Difference between revisions of "Undervalue"

Revision as of 06:43, 27 January 2016

There are many countries which will add extra taxes onto goods coming into their country. There are many reasons behind this, but for you this is just an additional fee that will cost you money. Depending on your country, there are ways to avoid this. Using these methods may be against the law depending on your country, it is advised that you look into your country's laws before attempting this.

Shops

If you are from a country which is strict with customs charges, then it is recommended to use one of the following shops that undervalue:

Big in Japan - After making a preorder, go to your order details and add a message to the product stating that you would like the product to be undervalued to a certain amount. Obviously put it under the threshold for paying VAT.

Nippon-Yasan - After making a preorder, your package will be automatically undervalued. There is no need to do anything yourself. If you wish, you can pay the VAT through opting for the Transi-logistic service that they offer.

Jungle - While ordering, there will be an option to send as a gift/devalue your package.

Purchasing from Amiami and the like may be tempting, but if your order is over a certain amount then there is a possibility of getting hit by customs. There are certain things you can do to try and avoid this however excluding purchasing from one of the above stores.

North America

United States

There are no taxes unless a single package contains 200,000 yen ($2000) worth of stuff. Customs do a poor job of screening out illegal items.

Canada

Watch out, loli is illegal so be smart and sneaky about it. Taxes should be on anything marked over $60 CAD, however it's possible that you may avoid customs as long as there is no individual item over 10K in the package. Strict about checking international packages (unlike the US) but drops the ball on domestic packages (rotting human body parts have made it through the mail; it takes longer and costs more to ship something within Canada than from Canada to the US). Shipping does not seem to be taken into account when determining whether not to tax something.

A Canadian from /jp/'s Onahole threads went to court due to importing a loli hole, so be careful.

I've been importing from Japan for about three years now and have yet to pay any customs fees using RSAL. This includes packages marked over +200k yen. I've seen other buyfags with the same experience. If you can stomach the slower shipping then go with RSAL.

Mexico

Never use private couriers, they get taxed 99% of the times. SAL and EMS almost never get taxed.

Europe

France

Finland

VAT is added to packages over 22€ in value (shipping etc. included), which is 24% for pretty much everything except notably 10% for books, including manga. If the VAT is less than 5€, it's ignored. Possible additional costs of unknown quantity for packages over 150€ in value. Finding the amount out beforehand is difficult, but it's usually less than 10% of the package's value. If your package gets caught in customs, you just fill in the info online, pay, and wait until they send it off on it's way again. EMS has a very high chance of getting caught by customs, with registered mail having a pretty good chance as well.

Loli is legal.

Germany

Germany will tax packages at the following rate: Tax: Tax based on type of stuff you are importing, usually 4.5% for figures. Is calculated if your package value is above 150€.

EuST: Is calculated for every package with value+shipping above 22€. It's usually a flat 19%. If you have to pay taxes, you have to add them in.

Package value+shipping = 25€ --> You only pay a 19% EuST --> 25*0.19 = 4.75€. Package value = 160€, Shipping = 20€ --> You have to pay additional taxes, if you are buying figures you are at 4.5% --> 160*0.045 = 7.2€ --> EuST is calculated on top of it, so additional 19% --> (160+20+7.2) * 0,19 + 7.2 = 42,77€ tax+EuST.

If a package isn't labeled correctly (i.e. shipping cost missing, suspected for undervaluing), you'll have to go to your customs office, show a proof of purchase and pay. There is an option to send in the proof per mail and let DHL handle the rest, but since 2015, this costs 28,50€ + the taxes you have to pay.

Using SAL or Airmail will normally get through if the package is undervalued to ~2000 yen. SAL parcel most of the time gets caught, same with EMS. But this depends on your customs office. Using USAL to sneak past customs does not seem to work if the package is not undervalued.

Shipping also gets added to the value and included for taxes. So if your package costs 20€ + 30€ shipping, you'll have to pay 9,50€ taxes.

German customs use their own exchange rate for calculating, which is changed at the beginning of each month. The current exchange rate can be found here.

Italy

EMS is usually spotted at custom and charged 24% import tax (not if below 45€, but by using EMS you are like to be above that).

Latvia

Latvia will charge at 21% of the value of the package as long as the value is over 23.5€. However undervaluing seems to work very well no matter what type of delivery you use, so feel free to use EMS to get your package quicker.

