Buying stuff from abroad & tax.

frobisher

I want to buy something for €450 from a shop based in the states. Do customs and excise put on tax everytime? Any idea how much it is?

pheasantplucker

I have been buying from a Hong Kong based website for a few years now but the last time I did a few weeks ago, I got a letter from Customs & Excise Dublin saying I needed to pay VAT and a postage handling charge of 5 euro. The products came to 60 euro and I ended up paying 18 euro extra to C&E and waited an extra week for them to be sent on to me. Cheaper to buy in Ireland in future.

I am not sure if they just spot check parcels but I have ordered over 12 times from this particular website and this was the first time I was stung for VAT.

robinph

Depends on what the person sending the parcel writes on it. If they put it down as having a value of less than €50 then you would be quite unlucky if they charged you anything for it and they must have been having a slow day if they were to bother checking what it actually is. If they put down €450 though then you are going to get stung.

If had several things of up to $250 value sent from ebay sellers though which had been marked on the customs for as being $30 music discs or similar though, and despite them being in boxes way to big for cd's they still got through OK.

Bluetonic

Don't forget any VAT charge for purchases outside the EU will be worked out against the purchase value + shipping cost.

RiderOnTheStorm

I got stuff from the states recently for about $100, and had to pay about €40 in charges, vat, excise duty, etc before postie would hand it over. Could not see how the figure was arrived at, and the postman would only accpet cash. Didnt get a receipt either! Scam or what! I know this postman, as he makes regular deliveries to our office, but he seemed to just pick a figure from the air that day. I tried to work it out using the C&E web site, but that place is deliberatly complicated!

I agree that there seems to be a limit of about $50 where they dont charge. If you can get the seller to put a low value on the package it will make it easier. I dont think they charge you anything for getting presents?

daveg

If the package is marked below €30 value you will not be hit for customs. If the value is higher, regardless of it being a present or not, you could be stung for customs.

kaizersoze

You will likely be charged as follows:
Excise duty based on total value + courier handling charge (about €25) + vat @21% on the total
The vat alone will bring you up to €545. Most of the time it's not worth it and it's getting harder to escape.