Import tax issues

[Guest]

[beckham1]

I believe that Nevada doesn't have any state income tax (not sure about sales tax) because of all the money the state gets from the Casinos and hotel taxes, etc.  Please correct me if I am wrong but I think that is the case. 

In California we have a very high state income tax as well as pretty high sales tax anywhere from 7-9% range depending on where you live.  That is why I get most of my stuff from out of state it is much cheaper when avoiding the sales tax.  I hope they never institute a national tax policy or internet purchasing tax policy, although some sites like American Eagle will charge you sales tax through their website

[grecopa]

Florida doesn't have a state income tax either.  The tourists pay for it in sales taxes!    
But Connecticut taxes the air you breathe (or at least it seemed like it).    Argg!  It be government piracy!!!

[Sharon]

I sometimes Email a seller first to see if they will mark an item as a gift.  If they won't I don't buy it.  Simple as that.  I don't blame the seller if they won't stretch the truth on the customs declaration, but our import duty is now so high it just isn't worth it.  The other thing to note is that if no box is ticked on the customs declaration we (in the UK) usually don't get caught for tax.  So if you just leave all the boxes blank that seems to be good enough.

Couple of interesting facts about the UK though (well I think they are interesting  )

Our sales tax is 17.5 % on practically everything.

We have to pay import duty on items from Europe, even though we are part of the EU/Common Market or whatever it is called these days.

We have to pay import duty on items sent from Jersey, even though this is part of the United Kingdom (I have never been caught but officially they can charge you).

I live in London so am going to have to pay for an Olympic Games I never wanted in the first place.  Ooops sorry this is a totally separate rant.   

[gimli]

As I only send small packets from the UK If you can get the package sent at letter rate or Printed paper you don't need a customs for even if you send it international signed for therefore there is no declaired value on the package at all. I charge my customers for these rates rather than sending small Packet rate which maybe cheaper but you have to put a customs form on and I have to declare full value to match the insurance level on the International signed for slip.

Don't know if this will help anyone but this is how I post my packages there are ways around having to put customs slips on packages. I do wonder if Boxes can be sent printed paper as they are "Printed Thick Paper " Really

[blackcat20]

Ive had boxes of cards sent to me that have "printed material" on the customs slips...becuase really, they are just printed paper.

[Bogleg]

For the first time ever, I have had to fill a customs slip for a small padded envelope. The lady in the post office said it is classed as a small packet. I had to put the value of the contents on it. As it was a redemption card, do I put either:- A) What I paid for it. B) The going rate at a show. C) The price the redeemed auto is going for?
What I was worried about is putting a value on it that would incur a charge to the card company and they refuse to pay. Would my card be returned to me, or would it be consigned to "Lost Post" hell?

[grecopa]

Technically you're just sending in your property for redemption, you aren't transferring ownership of it, so no merchandise is being exchanged.  Could you mark it as a gift?  I admit I don't know too much about this stuff, but that seems do-able. 

[Roz]

Graham, it's not an issue. There's practically no import taxes in the US (within reason of course...).

Insure it for what it would cost you to replace. It's unlikely you'll have to claim for it - but if you do you want to be able to make sure that you can replace it for the casherroni that the Royal Mail will send. You'll have to prove it of course if you were claiming

[LikORish-Spider]

I have receive an item fron Australia with the customs declaration on it stating value as $2000.00 US. It was 3 cards identified as cards on the lable. NO DUTY on printed goods to the USA. An enlightened attitude if you ask me.

[gimli]

Like I said eariler after all it is just card

and so it is printed Paper and so I send it that way all the time if you tell the post Office how you want to send it there should be no problem. You only have to put customs forms in the Uk on Small Packet or parcel services. printed paper and letter rate do not need the forms.

[LikORish-Spider]

I suppose you could get away with slipping a card into a soft sleeve and a top loader, wrap it in two sheets of paper with a note and mail it airmail letter rate.

And THEN the "My-God,-did-you-ever-see-such-poor-packing?" bunch will complain because it wasn't in 3 bubble wrap envelopes, hermitically sealed and armored plated.

Of course, it all comes down to the few who spoil it for the majority. Who are the few? The one's who lie and say the card never arrived. Thank goodnees that the Yak Shakers are not in that group. The sender has no choice but to protect themselves by insuring and declaring the value.

Speaking for myself, I have established some nice relationships, I think anyway, with some fellow Yak Shakers and the trust we have has saved some money by not requiring insurance and all that razz-ma-tazz.

[Nienna]

Just to throw this info into the mix ...