Poland

All packages valued over 22EUR should be charged with 23% VAT. All packages valued over 150EUR should be charged with 23% VAT and customs fees (exactly which fees they use is anyone's guess - you may be looking at fees on toys, art, scale, non-scale, RC models, etc. - there is no way to contest incorrect fees unless you want your package to be returned to sender in the meantime). The VAT and customs fees will be calculated from the total value including shipping costs. VAT for books is actually only 8%, but no one cares, you're gonna pay 23% anyway. That is, if your package gets caught - this depends on the shipping method (surface mail and USAL have the lowest chance to be caught with EMS being basically 100%), the declared value (packages valued over 22EUR have a higher chance to be caught), the forwarding and distribution department your package ended up in (there are five) and how lazy the customs people are that day.

Even packages valued under 22EUR may be held in customs. In this case, you will receive a letter asking you to declare the contents of the package, their value (if a translated invoice is not available they seem to favor screenshots of the website and payment confirmation documents - you will need to send both), intended purpose (sale or personal use), your PESEL and delivery address. This can be done by email. VAT and fees are paid to the mailman upon delivery. In some cases you will need your ID to confirm your identity. You might not be notified that a package valued over 150EUR is in customs - if the customs declaration is complete and not suspicious it will just get delivered to your door and you will have to pay the VAT and fees to the mailman.

On evading VAT and customs fees: The customs office can open any and all packages, but they're generally busy with large transports, so most packages are processed by Polish Post employees. They will not open packages unless they have a good reason to believe the material inside is hazardous or law-breaking (they will call for a customs officer in those cases), unless the package has been considerably damaged or unless you allow them to. Use this to your advantage as you don't need to declare the name of the item. It is possible to send them shooped website screenshots and Paypal payment screenshots. The more stuff is written in moonspeak on them the better your chances are. Remember that VAT evasion is a crime - if you get caught, blame /v/.

Spain

All packages over 22€ should be charged with 21% VAT, including the cost of shipping. There will also be a transaction fee of between 15-25€ as a result. If the package's value is about 22€ but below 150€ then you are able to pay the courier or go to a post office to receive your package. However, if the value is above 150€ then you will need to send an invoice to customs and wait for them to tell you how much you need to pay, which will be paid by bank transfer and should take around a week. EMS is very likely to get caught by customs which will add a 1-4 week delay, while SAL shipments which are under 2kg are very rarely caught. It is recommended to undervalue using one of the above shops. Porn and loli should be fine to ship to Spain.

Sweden

VAT (moms) is 25% on item(s), shipping and insurance cost except on food (12%) and printed matter (6%).

VAT is paid on everything over 300 SEK total and over 500 SEK total if marked as gift. Import tax (tull) is paid on over 1500 SEK total. However small packages usually get through no matter value (for example 1-2 Blu-ray(s)) and bigger packages somewhat rarely get taxed no matter the value or if it's marked as gift (for example one figure ~0,75 kg, undervalued to 240 SEK total).

EMS is free from import declaration fee (PostNord is handling EMS). Import declaration fee is 125 SEK for PostNord on anything that isn't EMS, ~80 SEK for FedEx and ~60 SEK for DHL.

United Kingdom

For items coming from outside the EU, you will pay VAT of 20% on anything that is over £15 or £36 if it is labelled as a gift. Furthermore, if you receive this charge then you will also pay an additional admin fee of £8 if the package goes through the Royal Mail or £13.50 if it goes through Parcelforce. RSAL goes through Royal Mail whereas EMS goes through Parcelforce.

In the event that you are hit by customs with either Parcelforce or Royal Mail, they will hold the package at the local depot and send you a letter. You can then either pay the fee online and have it delivered the next day, or take the letter to the depot, pay in person and immediately receive it. For Parcelforce if tracking says that it has arrived at the local depot then you can go to the depot with a letter. You can give your postcode and pay customs immediately, which is usually faster as Parcelforce's letter takes several days to arrive after the package arrives at the depot.

If you send your package by RSAL then there is a higher chance of it missing customs, this is also done through the Royal Mail so if you do get hit by customs then your admin charge will be £8.

Sending your package by EMS however will make it significantly more likely, if not guaranteed to be hit by customs and is delivered through Parcelforce which will mean a £13.50 admin charge. Additionally, this may potentially remain in customs for such a long time that RSAL would have been faster.

Marking packages as a gift does not guarantee that it will not be hit by customs, however goods like Books have 0% VAT so they will never be hit by customs no matter what value they are. Undervalued items will almost always pass through customs without problems.

Australia

All packages over $1000 will be taxed, which gives a very high threshold for avoiding fees. This may be changing in 2017. Loli material is illegal to import however possession laws vary by state/territory. Customs is pretty lazy though so the chances of anything being intercepted is slim. You will need ID when picking up packages.

South America

Brazil

No taxes on books/printed stuff. Taxes (60% import tax) are rare with RSAL and below. EMS has very high risk on taxes, try to avoid, use SAL Parcel instead for large shipments. Smaller risk with small packages and cheaper package value.