New import rules in European Union

[Benuser]

From July 1st, VAT will be applicable on all stuff from abroad, even when worth less than €22/US$23.
Until now, goods of a value below €22 could enter the EU without being charged.
Reminder: the VAT-tariff will depend on the nature of the goods and the country of destination. For most goods and countries around 20%. As was already the case, above €150 import taxes are due as well, the tariff depending on the nature of the goods and their country of origin (not the sender's). Expect handling costs as well, think some €15.
Until now, importing from say Japan was some kind of lottery. Some senders were willing to underdeclare its value to have it below €22, even when far from plausible. Depending on the Customs officers' zeal or laxism, packages were opened or, more commonly, the addressee asked to provide the invoice to prove the object's real value. In a lot of cases, though, there was no control at all. A friend of mine had all over the years some thirty sendings from JCK and only once he had to pay. 21% VAT, 8.5% import tax, €15 handling costs. In all other cases he didn't pay a single penny.

 

[Jovidah]

The weird thing is that I never paid tax on anything from JCK or metalmaster even when the real cost was declared. *knocks on wood*
A few times there simply wasn't any mention of a price on the package, but no questions were asked either.

From what I've seen on the German side they get hit by customs no matter what.

 

[MarcelNL]

This change was announced well over a year ago but postponed because the systems were not ready yet.
https://business.gov.nl/amendment/new-vat-rules-international-e-commerce/
I fully expect we'll see all of the EU to be upgraded to the German system...uptake may be slow as they are still training customs officers in various countries but this is a clear attempt to make it a bit more difficult for Alibaba and Aliexpress etc to undercut merchants competing with a.o. heavily subsidized 'free shipping'.

 

[cotedupy]

Bollocks. I didn't know about this, but have seen it in effect already.

Handling costs vary hugely by country btw, and in some countries they vary depending on the local delivery service too. I could send two things to the same place via Auspost and have them delivered by two different local courier/post companies, each of whom can choose their own arbitrary 'handling fee' to collect the customs charge. There's sod-all regulation afaics.

 

[cotedupy]

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[Edo]

Sad news and yes it is the entire EU. In Austria, 21% VAT always to be added + Duties (tax) if price is higher than 150€

 

[Edo]

I was also reading that precisely with Japan there is one of the biggest EU agreement for trade. I cannot find the proper citation or information, but I read somewhere that VAT and Duties may not be applicable under certain conditions.

So, maybe we can buy directly from Japan, I want to buy one from Takefu Village shop Katsuyasu Kamo VG10 Bunka suminagashi. I am trying to find information on this regard, maybe you have some additional info?

 

[MarcelNL]

hmmm that would be great, as I sometimes do buy audio stuff from over there.. though with the vintage craze that is ongoing there I may be selling stuff to them rather than buying.

 

[Benuser]

I was also reading that precisely with Japan there is one of the biggest EU agreement for trade. I cannot find the proper citation or information, but I read somewhere that VAT and Duties may not be applicable under certain conditions.

So, maybe we can buy directly from Japan, I want to buy one from Takefu Village shop Katsuyasu Kamo VG10 Bunka suminagashi. I am trying to find information on this regard, maybe you have some additional info?

As far as I know VAT is always applicable. As for the import tax, ask your Zollamt what documents are needed to proof the applicability of the preferential tariff (=0%). You will have to proof the origin of the article. That's far from evident. Recently had to pay the full tariff (8.5%) when importing a BST Japanese knife from the USA. It was treated as an American knife (a Masamoto). But if you import from Japan the customs have to make sure it is no e.g. Chinese knife.

 

[Benuser]

By the way, if asked, the TARIC code for kitchenknives is 8211 1000 00.

 

[Jovidah]

I hope this isn't a new pattern, but I actually had to pay customs for the first time on a package sent through EMS this morning. Did Dutch customs finally start doing it's job? Before this one I never got caught, even if accuate value was mentioned and was above 150 euros.

 

[Benuser]

It's the carrier's interest to declare, as they may charge the handling costs.

 

[Jovidah]

It's the carrier's interest to declare, as they may charge the handling costs.

Honestly at a surprisingly low handling cost of only 4 euros they're not exactly making a fortune. And though this argument would have been applicable in the past I never paid customs on any EMS packages before - even when I should have. We'll have to see if it's a new trend or just random bad luck.

 

[MarcelNL]

only 4 euro is probably the lowest cost ANY of the couriers is adding to the bill...and count on it that it is not a case of bad luck...