I'm fortunate to have a really good postie who I've trained to deliver my stuff before I scoot off to work in the morning ... bless him! LOL
I was unfortunate to have to pay Duty Import VAT on a card this morning because the US seller had put the value down as $40 on the Customs sticker and I ended up paying £7.97 (£3.97 + £4.00 Royal Mail 'handling fee' ) to receive it. [UK VAT is currently charged at 17.5% which works out roughly to £3.97] It didn't matter that it was marked as 'Printed Matter' either, I still got charged.
My postie confirmed it's a random pick from the mail which enters the country as to which items get checked and which don't ... anything marked over $30 will get put to one side and be charged ... like mine was.
Anyway, he then told me that this would be a thing of the past shortly, when Royal Mail introduce an automated sorting machine which is proven to be capable of sorting ALL the mail prior to delivery ... letters, packets, parcels, handwritten or printed addresses and labels... it doesn't matter what it scans as this machine will read the lot.
Think about it - at the moment it's a hit-and-miss affair whether you get charged on your items coming into the UK or not and £18 in value isn't a very high limit is it - you won't have that to fall back on once this machinery is up and running as everything will be scrutinised whether you like it or not!
The implications for the postal staff are wide-ranging and not good - there will be a massive number of people being made redundant and sorting offices WILL close ....
I've not heard of anything about it in any of the Press here in the UK and believe me, there will be such a stink once it gets out about the redundancies.
The machinery itself is hugely expensive and I believe the Dutch mail service already uses this automated system to good effect. You won't need an army of people hand-sorting the mail prior to delivery, just a couple of folks to load the mail in one end and and bag it up at the other ....
I'll ask my postie to keep me informed of any more developments and pass them along here, but he's not expecting to hear anything further till the end of April.

All I can say here to our Forum members from overseas is - THINK about the amount you're putting down on the Customs sticker please, because a 17.5% VAT fee is a LOT of money!! 

*climbs down off soapbox*

[blackcat20]

I know that here in Aus we dont seem to pay anything for imports (ive never been done, not even on the Lost case), but Im always mindful of how I send things overseas. I try to mark the value as low as possible, and single cards I send letter style so they escape the customs form. I usually mark things as gift too, becuase none of the other options on our forms seem to apply...

[Roz]

Yeah you do pay import in Aus - a friend of mine had to pay import of nearly AU$100 on his skates because they were over the threshold value - which must be over around $400 US ish - I'm not `100% sure but I am betting you could find out pretty easily

I feel your pain on a regular basis Jules... but it's really only the 'fee' they charge for taking the money that bothers me... Royal Mail's £4 fee is rather modest compared with a lot of other delivery companies - trust me.

[LikORish-Spider]

You know, to collect 4 GPB for delivering a letter on top of the fact that the postage has been paid already is sort of like going to a restaurant and them charge you to put the food on a plate. They are already having to come to the table to deliver the meal. I mean, gee, the postage is already paid, and the are charging the VAT to boot.  And the kicker is they probably want a tip to boot. Most delivery companies count the fact that they are delivering as part of the original fee.

[beckham1]

I have talked to many people who refuse to undervalue the cards, because in reality the sender can get in trouble for this in the US (I have never heard of it actually happening though).  I don't personally really care I always try to keep the values under $20 on the customs forms.  I have never declared anything having a value over $25 to keep the buyer from having problems.  It is a bit of a dilema really.

I am sure some other US YSers know the big reasons not to undervalue on the customs forms, I am just partial to the collector.  I know I got burned with a $70 invoice on customs duties of some Hockey Boxes I bought from a Canadian ebay seller.  I think the value was over $300 on the items.  Needless to say when I got the UPS customs invoice 2-3 weeks after I had the package in hand I was a little po'd.  In the end I didn't save any money on the good deals I thought I had got. :'(

[Roz]

Hey Becks - in the virtually tax-less country - how on earth did you manage that? Was it Canadian tax? They do have import tax but at something reasonable like 8% or so (or so I am told)...

[beatles99]

No Roz living in Canada I've been done in with this before....UPS the courier service, charges a brokerage fee to take the parcel in bond across the border, this applies coming here or going to the U.S. the rest of the charge could be import tax which is applied by the U.S. customs which I understand is lower and a heck of allot more forgiving than here in Canada their tax scale may start at $200 value as duty free, any thing over that value or what ever their scale is then would be taxed at that start point...If that same parcel was coming here instead I would have been charged....the brokerage fee,provincial tax, and also a goods and services tax like your VAT...THE LAST 2 TAXES ARE 15% of the stated value....anything under $20 (THAT'S OUR STARTING SCALE) is duty free and is treated as a gift..now if it USPS which is the post office, you just get nailed with the 2 taxes over $20 value no brokerage fee

[canny19]

I too am in Canada and hate this postal service!   

The last tiem I bought from Tom, for 2 boxes I got hit with taxes.
I phoned the office of customs, rather annoyed and they said that anything over $20 is taxable.
I dont get how they come to this conclusion when th US scale is SOOOO much higher!

If you ask the byer to put a lower value price on it, you are going to get in trouble.
Plus, if its damaged in shipping or lost, you cannot claim the "real" amount back.
So, I think we are stuck with those lovely charges for now 

[Roz]

Argh - your import taxes sound even worse than ours

Do you even get a free national health service out of all this nasty taxation?