I would like to ship my laptop computer to Taiwan, it was to large to bring with me. I’ve already checked the shipping to and from tread and done a search and have found nothing relating to shipping computers. Does anyone know if there will or will not be a tax on this? I am going to have it shipped from the United States via USPS Global Priority, the computer is around $US 1000. Is there some way that I can declare it as a personal effect/used computer to avoid taxes? From some things I’ve read online (unverified) it seems that this method may be exempt from tariffs. Thanks!
I carry a laptop on business all the time as carry on luggage? How can it be too big?
I was wondering about that, too. Laptops are designed to be portable.
If it’s for your own personal use, you won’t need to pay import taxes in it. No need to even declare it at customs.
Let me clarify, I’m already in Taiwan and want to get my second computer shipped here. I have been in China for the last two months and did not want to bring both of them along with me. One is netbook (brought it with me) the other is a very large entertainment laptop. I’m not bringing it through customs myself, therefore it maybe subject to some additional tariffs when shipped internationally. Sorry for the confusion, Cheers!
Pip, it appears that nobody is actually reading your thread (or the subject, which clearly contains the word “ship”) haha. I had my brand new Macbook Air shipped here and didn’t pay a dime in customs - here’s the trick: Make sure it’s not in any kind of box or new packaging. Put it in a “case”, put some stickers on it, anything to make it look used. Then on the customs declaration just write in a value of $50 and write in “personal effects” for the goods description. You should be fine. 
Hey, cheers drvelocity! 
Thanks for the response, you think under valuing it like that won’t be a problem? I mean if you look at the thing it’s certainly looks like it’s worth more than $50 . I guess it’s probably more important to declare it as personal effects though. I’ll tell my folks to slap a sticker on it before they send it just for good measure!
I’m not 100% sure on this, but in my understanding the invoice value is technically zero since it’s not worth anything, so you could probably write zero as well. But if you insure the item for $1000, customs will sometimes charge duties based on that amount even if you write a zero value on the invoice/customs value declaration. For an item that is clearly not for resale, however, they usually won’t bother. I used to write $50 for the value of these non-dutiable items just to avoid looking too “out of the ordinary”, but now that I think about it I don’t see a problem with just writing “$0” if it really is all just personal goods.
In my case I took a risk by not insuring the Macbook Air at all just to make it extra clear that I don’t place a high value on the contents of that package. In your case I’d write “personal effects” with a value of zero, don’t bother insuring the package, make sure there’s nothing newish in the box, and you should be fine.
Sounds good man, what service did you use to air ship yours? Do you mind if I ask about how much it was? I’m sure it’s cheaper for a Macbook air, my laptop weighs almost 10 pounds, so it may cost a bit to get it here.