Hi all -
We have added Norway to the DutyCalculator. Now you can calculate import taxes when importing goods into Norway.
Happy bundling
The DutyCalculator Team
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Hi All -
It just happened, at 22:58 GMT, the DutyCalculator reached 100,000 duty calculations. Excellent!
The 100,000th duty calculation was to determine the import duty & VAT for importing a Specialist Headset by NOX from the USA into the UK.
Here it is:
The Specialist by Nox Audio
The Specialist Headphone provides optimal sound performance and versatility for PC gaming, listening to music and cell phone use. The Specialist is lightweight and compact making it easy for you to take on the go.
As for the calculation result, the import duty rate is 2% and the VAT is 17.5%. Likely there is no need to pay the duty, as the customs value is likely below the threshold of £135.
Happy bundling
Andre & The DutyCalculator Team
Hi all -
We have just added Czech Republic to the DutyCalculator, so now you can calculate your import taxes due when importing goods into Czech Republic.
Happy calculating
Andre
Hi all -
We have just added Denmark to the DutyCalculator, so now you can calculate your import taxes due when importing goods into Denmark.
Happy calculating
Andre
Les Paul Standard 2010 Limited
Rock n Roll! This blog post will delight guitar maniacs: guitars are one of hottest products on the DutyCalculator.
Electric and acoustic guitars are what people search from the USA and, let’s admit that, finding import calculations for a Gibson Les Paul with a value of £ 3,500 or a Fender Stratocaster for £ 1,500 is no surprise to us. We all share the dream.
So what are the pros of buying a guitar in the USA?
Cheaper prices make it cheaper to buy a guitar from the USA, and this holds true even if we include shipping, import duty and VAT costs. Not to mention the fact that Music123 and Musician’s Friend broadcast daily bargains and their discount coupons are scattered all over the Web.
Last but not least, guitar enthusiasts get a brand new boxed guitar. One that no one else has ever played with. Priceless.
Let’s be pragmatic and iron out the cons as well. You cannot try your brand new guitar before the purchase and you have no after-sale service. Also, what if your beloved guitar gets broken on its way to its final destination? Returning a guitar from UK to the USA could be a real pain.
On this, guitar lovers might consider BundleBox repack service and return insurance. The repack service ensures that the guitar is extra protected during transit and the return insurance provides a free of charge return. Indeed you can buy with confidence. This is melody to our ears!
Rock n Roll!
Import duty and VAT tax code and calculation
Moving away from the melodic tunes, guitars have different HS import duty codes.
9207901000 is the HS code for an electric guitar, 9202903000 is for an acoustic guitar and, last but not least, 9207901000 categorizes a bass.
3.7% is the import duty tax rate for an electric guitar and a bass. The acoustic guitar enjoys a lower import duty rate of 3.2%.
Let’s now spec out how to calculate import duty and VAT with an example.
Let’s suppose we want to buy an electric guitar for $ 2,000. Delivery cost from the USA to UK is around £ 100. Let’s suppose the repack service and the return insurance amount is £ 20.
First, we will convert $ 2,000 into £ by using the official exchange rate for import duty and VAT calculations at 1.5402 USD to 1 GBP (calculation made on May 2010). Therefore $ 2,000 convert into £ 1,299. To compute the customs value we add the price of the guitar, the shipping cost and the insurance cost: £ 1,298 + £ 100 + £ 20 = £ 1,418 . We then multiply the customs value by the import duty rate for electric guitars, that is 3.7% : £ 1,418 x 3.7% = £ 52.5
We then calculate the import VAT to UK by adding the customs value and the import duty : £ 1,418 + £ 52.5 = £ 1,471 . Import VAT rate to UK is 17.5% (as of May 2010), therefore the import VAT is £ 1,471 x 17.5% = £ 257.
The landed cost of an electric guitar from the USA to UK with repack service and return insurance is £ 1,708 (£ 1,418 + £ 52.5 + £ 257).
Happy playing
A (metal) DutyCalculator Team
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Unfortunately, our friends at The EU Commission have announced that, as of 1st May 2010, several further garment categories were added to the current list of U.S. goods subject to an additional 15% duty when imported into the EU.
The Background
Since 2006, the EU has targeted certain product sectors with additional duties in retaliation of US government subsidies to US businesses.
Following a WTO investigation, it was concluded that anti dumping duties levied by the American authorities on goods imported into the US were being illegally disbursed back to US companies the following year; this was deemed as unfair, and the WTO determined that the EU should be entitled to retaliate by placing additional duty on the import of US goods, equal to 72% of the value of the subsidies per annum, in order to reset the balance.
The EU reviews and adjusts these measures annually according to the previous year’s subsidies.
The Affected Products
Men’s
- Coats, Overcoats and Anoraks/Jackets made from cotton fabric
- Coats, Overcoats and Anoraks/Jackets made from fabric of man-made fibres
- Cotton Denim Jeans
Women’s
- Coats, Overcoats and Anoraks/Jackets made from fabric of man-made fibres
- Most Dresses
- Trousers of man-made fibres
The table is only intended as a guide of the garments currently affected, to confirm whether additional duty will apply to your specific clothing product, we recommend you consult our duty calculator.
