Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/08/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Nathan, thanks for your reply. I am curious - and you may not know this, I may have to search for it elsewhere - but is duty and/or VAT charged even if one is shipping one's own property to oneself? For example, if I wanted to travel light and shipped my laptop or golf clubs (well, I don't play play golf) or whatever to catch up with me at some point in my travels, would I have to pay customs duty or VAT to receive same? What about shipping a family member's laptop to catch up with them? Does labeling the item as a gift make any difference? Or is it just the act of the goods crossing the border into the country that makes duty and/or tax due and whoever 'owns' the goods is irrelevant? Do we not have an international commerce and tax lawyer on the LUG? <g> Thanks, --Bob ==On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 2:15 PM, Nathan Wajsman<photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote: > Hi Bob, > > In general, tariffs on industrial goods like computers are quite low these > days (I assume Thailand is a member of the WTO). For example, the customs > duty on photo gear imported into the EU from 3rd countries like the US is > in > 3-4% range. In Europe, you also have to pay VAT (sales tax, basically) on > top of that, ranging from 15% to 25%, depending on country. I have no idea > if they have that in Thailand. More importantly, I also have no idea how > much red tape (if any) is associated with an item clearing customs there; > in > a country like that I can imagine it could range from zero to several > weeks. > > It is a good idea to use the USPS and not one of the express carriers like > UPS or Fedex. That is true for all international shipments. The reason is > that they will often charge the recipient a very high fee just for > performing the service of clearing customs. When I lived in Belgium, I once > had to pay UPS something like $50 on a $100 item that had not even incurred > any Belgian duty! With USPS, you never get ripped off in this manner. The > post office in the destination country will simply collect any duty and VAT > that may be due and that's it. > > Nathan > > Nathan Wajsman > Alicante, Spain > http://www.frozenlight.eu > http://www.greatpix.eu > http://www.nathanfoto.com > > Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0 > PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws > Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog > > > > On Aug 7, 2009, at 1:20 PM, Robert D. Baron wrote: > >> A family member is traveling in Asia. ?I've been asked to send out an >> Apple G4 12' laptop. ?I plan to send it through the US Post Office >> rather than a commercial carrier such as UPS or FedEx. ?I would >> appreciate any advice I can get from knowledgeable members of the LUG; >> in particular, I need to know roughly how much in customs duties the >> recipient is likely to have to pay (I will value it at $400 USD, which >> seems reasonable based on current ebay listings). >> >> Off list replies would be fine but maybe on list would add to this >> wonderful repository of useful information. >> >> Of course it is somewhat on topic inasmuch as the laptop has Photoshop on >> it. >> >> Thanks, >> >> --Bob Baron / Oklahoma City >> ?rbaron at concentric dot net >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >