote: »

Thanks for the replies I am pretty sure the Euros and USD prices are for comparison purposes as it said so on their website they are only for "references".

Another question probably a silly one :P When importing two items or more from the same website. Am I right to presume that they charge import duties/VAT on each of your items individually and not just charge you based on the total price?

Btw, I didn't know duty calculator was a paid service. Using the android app instead.

Thanks

Import Duty and VAT are charged on a package as a whole.

ozmo

So.... those that got them - any good?

Know the battery is maybe an issue - but how do the compare speed-wise and screen quality to more expensive tablets?

RosAB

Great thread and very informative. I have a question myself about face cream I purchased from Wow HD. When I ordered the item I assumed it was coming from the UK, but I've since done a bit of research and found out that they have various warehouses around the world but most of their stuff gets sent from Hong Kong. As soon as I realised this I thought I was in trouble for VAT etc. Anybody thinking of buying from this site have to beware as they don't tell you on the website about where the item will be shipped from.

Then a few days ago my package finally tracked on the AnPost site and on there it has listed country of origin as Sweden, but it also says 'ITEM SENT TO CUSTOMS'. Why would customs be looking into this itf it came from their Swedish warehouse considering Sweden is part of the EU??

ozmo

RosAB wrote: »

...face cream...Hong Kong.
Why would customs be looking into this itf it came from their Swedish warehouse considering Sweden is part of the EU??

Just a guess - but random check for fake/counterfit stuff maybe?

RosAB

ozmo wrote: »

Just a guess - but random check for fake/counterfit stuff maybe?

Maybe....it's as good a reason as any I can think of. I'll have to wait and see, but hopefully not as long as the 60 days that's allowed!

Schwiiing

I'm considering importing an electric guitar from America. The guitar will be bought at a sale price of $499 reduced from $1999. My question is will the VAT be charged on the original price or the sale price?

RUDOLF289

Schwiiing wrote: »

I'm considering importing an electric guitar from America. The guitar will be bought at a sale price of $499 reduced from $1999. My question is will the VAT be charged on the original price or the sale price?

Hello Schwiiing,

The value for calculating Duty and VAT will be the price you paid for the guitar plus the freight costs.

Duty will be 3.2% over the cost of the guitar plus the freight cost. VAT will be levied over the cost of the guitar, freight cost and duty.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Rudolf289

godtabh

Looking at buying a Chinese bike frame. Total cost is about €520. How do I calculate the tax on this?

Is it (520 + 3.2% of the 520) *23% for vat?

RUDOLF289

godtabh wrote: »

Looking at buying a Chinese bike frame. Total cost is about €520. How do I calculate the tax on this?

Is it (520 + 3.2% of the 520) *23% for vat?

Be aware that there may also be anti dumping duty payable. On complete bicycles it is 48%. On parts it is likely to be less. I will double check later today and confirm. you also need to take the transport costs into consiseration

RUDOLF289

Hello Godtabh,

Having looked at the customs tariff, I strongly suspect you will be liable for 48% anti dumping duty over the Cost and Freight of the bicycle frame.

I would recommend to contact the tariff classification unit (tarclass"revenue.ie) and give the the details of the frame (material / composition AND (!!) name of the manufacturer in China) and ask them for an opinion and an indication if in their view Anti Dumping Duty would be payable.

There have been changes at the start of the year in the anti dumping regime and a lot of bicycle production is now coming from emerging markets like Cambodia, Tunisia, Malaysia etc.

I am sorry I can not be more definite in my answer. You might let me know how you get on ?

Cheers,
Rudolf289

Luco Zademann

What happens if you buy say a bicycle, in this a tricycle from China (yes, I can ride a two wheeled bike, no, I don't need stabilisers, lol) or a very cheap electric bicycle and it is under the amount which you have to pay duty, €120 or whatever. But you would never get the same item at the price here, or anywhere near it actually. Can Revenue (or is it Customs or are they essentially both the same?) put their own valuation on the item and say em, while you might have only paid €50 or €100 for it or whatever, we value it at x amount based on what it would cost here in Ireland? Can they do that? I don't see how they can place an Irish valuation on a product from China? Inquired with them before and I think, think, that they were saying something along those lines? Thanks.

