taxes on parts

H

Henk Martens

True Classic
Hello X 1/9 friends,

We send many X 1/9 parts also to the USA, always as a GIFT written on the documents to avoid customs. This is what I know about this issue:

* US Customs exempt gifts up to $ 100 per person from taxes and import duties
* Declaration of a gift: All gifts must be packed individually and marked as a gift on the outside
Composite shipments: Gifts intended for more than one person may be sent in the same package if they can be clearly identified per recipient and value is indicated per recipient (i.e. John, June and Julie Stone)

It would be a great help for me if some X 1/9 friends from the USA can verify this?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

regards,

Henk Martens
 
Henk,

Have a look at this page on the US Customs and Border Protection web site. The $100 gift exemption is not really relevant, as purchases are exempted up to $800.

"Packages whose declared value is under $800 ($100 if being sent as a gift to someone other than the purchaser) will generally be cleared without any additional paperwork prepared by CBP. "

In most European countries, the governments are very uptight about extracting every last penny of taxes and duties. In particular they want to collect the value added tax, which is usually north of 20%. The US does not have a national VAT or sales tax (but most states have state and local sales taxes), so federal agencies like customs / border protection are not involved in collecting sales tax. When you buy anything from out of state, or from a foreign country and are not charged sales tax, you are supposed to report this and pay the tax when you file your income taxes. Compliance may may vary.

I have lived in California for the last 30 years, and have never had to pay any duty or tax on items shipped from abroad. This includes car parts from you and from several other European X1/9 part suppliers

If things are shipped through the mail, customs processing is handled by US Mail and is transparent to the recipient. If things are shipped through other carriers, (UPS, DHL, FedEx etc.) they may charge additional fees for clearing customs etc.
 
I am not an expert on the subject. As far as I understand the $800 value limit that was mentioned is a good way to avoid duties. Either declare the total package under that limit, or ship in separate packages with each being under the amount. There may be other aspects to this, but in my experiences that has worked.

However I believe the comments made about sales tax may no longer be completely correct. It is my understanding recent laws are requiring sales tax on all purchases regardless of origin (e.g. out of state purchases are subject to the sales tax). And I'm noticing foreign companies are also adding sales tax to purchases made to the US. I'm not certain why that last aspect is happening, but many (but not all) online retail sites are automatically adding the sales tax.

I'm sure there are official government sites that cover these subjects. I'm also sure they will not help much; such things are typically very poorly created, leading to more confusion and questions than answers. :( Hopefully someone can add better details (I recall there was someone here with 'official' experience in this capacity).
 
Ciao amici,

Thank you very much for your information and GREAT to hear
This is a big difference to for example Dutch taxes
Also our government likes to take every cent out of your pocket, parcels from the USA and/or outside the European Union are charged with 31% taxes + Euro 35 extra for the documents

with kind regards,

Henk Martens
 
Dr.Jeff said:
I am not an expert on the subject. As far as I understand the $800 value limit that was mentioned is a good way to avoid duties. Either declare the total package under that limit, or ship in separate packages with each being under the amount. There may be other aspects to this, but in my experiences that has worked.

However I believe the comments made about sales tax may no longer be completely correct. It is my understanding recent laws are requiring sales tax on all purchases regardless of origin (e.g. out of state purchases are subject to the sales tax). And I'm noticing foreign companies are also adding sales tax to purchases made to the US. I'm not certain why that last aspect is happening, but many (but not all) online retail sites are automatically adding the sales tax.

I'm sure there are official government sites that cover these subjects. I'm also sure they will not help much; such things are typically very poorly created, leading to more confusion and questions than answers. :( Hopefully someone can add better details (I recall there was someone here with 'official' experience in this capacity).
Click to expand...

Sales tax for US vendors is intended to be gotten at time of purchase. For those that do not collect it, it becomes the responsibility of the buyer to pay it direct at income tax time through a form.

Customs duty for purchases exceeding 900 or so dollars are fully taxed at customs as I understand it (I believe the amount is 1000 per purchase/package but I am not sure). Thus why it is often advantageous to break up your purchases and eat the extra shipping cost.
 
Yes, sales tax is a different issue. However I'm noticing sellers (out of state as well as out of the country) are adding sales tax to purchases - at the time of purchase as you say. Their websites automatically add it during the "checkout" process. I've read where the interstate tax is now required, but I don't get why other countries are adding it. I would think it is somewhat analogous to the VAT, only applying within the country and therefore removed for foreign purchases. I'm not even sure how they determine how much tax to add. But they are doing it, and not allowing it to be removed. Perhaps just an attempt to profit off the new laws even though it should not apply?
 
I ordered a $2100 windsurfing board from Germany (to California) and was told by a broker after customs would not release the board that anything over $2k is automatically held up. I ended up paying a few hundred to customs and the broker to get my board released and it took 3 weeks minimum!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top