Now that I am beginning to settle into Taiwan and have realized that it is, in fact, a reasonably modern place with conveniences such as sanitation and wireless internet, I’m beginning to miss some things.
Like my laptop. And my palmpilot.
The obvious solution would be to have a fiend in The States dig them out of my storage locker and send them to me, but I am hesitant. I recall an ugly day in Berlin when I payed well over 180DM (about $90) in “Import Tax” on a package containing a crappy Kodak camera I had shipped to myself.
So, if I have electronics mailed to me from the U.S., will I need to pay obscene amounts of tax on them?
The valuables amount to one laptop (a 2ghz Celeron, nothing fancy) and two rather ancient Sony Clie PDAs (also not expensive). The laptop is over a year old, and the PDAs are closer to 4 years old.
Does anyone know the law? Does it have any bearing on how customs agents handle the situation? Any first hand experiences doing this?
[quote=“TNT”]perhaps declare the value of these items very low in the region of a a hundred dollars
Label them as no commerical value… personal property of the consignee[/quote]
How do I do this? Do I need to have the person shipping them do it? Do I do it when I pick them up? Can I insure them for the correct amount while still declaring the value as low? In the above situation in Berlin, I had no choice. The agent handed me a bill and my opened box, and explained that I could complain in German by mail if I wished. I’m hoping to avoid something similar.
Not a good idea, the declaration from the sender would have more weight than your word.
The answer to that question would possibly encourage an illegal activity.
Ask the sender to state something like this:
"Content:
Item 1 (x years old) - value
Item 2 (y years old) - value
…
Declaration for customs purposes only, no commercial value.
Purpose of shipment: for personal use only."
However note that this is not a guarantee that the custom won’t open the box or not tax you - if they consider it as taxable then you will have to pay the bill.
Naturally such a declaration is never a free pass (assuming you would play some trick), instead you should ensure it’s proper and correct.