In the EU, packages from outside of the EU that have a total value (product value + partial shipping cost) over 45 Euros will have to pay taxes. This will equal about 19%. Often family members will send a package and mark it with a value of 30 Euros (+ shipping) to ensure that the receiver doesn't pay taxes. Beware, though, if you do mark something below its value that the customs folks may check inside the package to see if the written value is obviously stated too low.
I had a problem with a watch that I received as a gift in Los Angeles. Before I left, I took it back to the store and they said they couldn't replace it immediately, but they would ship me a new one. So, they shipped it to my address in Germany. When they did this, they left a price tag on it. The customs saw this and gave me a hefty bill for the taxes.
However, another time I had forgotten my camera in a hotel in Oslo, Norway. I called the hotel and they had found the camera and were willing to ship it to me. As Norway is out of the EU, this meant that the customs office would look at the package. When I went to down to pick up the package, I explained what happened. The person looked at me quite skeptical and then opened the package to see if the product was actually used. Fortunately, there were some pictures of me and my family on the digital camera that I could show him. Case solved and I didn't pay taxes. But, I did have to sign a form that held me responsible, just in case they later found out that I had been misleading them and they wanted to prosecute me.
2 comments:
John,
great post!
The customs (Zoll) for any particular item wil depend on what it is, the 19% is the Einfuhrumsatzsteuer and has to be paid *on top of* the item value (incl. postage) + zoll.
Another peculiarity you should know about is that you are only allowed one package of up to 50 (I believe it's 50, not 45, but please don't quote me on this) Euros per day, even from different return addresses. So if you receive a €40 gift from Uncle Bill, and a €30 watch that you bought on eBay, you're over the limit and will have to pay Zoll and Einfuhrumsatzsteuer on the whole shebang, including postage costs.
I haven't found any realistic way to influence this around birthdays and Christmas, though. Sometimes two packages will simply arrive on the same day, even if they were sent 2 weeks apart.
awesome post.
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