I’m going to visit the UK and want to bring back around 20 of these boxes of shortbread as gifts.
walkersshortbread.com/produc … l/t110.htm
Rather than carrying them, I want to mail them. (I’ll probably send them to a friend’s address here so he can sign for them). Will I have to pay import duty?
Thanks for any tips.
declare them as samples sent to someone with no commerical value
However if they get lost the insurance won’t cover their original cost
Else say they are gifts and thus have no commerical value
Thanks TNT. They are gifts and that’s what I’ll write on the customs label. But do you think the customs will accept that 20 boxes are gifts?
you could give it a try…
If they tell you you need to pay, this is the link to Taiwan customs for tariffs to be paid on items. Have a look for bread
wwweng.dgoc.gov.tw/esearch-frames.asp
One time my friend bought a latop from the USA sent it here to Taiwan. Customs based on the declared value wanted him to pay a large fee as import duty
He simply got the performa invoice from customs faxed to him, and crossed out the declared value and reduced it to a couple of hundred dollars, and faxed it back.
The customs guys accepted this and he paid far less import duty
Thanks very much TNT. One further thing – if they do decide to slap duty on the package, will it be held in customs or can my friend pay cash on delivery?
Interesting site! There appears to be an entry for ‘sweet biscuits’.
I don’t see why 20 boxes wouldn’t be acceptable as gifts. It’s really not a marketable quantity IMO, although I’m sure customs will make up their own minds 
depending on who sends it
If your company has a forwarder the forwarder pays it and then they charge back the company. This is used for standard items sent like components, appliances etc
If you use DHL, Fedex etc, on passing through customs, customs will hold it up if they think duty should be paid on it. It then will not be released from customs to DHL or Fedex until you pay the tariff. If you let it there for too long ( I forgot the time period) then they start charging you for holding it. This is if the value on the commerical invoice is over NTD10,000.
Otherwise ( for items under the value of NTD 10,000), DHL Fedex etc will pay first and then will not release the shipment to you until you pay the duty to them.
I have never dealt with the post office but would assume the same principle applies. If you are using the Post Office then you should go with registered mail
If so the best way maybe to declare the the package (20 pcs) as having a value of 5 pounds, and send it.
Only thing is if the package is lost, all they will give back is the 5 pounds not 20 packets of biscuits as a replacment.
For small things, customs usually let it slide and allow it as duty free, as it amounts to paperwork for them to fill out if they want to charge you duty
The private couriers (UPS, Fedex, DHL) will always charge a custom broker fee upon delivery, independent of any duty on that might be needed to be paided.
If you use the post office EMS (express mail service), it will depend how strict the government custom brokers in the destination country, you might be able to slip by due to the shear volume they have to go through everyday and they will not charge you custom duty.
joesax, you can buy shortbread, and I think the exact same boxes, in the Tianmu branch of Wellcome, save yourself some hassle …