# Customs Duty



## Unregistered (15 Apr 2005)

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody could help me regarding a question about Customs Duty.

If I want to buy some clothing from the US I have to pay customs duty when they arrive. Does anyone know if the duty incurred is less if you buy in bulk? My reason being is that I want to pass on the saving to the customer if this is the case. As an example:

If I buy 1 pair of jeans from the states for €100 inc VAT when they arrive lets say I have to pay duty of 20% on top of that. So my total cost is €120.

Now if I were to buy 20 pairs of jeans each worth €100 inc VAT. When they arrive to I still have to pay 20% or is their a sliding scale implemented?

I have had no luck with Customs and Excise as they have a tariff book bigger than the bible and were not very helpful. They also say that they can only work out the charge once it has landed, which is not much help to me in my financial projections. Is there anyone else I can talk to about this duty charge? Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks.

AK


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## Swoon0 (15 Apr 2005)

Hi,

See here for a Commodity Code & a rate of Duty - [broken link removed]

No discounts for bulk buying I'm afraid - whatever the rate is, is what it will be whether you buy 1 dollar worth of jeans or 10 mill worth of jeans, the percentage rate remains the same.

When you have the rate of duty for the specific product, (after you have got your commodity code for the product), this must be added to your figure on your sales invoice from your supplier and then VAT must be added to your sales invoice price and your duty total.

For example - 10 pairs of jeans at Usd 100 each, Usd 1000, The rate of duty is 3.5%, Usd 1000 x 3.5% = Usd 1035, multiplied by 21% VAT, Usd 217.35, added together gives you a total of Usd 35 Duty and Usd 217.35 VAT that would be payable. 

The Customs & Excise people issue rates of exchange on a monthly basis at which the USD figure will be converted to Eur. their rate not yours !!

Unless you have an account with them (TAN) you will have to lodge this with the customs entry before goods will be cleared and realeased to you.

Let me know if you need any other info.


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## davici (15 Apr 2005)

Hi Swoon0,



Thanks very much for your extremely helpful reply. I couldn't log in since the site was updated so I have set up a new account.



On the tariff website, they ask for the Origin/Destination? Now maybe I am stupid but you only get one choice and both of those options don’t seem the same to me! Anyway, I put in the origin/Destination of USA and chose the tariff code. It seems to have worked fine I think?



You also mentioned a dubious exchange rate that they take on a monthly basis; does this mean I am liable to currency fluctuations that are not representative of the daily rate? 



Also, you mentioned having an account with them, what is the best way to go about getting an account with them, as I imagine they will also be able to answer a lot of my questions?



Again, thanks very much for your help.



Ak


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## Swoon0 (18 Apr 2005)

Hi,

No prob at all.

Origin/Destination - 
This is a world wide tariff so you could be an exporter, exporting on a DDU basis - Delivered Duty Paid, which means you would be liable for the duty in the country you are exporting to, I guess why that's there !

Rate of Exchange - 
In fairness I wouldn't really say it is a dubious rate, all I am saying is that they fix it for a month !, and in fairness it's usually a reasonable reflection of the value of which the currency is trading at. You won't be screwed - Much !!

Account - 
It's an account alright - but it always has to be in credit !! - they don't extend credit to you, say for example you expect your duty/vat to be about 10k, then stick 10k into the account (TAN - Trader Account Number) and it's there for when you need it, set aside for this purpose and means you don't have to lodge a Bank Draft with the local customs office before they will route (Clear) the goods - Customs don't extend credit to my knowledge ! You will get all the info as to set up an account by contacting them in the Irish Life Mall in Dublin (I think this is where they have Moved to), check book for number.

P.s. - My size in Jeans is 36 !!!!!

G'luck


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## tomthevet (19 Apr 2005)

SwoonO

You might be able to help me also with what although appears a simple question nobodys seems to be able to answer. 

We entered a contract with a english supplier for goods (promotional material) to be supplied to Ireland and payment to be made in euro.

We we contacted by the english company to be told the goods were landed in ireland and could we pay for the delivery and take this amount from our payment to them. (we did - never again) There was an amount on this invoice for Customs Vat cira €300 approx 10% of the order value and at the end of the invoice was vat. When i questioned the invoice and particularly the vat amount was told vat at the end was for delivery and both that and customs vat could be reclaimed.
My question is can we actually claim back the customs vat amount or is this an import tax. If you can claim it can we just do this via the Vat3 form

Nearly forgot the goods were originally from far east -


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## Swoon0 (19 Apr 2005)

Can I just ask - as the goods were from the Far East, I assume they were customs cleared in England and then shipped over to you in Ireland, and not customs cleared here ?