RUDOLF289

Luco Zademann wrote: »

What happens if you buy say a bicycle, in this a tricycle from China (yes, I can ride a two wheeled bike, no, I don't need stabilisers, lol) or a very cheap electric bicycle and it is under the amount which you have to pay duty, €120 or whatever. But you would never get the same item at the price here, or anywhere near it actually. Can Revenue (or is it Customs or are they essentially both the same?) put their own valuation on the item and say em, while you might have only paid €50 or €100 for it or whatever, we value it at x amount based on what it would cost here in Ireland? Can they do that? I don't see how they can place an Irish valuation on a product from China? Inquired with them before and I think, think, that they were saying something along those lines? Thanks.

Hello Luco Zademann,

Customs, in the first instance will accept the value declared, provided ;

1) The value is realistic
2) The value can be backed up with a payment record (i.e. transfer of funds, paypall receipt etc)

Customs will have access to a wide range of databases on products (at EU level) and would be able to establish very quickly whether the value declared is correct. That is on the basis of factory prices.

Also, the value for duty is based on cost of the item(s) PLUS transportation cost.

Finally, bicycles attract an anti-dumping duty of 48% on top of the regular duty. I am not sure if the € 121.00 value below which duty is not payable also applies to the anti dumping duty (I suspect not).

I have always found that importing bicycles from China is not worth the effort in view of the antidumping duty. There are other countries (like Cambodia, Tunisia etc) that do not attract anti dumping duty. You might be better of looking at suppliers in those type of countries.

Cheers,
Rudolf289

Luco Zademann

RUDOLF289 wrote: »

Hello Luco Zademann,

Customs, in the first instance will accept the value declared, provided ;

1) The value is realistic
2) The value can be backed up with a payment record (i.e. transfer of funds, paypall receipt etc)

Customs will have access to a wide range of databases on products (at EU level) and would be able to establish very quickly whether the value declared is correct. That is on the basis of factory prices.

Also, the value for duty is based on cost of the item(s) PLUS transportation cost.

Finally, bicycles attract an anti-dumping duty of 48% on top of the regular duty. I am not sure if the € 121.00 value below which duty is not payable also applies to the anti dumping duty (I suspect not).

I have always found that importing bicycles from China is not worth the effort in view of the antidumping duty. There are other countries (like Cambodia, Tunisia etc) that do not attract anti dumping duty. You might be better of looking at suppliers in those type of countries.

Cheers,
Rudolf289

Thanks. So what happens when you buy an item at a sale price I wonder? Not that this would be but I am just wondering? When you say customs can access a database, are they accessing a database based on EU prices for Chinese goods?

Anti-dumping duty? Heard about that before. Wonder if there is a way to know if I pay €45 for a tricycle for personal use (one of those ones for two people, driver in front and thingie at the back where a passenger sits), so that is €45 inc. shipping which is only a tenner, and I pay 23% VAT and regular duty, plus anti-dumping duty, how much would it all come to?

And what happens if customs feel the price I paid, would have receipts etc, is too low can they simply increase it? That's also what I don't get, increase it based on what? How much others have paid for this exact same model from the same manufacturer with the materials used and the same specs? Seems a hard thing to do if nobody else has imported that very same tricycle? I know what you are saying about the EU database but isn't that a bit like comparing Tesco value noodles for 15c with some other brand that's 5 times the price? Thanks.

RUDOLF289

Luco Zademann wrote: »

Thanks. So what happens when you buy an item at a sale price I wonder? Not that this would be but I am just wondering? When you say customs can access a database, are they accessing a database based on EU prices for Chinese goods?

Anti-dumping duty? Heard about that before. Wonder if there is a way to know if I pay €45 for a tricycle for personal use (one of those ones for two people, driver in front and thingie at the back where a passenger sits), so that is €45 inc. shipping which is only a tenner, and I pay 23% VAT and regular duty, plus anti-dumping duty, how much would it all come to?