 

[Manwe]

Fortunately, in Poland, the impact isn't that strong.

The new law affected two of my packages already: one chinese cleaver from Ali and one package from JCK.

The handling cost is around $2.5 so it's good news for me. Also, for now it's being handled by Poland Post workers and they basically calculate on declared price - in both cases lower than actual value. I paid roughly 4$ and 8$ respectively, handling cost included.

I don't know if that will be the case in future. But I think that it's little hard for them to check value on every package that's coming from AliExpress, especially there's great deal of cheap products coming this way. And maybe it's something along the line "China or Japan, who cares, it's probably the same".

 

[MarcelNL]

just wait until this is into play for a while, it's an easy way to add % revenue both for governments and couriers...nobody is a position to defend themselves, unless by refusing the package that already is paid for.

 

[Boynutman]

I figure the couriers have 2 ways to handle this: either maintain huge handling fees and destroy their own market, or make it more reasonable so that people will keep ordering from outside EU. It may actually work out well, or at least take out the lottery element and instead add a predictable but hopefully reasonable VAT+handling mark up.
Time will tell...

 

[Bart.s]

Honestly at a surprisingly low handling cost of only 4 euros they're not exactly making a fortune. And though this argument would have been applicable in the past I never paid customs on any EMS packages before - even when I should have. We'll have to see if it's a new trend or just random bad luck.

I got a package coming via EMS (hopefully) next month. Will report back on how it goes.

 

[Benuser]

Under the former rules, I used to pay handling costs of some €15 to PostNL who acted as carrier from the airport to my home, and did the customs declaration.

 

[Boynutman]

I paid € 44,- once for VAT and handling for a USD 170 knife at Rakuten...

 

[Jovidah]

For what it's worth my cheapo Tanaka from Miura knives didn't get caught. Shipped through SAL. They lowballed the price on the package, but under the new rules it still should have been charged. Just an N=1 but it might be worth trying SAL more to see if it's a lucky fluke or not.

Funny enough the time difference between SAL and EMS doesn't seem to be all that big anyway, when you consider that it'll just sit here in customs for a few days either way.

 

[Bart.s]

Got a package from Hong Kong on the way, should arrive next week. Hope to be lucky also =).

 

[Bart.s]

My package from HK also didn't get caught. Value was also lowballed. Hope I'll also get lucky on the next one, which will be considerably more expensive .

 

[da_mich*]

I bought a used Cleaver in Japan for 41,03€ include shipping costs. In Germany I had to pay tax and a flat fee. It was 21,08. Germany is so outrageous!!!

 

[Bart.s]

I bought a used Cleaver in Japan for 41,03€ include shipping costs. In Germany I had to pay tax and a flat fee. It was 21,08. Germany is so outrageous!!!

Wow, that more than half the value. Under the new rules, I also would have had to pay fees and taxes, but I'll guess the dutch customs are too busy or something. Not that I'm complaining

 

[da_mich*]

Wow, that more than half the value. Under the new rules, I also would have had to pay fees and taxes, but I'll guess the dutch customs are too busy or something. Not that I'm complaining

Yes because the flat fee is ~10€ + 19% Tax. If you have to pay coustoms tax too it´s +8,5% extra. In Germany the state is exploiting you. I think 2/3 of my salary is used for tax.

 

[MarcelNL]

rest assured, in pretty much every country you pay compound tax up to 70% or so of your income..graphs are available, showing that living in f.e. Andorra is cheapest...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_in_Europe

 

[Bart.s]

Yes because the flat fee is ~10€ + 19% Tax. If you have to pay coustoms tax too it´s +8,5% extra. In Germany the state is exploiting you. I think 2/3 of my salary is used for tax.

Well, as shown by @MarcelNL last post, we in the Netherlands aren't doing much better. I live in a border town, so I visit Germany quite often for gas and certain groceries, which are much cheaper there. But it really shocks me how much cheaper homes are in Germany. Here in the Netherlands, prices for homes are ridiculous.

 

[MarcelNL]

Don't forget Belgium...I pop over the border for gas too, well oh errrr and specialty beer....

House prices in Belgium are also much lower, the down side is that many of these homes appear to have been designed after a night with lots of specialty beer...

 

[da_mich*]

Next year the gasoline price in germany will climb to over 2€/Liter. In 2019 the government passed a new law. It comes into force next year. It´s a new heavy CO2 tax. Thanks to Greta.