"There was an amount on this invoice " - which invoice ??  - the invoice from your supplier in England for the promo material ? They should not be invoicing you for Customs VAT - period, if they are the importers then they pay it..

If VAT on transport was €300 - it must have cost a lot to get the goods to Ireland. 

To the best of my knowledge - I do not think you can claim back Import VAT. You might just check with C&E in Irish Life Mall in Dublin.


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## Unregistered (20 Apr 2005)

Swoon0 said:
			
		

> as the goods were from the Far East, I assume they were customs cleared in England and then shipped over to you in Ireland, and not customs cleared here ?



If the goods were from the Far East, why assume the goods were customs cleared in England and then shipped over to Ireland?

Could the goods not have been shipped from the Far East direct to Ireland, and then customs cleared here?


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## Swoon0 (20 Apr 2005)

Obviously they could have been cleared here but as "tomthevet's" supplier has charged him for "customs" VAT I wanted to ensure they had been cleared there.

If you have something constructive to add please feel free as you can read all the postings so far.


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## tomthevet (20 Apr 2005)

Swoono
Thanks for the reply - hopefuly the info below will be of use

The goods were shipped to ireland directly - the invoice i received with the vat amounts was from an irish shipping company. We were asked to pay this and then deduct the amount paid from the invoice for the actual goods which were invoiced from the english company and there was no vat etc as we are irsh registered etc
invoice from shipping company included CUSTOMS DUTY 25.06 CUSTOMS VAT 
224.61 - Delivery 75 there were various other admin charges etc the total net shown at the end of the invoice was 499.67 vat 15.75 giving a total 515.42
The vat 15.75 is the 75 delivery charge plus vat - from clare to cork - no problem there - its the 224.61 Customs vat which is at issue


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## Swoon0 (20 Apr 2005)

HI,

The next question I would have is what terms of sale were agreed with your supplier in England ?, it's all well for them to arrange shipping directly to you but if you haven't agreed to look after the customs clearance etc etc (which I assume are the other charges you spoke about) then they should be sorting the transport people directly - there is no problem doing this normally.

To the best of my knowledge - I do not think you can claim back Import VAT. You might just check with C&E in Irish Life Mall in Dublin. If you can't then obviously you must get your supplier to re-imburse you, again, depending on the terms of sale you had agreed with your supplier.

Actually before you call them, why not call the transport co in Cork and ask for a copy of the customs entry (and you'll be able to see the rate of duty payable here plus the VAT payable).

What was the value on the invoice used for the customs entry as it seems that the duty figure is quite small and the VAT figure is large compared to it ?


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## tomthevet (22 Apr 2005)

Finally sorted – got a call from revenue today – seems Customs Vat can be reclaimed – a form called SAD to be returned with Vat 3 return. SAD is issused by imported and consignee is charged customs vat and can then reclaim



My problem was that Irish shipping company had originally designated the English company who supplied as the consignee and sub sequentially designated us. Was told to go ahead reclaim the custom vat and the revenue who contact shipping company about error

Many thanks for the help swoon


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## Bishop (28 Apr 2005)

Reading this has helped me greatly with a currently shipment I’ve got coming in form Hong Kong.



I order a few sample products from a buyer in HK to check the quality and see if there is a market for them here. They vary from bike lamps to cameras to pocket knives. The items would not be worth a lot alone but the total amount of the items was $123.50. The seller sent them via FedEx with a shipping total of $49 for a 1kg package. 



According to FedEx track and trace the box is currently in Dublin but held under “Regulatory agency clearance delay”. I assumed that this is customs. A few questions:



1. How long will the items be held? Few days, few weeks, etc?

2. Based on the amount outlined above is there any way I can work out what I’m going to pay so that I can have the money ready when the package arrives?

3. Will the VAT and duty applied to the invoice total or is there some Claus that state that the rates are based on the items resell value here in Ireland?



4Finally I read that the way the charge work in the UK is as follows, is it the same here(21% as apposed to 17.5% obviously)?

You’re looking at 17.5% VAT and around 6.5% Duty You pay VAT on the purchase price + the shipping + the Duty.You also pay Duty on the purchase price + shipping + VAT.So affectively you be pay tax on the taxesFedEx charge a £5 "admin fee" or if you're unlucky £11.​ 

Any help is great appreciated.


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