Purchasing from Australia: customs duties and VAT
Summary: The discussion concerns purchasing from Australia and the related implications for duties and VAT. Several participants interacted, but the specific content of their responses is not available.
Hello
I would like to buy an item from Australia costing €800. I wanted to know if there will be any additional costs?
12 comments
diegusmat82
·11 months agoI'm updating the discussion on how the story ended. In the end I wrote to ebay following the link in some previous post and they refunded me the VAT I paid at the time of purchase.
deejaynick
·11 months agoThat isn’t a courier receipt, but I think it’s from Poste.
In fact, as you can see, they stubbornly call everything “customs duties” when they refer to all the fees, since they call what all carriers call customs duties “postal charges”... oh well...
Incidentally, they only do this with private individuals; if they issued you an invoice, the line items would go back to the usual ones in use for decades. They definitely do it to streamline and simplify things.
However, the VAT amount doesn’t match the amount spent, but the “postal charges” do match the declared value...
You can try sending the receipt to eBay, bearing in mind that they will only refund the VAT and not the postal charges, which are in any case always owed by the recipient.
diegusmat82
·11 months agoActually the receipt (which I cut out to avoid publishing personal data) is from Poste Italiane.
I’ll try writing to the link you sent me.
Thanks for the replies and clarifications, and I’ll keep you updated.
technopartsbay
·11 months agoIt can’t be a customs duty because, as I told you above, the duty is paid over 1,150 euros total.
On the receipt the items are clearly separated: VAT and customs charges (which I now call "customs clearance fees" because the correct term, the one I used before, has now been twisted by everyone... including the postal service, which uses it for anything imported by private individuals...).
Since it’s a courier, the 14 euros could be precisely the customs charges... uh, the CLEARANCE FEES, which for a carrier are generally higher than for the postal service.
diegusmat82
·11 months agoI'm attaching the receipt that was on the package. I guess I can't recover anything based on what you're saying.
marioelegio
·11 months agoIt seems like a ridiculous case to me, they indicated 7.30 euros of VAT, which however has nothing to do with what you spent (VAT on 87.70 of taxable amount is 19.30 for a total of 107).
Anyway, I would ask the courier for an explanation of what they messed up, maybe there was a reassessment of the item's value by customs, which did not consider the declared value appropriate.
You can also try asking eBay for a refund of the 7.30, use this procedure ... https://www.ebay.it/help/buying/paying-items/pagare-le-imposte-sugli-acquisti-ebay?id=4771&st=3&pos=1&query=Pagare%20le%20imposte%20sugli%20acquisti%20eBay&intent=rimborso%20iva&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1425#section6
bye
mario
diegusmat82
·11 months agoHello, I'm jumping into the thread since it's of interest to me.
I bought this item (https://www.ebay.it/itm/146851059806) and, apart from the VAT already paid at the time of purchase, I was not charged any customs duty (unlike in the case of a purchase from the USA, where duty was also calculated at checkout).
Should I expect to have to pay something on delivery?
Thanks for the reply.
marioelegio
·11 months agoIf the total (item + shipping) is less than 150 euros, there are no customs duties and VAT is collected directly by eBay.
If by mistake the courier asks you to pay VAT again, don't pay in cash and have them give you a receipt. With the receipt you can ask eBay for a refund of the VAT paid in excess.
hi
mario
diegusmat82
·11 months agoHi, my package arrived today, the courier asked for payment of the customs duty with the receipt attached to the package (14€ and change). The purchase (product+VAT+shipping) was 107€.
What should I do?
heavenwelkin
·1 year agoHi luca-music11
Yes, there are additional costs.
-22% VAT
-Customs duties
They depend on the type of goods (TARIC code). Some examples:
Clothing: ~12%
Electronics: ~0-4%
Leather accessories: ~5-8%
- Customs and handling fees that can range from 10 euros to 40~50 euros depending on the courier handling the collection of the payment.
If you tell us the type of goods, we can tell you what the duty would amount to.
Best regards
1411lorena
·7 months agoHi, sorry to bother you
I bought a used board game from the United States.
It was in dollars, I paid in euros with Paypal.
Shipping cost me 5 times the item's value.
Ebay International Shipping with USPS.
VAT included in the total, Import Fees = 0eu
Do you think there will be additional duties, customs fees, and postal charges upon delivery?
Thanks.
heavenwelkin
·7 months agoUsually when international shipping is handled by ebay you DO NOT GET DOUBLE CHARGES on import costs.
But if that should happen, you still need to pick up the package and get a receipt showing the payment of import costs (never give cash to the mail carrier or courier if they don't leave you any proof of payment).
Then with receipt in hand you can go here:
https://ocswf.ebay.it/mudcwf?deptName=CollectRemitRefund
To receive a refund of the VAT you paid twice.
Kind regards.