Happy Bundling
The Bundle Box Team
Listening to our customers is key to our business
Hi All -
It’s been a while since we made updates to the DutyCalculator, but today we are making up for it. Here is what’s in store for you, with today’s launch:
- Improved calculation results page, with clear explanatory notes
- Ability to edit your calculation, so no need to reenter all your data
- Ability to share the calculation results on Twitter, Facebook, via a web-link or email.
- View what the world is importing and browse the duty rates
We hope you like it and it was worthwhile the wait. Let us know what you think!
Andre
A kite... in the thin air
Kids, this is a great tale from Ireland. The title is: in the thin air.
Richie is a cool guy from Ireland who plays hard. In fact, he recently started kiting and landboarding. He is indeed a prospective prince of the air. He learns fast and his kite has soon become too small.
Kites are good value in the USA and one day Richie decided to go for a bigger power kite. He did purchase the kite in the USA but…
… ohhh my god!!
Customs officials (in the customs den) mis-read the value of the kite and added one zero to the value on the shipping invoice.
Richie though he could not handle the mighty customs officials and asked for help on boards.ie.
A mysterious Rudolf289 and the DutyCalculator Team provided immediate assistance:
Kite has HS code 9503009990 and its import duty is nil. NIL!
However, if you are importing a ‘landboard’ as well, the HS code becomes 9506999000 and the import duty rate becomes 2.7%.
Therefore, if you are importing a kit, there is nothing much that you can do. The import duty rate of a kit with a kite AND a landboard is 2.7%.
The solution is to import a kite and a landboard as single distinct items, bundle them up and get 0% on the kite and 2.7% on the landboard. For an easy calculation on import duty and VAT, here we are.
Check BundleBox for an easy shipping from the USA and if you need an estimate on the shipping cost of the 2 separate items bundled in a single delivery.
Richie then contacted the customs office (den) and found out that … hey, the customs officials are not that bad!! They acknowledged that the amount on the shipping invoice was not clear and that they added a zero.
Richie is now looking forward to trying his new power kite at the Curragh where Master Luby (the instructor) is waiting for him.
Happy ending!!
Happy ending for Richie. Well done!!
Keep up!!! We rough guys at the DutyCalculator support you!!
Richie in action. Great!
The DutyCalculator Team
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The envelope, please...
Wow! Our heartbeat is pounding! What a race!
Today a cool friend of us showed up in the office with a … well, I would say ‘big’ camera cannon. Or cannon camera. Whatever. She explained that the lenses make it ‘bigger’. A big thing, indeed.
Camera and camera lenses are hot categories on our beloved Duty Calculator. Thus the question: which are the most expensive lenses that are searched on the route from USA to UK? (and yes, we know that the route is disrupted because of the volcano activity right now, but it will be back soon, no?)
It took a while to get the answer. We had to pull the raw data, open an excel spreadsheet (which crashed a couple of times) and… the winners are…
(1) First, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G with a query value of $ 2,000 (£ 1,300)
(2) Second, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS with a query value of $ 1,900 (£1,233)
(3) Third, Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS with a query value of $ 1,610 (£1,039)
Nikon 70-200mm and Canon EF 70-200 are soooOOO close. Less than £70 difference!
... the winner is: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G with a value of $ 2,000 (£ 1,300)
IMPORT DUTY HS CODE AND TAX RATE ON CAMERA LENS
A camera lens has a HS code of 9002110090 and an import duty tax of 6.7%.
IMPORT DUTY AND VAT AND LANDED COST CALCULATION
How much would it be to buy the winner online in the USA and import to the UK?
Easy! Here comes another cool example of import duty and VAT calculation. Ready? Go! First we calculate the customs value: price of the item in USD + shipping cost (check the BundleBox for a more precise shipping estimate) + insurance cost = $ 2,000 + $ 50 + $ 0.00 = $ 2,050.00. Then we convert USD into GBP using the official rate of 1.4913 USD to GBP (the official rate changes on a monthly basis, this rate is for April 2010). Therefore USD 2,050.00 divided by 1.4913 equals GBP 1,374.64 . Finally we multiply GBP 1,374.64 times the import duty rate for camera lenses that is 6.7% = GBP 92.00 and this is how much import duty we will have to pay.
Now it is time to turn to import VAT. 2,050.00 + 92.00 = GBP 1,466.74 and this is the import VAT value. We then multiply GBP 1,466.74 time the import VAT tax rate for UK that is 17.5% = GBP 256.68. Awesome!! Total charges for import duty and VAT = GBP 348.78 .
The landed cost from the USA to UK a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G is GBP 1,723.42 (price of the item GBP 1,374.64 + import duty GBP 92.00 + import VAT GBP 256.68).
After so much workout, we are sweating. Easier to turning to the DutyCalculator, what do you think?
Happy shooting!
A worn-out Duty Calculator Team
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Memory Foam pillow
What topic might work better than pillows to start off this Monday morning?
… zzz… zzZZZzz… zZzz….zzzZZZz…..zz…z….
If sleep is important, good sleep is of outmost importance. That’s probably why pillows made with Memory Foam are such a hot product on the DutyCalculator on the route from China to UK.
We learn on Wikipedia that Memory Foam is a fantastic type of polyurethane that mold to a warm human body in minutes. And that it was initially developed by NASA to improve the safety of aircraft cushions.
The import duty rate for pillows is 3.7%.
Have a great start of the week!
A sleepy DutyCalculator team
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