And what happens if customs feel the price I paid, would have receipts etc, is too low can they simply increase it? That's also what I don't get, increase it based on what? How much others have paid for this exact same model from the same manufacturer with the materials used and the same specs? Seems a hard thing to do if nobody else has imported that very same tricycle? I know what you are saying about the EU database but isn't that a bit like comparing Tesco value noodles for 15c with some other brand that's 5 times the price? Thanks.

Hello Luco Zademann

The databases they access are EU databases on Chinese ex factory prices. Bicycles are the most contentious, researched commodity. China has been accused by the EU for the last 25 years or more of dumping cheap bicycles (with Chinese Export Subsidies) into the EU market. Therefore, they know, by looking at the exporter and the type of bike, what the ex factory price for that make/model would be.

I would recommend to contact the Tariff Classification unit in Nenagh (tarclass@revenue.ie) and give them the details. Ask them to classify the product for you. I don't think there is a treshhold for anti dumping duty, so even if you stay below the € 121.00 you are likely to be liable for the 48% anti dumping duty. Bear in mind, you will also pay 23% VAT over the cost of the product, plus transportation cost, plus duty, plus anti dumping duty.

As I said before, if the declared value is seriously out of line with the ex factory prices that they have in their database (Chinese ex factory prices), you are likely to be challenged because bicycles ex China are simply a red flag in the computer systems for all customs authorities throughout the EU. And what customs doesn't know about bicycles would comfortably fit on the back of the proverbial postage stamp.

Cheers,
Rudolf289

Xenji

How long does an item take to go through customs on average, I have a package that came over from the US and it has been in Portlaoise with no movement since Thursday morning.

panama

I'm interested in buying a basic household plastic container wholesale from Alibaba. This would probably be in an amount of 100 or so which should fit comfortably on half a pallet I'd imagine.
The purchase cost is roughly €200.

What is the customs procedure for something like that and what am I likely to have to pay to clear it for collection?

RUDOLF289

panama wrote: »

I'm interested in buying a basic household plastic container wholesale from Alibaba. This would probably be in an amount of 100 or so which should fit comfortably on half a pallet I'd imagine.
The purchase cost is roughly €200.

What is the customs procedure for something like that and what am I likely to have to pay to clear it for collection?

Good morning Panama,

Can advise as follows ;

1) Rate of import duty on plastics is likely to be 6.5%. That is calculated over the cost of the product plus freight cost
2) VAT is charged at 23% over the cost of the product, plus freight plus Duty. If you are a VAT registered trader, you can claim back the VAT paid on imports in your periodic VAT return

I would be careful about the shipping arrangements. Your supplier in China will get a really low cost for shipping the merchandise to Ireland. However, on arrival the agent handling the shipment on behalf of the Chinese forwarder will collect the difference between the cheap rate "sold" in China and the market rate - and then some.

Bottom line is, agree Free On Board Chinese port terms with your supplier and arrange the shipping from this end on the basis of a quotation issued before shipment takes place. Search for the terms "China Import Service Fee" on boards.ie to see some of the horror stories clients in Ireland experienced when the shipping arrangements were made by the supplier i China.

Feel free to post again or PM me if you need any further assistance

Cheers,
Rudolf289

matsy1

How much would a small new lens from japan cost? Price of lens 600 and shipping 30? Thanks

RUDOLF289

matsy1 wrote: »

How much would a small new lens from japan cost? Price of lens 600 and shipping 30? Thanks

Hello Matsy1,

the rate of duty is 6.7% over the price of the lens plus shipping. VAT is 23% over the combined total of price of the lens, shipping and duty.

Please note, the company bringing in the lens (DHL/TNT/FEDEX/An Post) may charge a fee of upto 15 Euro to process the payment to customs.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Rudolf289

matsy1

RUDOLF289 wrote: »

Hello Matsy1,

the rate of duty is 6.7% over the price of the lens plus shipping. VAT is 23% over the combined total of price of the lens, shipping and duty.

Please note, the company bringing in the lens (DHL/TNT/FEDEX/An Post) may charge a fee of upto 15 Euro to process the payment to customs.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Rudolf289

Thanks alot!