custom duty help!

[foremost]

hi, Thanks for all to make this site so helpful and supportive. I was a beginner 3 years ago and learned a lot here, this year my eBay & AMAZON stores are going well which bought my concerns of Custom Fee/Duty, the suppliers from China directly ship the products to me by DHL and I don't think they paid duty, anyone has idea how the custom monitor this and whether IRS will bring any troubles to my stores? Appreciate anyone can help me out.

[foremost]

ohh, by the way, every single package is under $200, but we normally have multiple package every week, the total value is over $200.

[Play]

Duties should be paid by you upon receipt of item.

[JamesNorth101]

You pay import tax and duties

The exporter doesn't do anything their end for it

[foremost]

hi bros

thanks for your replies, every package is under $200 value, so should be tax free for individual package, I guess I did not make my point clear. When there are multiple packages, say, 5 packages in one week, total value will be $1000, should I pay import tax/duty?

[yankee]

DHL/FEDEX/UPS will send you a bill.

Not anything any of us can tell you other than that.

[foremost]

But I never received any bills from DHL, this makes me worry

[ricky084]

No it depends on what are you importing, what the duty rates are, if your item has high duty value such as garments, you will be definitely charged for duty from DHL/FED or UPS. OR if it's personal shipment value under $2500.00, you will be okay.

[phaz0rz]

In my experience I get a bill from DHL if the declared value for a shipment is over $400, but I have no idea how other things are taxed. I average about 50 shipments per month and I've only received bills for packages declared over that threshold. They do not combine the declared value of separate shipments and tax you based on that.

If there are any taxes due on a package when it comes into USA, DHL pays them for you to expedite shipment. They send you a bill 2-3 weeks later for the taxes they paid, as well as a small convenience fee they charge for getting the package through customs for you.

Again this is all based on my experience and I can't say how applicable this is for your situation.

[Bunneh]

shipping companies do keep record, so if you go over a certain value then and ship often they will start assuming you are a business.

Almost every week i get ask for my licences and vat numbers.

[Ebayisbad]

For items over around 15$ you are liable to pay tax unless its a gift

[rsot]

Originally Posted by foremost

But I never received any bills from DHL, this makes me worry

Also depends on what your supplier is declaring - hope the declaration part is proper.

Pay attention to bunneh's comment about addition of duties for the long run plan.

[dan_ebay]

Chinese forwarders undervalue the shipping invoice for everything going to the US/UK as standard. Will be your problem if you get found to have not paid the right amount or is in the UK anyway

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by dan_ebay

Chinese forwarders undervalue the shipping invoice for everything going to the US/UK as standard. Will be your problem if you get found to have not paid the right amount or is in the UK anyway

It's not a huge problem in the US. Certain regions are way more strict than others though, and I'm certainly not saying you can't get in trouble by under declaring.

I don't think bunneh's comment really applies to the US either, and I'm assuming that's where OP is from. I've imported hundreds of packages. Most of the time I don't get the paper invoices DHL mails out, so they'll call me every few weeks and I pay the duties owed on the past 5 or 6 shipments.

DHL/USPS/FedEx/UPS know I'm a business but they don't really care as long as I pay what I owe them, lol.

[dan_ebay]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

It's not a huge problem in the US. Certain regions are way more strict than others though, and I'm certainly not saying you can't get in trouble by under declaring.

I don't think bunneh's comment really applies to the US either, and I'm assuming that's where OP is from. I've imported hundreds of packages. Most of the time I don't get the paper invoices DHL mails out, so they'll call me every few weeks and I pay the duties owed on the past 5 or 6 shipments.

DHL/USPS/FedEx/UPS know I'm a business but they don't really care as long as I pay what I owe them, lol.

Yeah its rife in the UK as we have to pay around 5% import duty and then 20% vat on top of the product+shipping cost+import duty, end up paying more in tax than the item costs on a lot of items.
HMRC (our version of irs) hardly ever check them though but I assume if they were to inspect your company at some point and see you've made £100k in purchases from China and only paid £2k tax on it when you should of paid £25-30k it will be a issue lol.

Think its mainly the US and UK that gets under declared, spoke to my suppliers about it a lot and they won't dare do it on anything going to Germany,Spain etc as it just gets stopped by customs straight away and they ask for proof of the value

[Play]

Originally Posted by dan_ebay

Yeah its rife in the UK as we have to pay around 5% import duty and then 20% vat on top of the product+shipping cost+import duty, end up paying more in tax than the item costs on a lot of items.

Couldnt have said it better.

[phaz0rz]

Wow, that really blows. I'll pay $40 taxes on a $2500 order.

[Play]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

Wow, that really blows. I'll pay $40 taxes on a $2500 order.

I think thats just asking for trouble

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by Play

I think thats just asking for trouble

You're perfectly entitled to your opinion, but why do you say that?

I just pay what the shipping companies ask me to pay.

[yankee]

The shipping companies send you a bill Play. You pay it or you dont pay it.

I have FULLY DECLARED value orders $56,000 and the fee over shipping is $1018.19

$40.00 on $2500 sounds high. Must be DHL or UPS.

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by yankee

The shipping companies send you a bill Play. You pay it or you dont pay it.

I have FULLY DECLARED value orders $56,000 and the fee over shipping is $1018.19

$40.00 on $2500 sounds high. Must be DHL or UPS.

DHL mostly. And as I'm sure you know, their "deferment fee" is about 40% of the total amount.

[Bunneh]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

Wow, that really blows. I'll pay $40 taxes on a $2500 order.

Geez you lucky, I have a box arriving monday with DHL that is $1441 + $339 shipping and have to pay £284.00 ($408) customs..

and another 2 on thurs with similar values.

I would dream to have to pay $40.