Imported goods over NT$2,000 to be levied with customs duty

I hate this new law. It’s fucking stupid. There’s only so much stuff on the island. I get stuff shipped to me all the times from family members. Are they doing to tax me on that?

I doubt they’d tax you on that - after all, it’s a gift. It’s not an imported product.

But I’m very curious how this “six imported packages per half-year” system is going to work out, and what we’re going to hear from people affected by it.

Anybody know what the customs charge on a laptop with a price tag of NT10,000 coming from the mainland via DHL might be?

If I checked the customs database correctly, there is no import duty on laptops, so you only have to pay 5% VAT.

@rooftopclown Thanks a lot :grinning:

Taiwan Up! Keep it up Taiwan, you’re definitely getting the international recognition you crave! On spending expiring KLM miles in their shop I got the following…

Dear Redacted

Thank you for your recent order via the Flying Blue Rewards Shop for the redacted

I am writing to you before dispatching your order to advise you that most orders that I have sent to Taiwan recently, have been stopped by customs and import/customs charges have been raised.

On most occasions the customs charge/import duty can be higher than the customers expect or are aware of.

The laptop arrived 10/29. There were no fees. Here it is:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CHUWI-lapbook-12-3-6Gb-64gb-NOTEBOOK-ORDENADOR-WINDOWS-10-INTEL-QUAD/232437043123?hash=item361e53cfb3:g:KCwAAOSw-ldZYvYU

Your name is “Redacted”???

That doesn’t sound German…

Probably because I’m not German…

Has anyone yet had any issues with importing more than six packages in a six-month period? We’re getting to the end of the first six-month period when this applies, and I was wondering if anyone here has been affected yet.

I haven’t yet - I think I’m at four packages for this half-year. I’m also trying to figure out if I should order things now to keep my quota “open” for the first half of 2018. But I haven’t heard anything one way or the other about this policy actually being enacted.

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Very interesting.
Is that because of WTO rules since Taiwan exports many laptops to US for example ?

It could well be that they are afraid of reciprocal tariffs. For some items I suspect lobbying plays a big role, for instance duties on spirits are zero, while wine and beer are highly taxed.

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I got an order from iHerb last month for around NT2,900 and there were no taxes charged. On an order of around NT4,500, I was charged 40% in duties. A friend had the same experience. I sent a question to iHerb about whether the max limit is NT2,000 or NT3,000, but they haven’t got back to me yet.

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iHerb currently displays this when I look at my shopping cart:

Effective July 1st, 2017: Duties and Taxes will not be levied for international purchased shipments as long as no more than 6 orders with a value below NTD 3,000 are purchased within a half-year period. (Half year periods begin Jan 1st and July 1st). Any order beyond 6 times within the same half year period will be levied Duties/Taxes despite order amount.

And that seems to correspond with what you and your friend encountered. As best I can tell, the NT$2,000 amount isn’t in effect, and is perhaps stuck in committee somewhere? Or cancelled? So we’re still at NT$3,000, and supposedly with a six-package limit before duties kicked in, but there are still many, many questions about how that six-package limit works.

Interesting to hear it’s 40%. I’ve wondered what the duties actually are.

After I got the package, I saw some things, like protein powder, were at 25%, while vitamins were at 30%. But the total worked out to almost exactly 40%. The rest, I assume is a 10-15% charge by DHL as a brokerage fee. I’ve read about a lot of people complaining about this undeclared fee. Apparently, there is a way to get around that fee by self clearing, but there are a lot of steps involved and it’s not worth my time. I think 6 orders of 3K each 6 months is plenty for me.

Which are the official import duties for those products.

Contained in the 10-15% that you paid in addition to import duties would also be 5% VAT, which goes on top of the full cost including shipping and import duties.

Indeed.
One time I was lucky, I bought a waffle iron in Belgium and because the company had to add VAT in Belgium, I had an invoice including VAT which the customs official in Taiwan deducted from the total. He said no need to pay twice.

Has anyone ever dealt with having to return taxed imported goods back to the original shipping country? There was a reply on a reddit thread that indicated you could, but was hoping someone had more information or experience with this.

Thanks!

The measure is aimed at locals purchasing large volumes of inexpensive goods from mainland China-based internet retailers. Don’t like the scandalously high tax “surcharge” levied by DHL and the other courier outfits? Tough. The MOF has given them carte blanche to charge like wounded bulls. These companies are acting like loan sharks and will continue doing so until pressure is brought to bear by the media or lawmakers. One politico always eager for a share of the English-language PR spotlight is the DPP’s Wang Ting-yu. An avalanche of tweets bleating about the unfairness of the situation could pay handsome dividends. Wang’s Twitter handle is @MPWangTingyu.

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