Beware customs

My friend purchased this paul and shark jacket for R3000 and It cost him an additional R1000 at customs. :|
 
Apart from customs duty, there is also VAT which is applicable for majority of imports.
 
What you will be charged is all publicly available information.
 
Seems very stacked in their favour.

Why the subjective and arbitrary valuation of the item, bearing no relation to what was actually paid?

Why the arbitrary extra 10% added to the value for the VAT calculation?

How are you supposed to calculate duties in advance with all this arbitrariness?

Why is there one rule for importers, another rule for goods that are shipped to consumers and a third rule for returning tourists (flat rate 20% + no VAT, under R5000 exempt)?
 
Paid R2600 for used goods and marked it as gift with $20 value and they didn't question it and did not have to pay anything :).

The other things I have purchased were charged correctly with the 14% vat according to the duty calculator.

garp said:
Seems very stacked in their favour.

Why the subjective and arbitrary valuation of the item, bearing no relation to what was actually paid?

Why the arbitrary extra 10% added to the value for the VAT calculation?

How are you supposed to calculate duties in advance with all this arbitrariness?

Why is there one rule for importers, another rule for goods that are shipped to consumers and a third rule for returning tourists (flat rate 20% + no VAT, under R5000 exempt)?
Click to expand...

Use this site
http://www.dutycalculator.com/
 
ichigo said:
Paid R2600 for used goods and marked it as gift with $20 value and they didn't question it and did not have to pay anything :).

The other things I have purchased were charged correctly with the 14% vat according to the duty calculator.

Use this site
http://www.dutycalculator.com/
Click to expand...

It seems to be luck of the draw, though. I agree most stuff just gets through but some seems to get "flagged" for special attention. Get the feeling they have triggers for certain goods descriptions that they hone in on for further scrutiny.

Still doesn't explain the different rules for commercial importers, ad hoc consumer shipments and returning tourists.
 
So we are talking about an effective 50% tax on imported goods?


So for every R100 , you will pay

R20 ~ (the duty valuye on the goods)
R10 ~ (the arbitrary 10% )
R18 ~ (the VAT which is on the final sum of above , effectively 18% instead of 14%)**

=R48

Seriously where the F is all this money going? What is customs doing with that 10% ? Things like this makes me want to break the law and dodge taxes left right and center.


It is ironic that "ATV" really should mean "Arbitrary Tax Value"

**Isn't that kinda against the meaning of VALUE ADDED TAX ? How can they tax the tax? What value is it adding? So they artificially tax the product and tax the inflated value? Isn't that against some tax law?
 
Last edited:
We import almost 90% of the goods we sell in SA.
The import charges are exactly what we have been paying since we started.
What was not mentioned, were the fees you also have to pay your shipper.
It's very expensive to import and us who then retail it on, are getting it in the neck for ripping the clients off.
This is slowly changing however, as SARS is getting strict on individuals who under declare or falsely declare their imports.
Add to that where us import retailers, also have brick and mortar shops with staff bills etc to pay, and it's bloody tough out there.
 
In Australia you can import AU$1000(R9710,84) per parcel tax-free.
http://www.bdlive.co.za/articles/2012/06/20/low-threshold-impedes-online-shopping;jsessionid=8BDFFA57682A22D504D1AECBC0CA8FAB.present1.bdfm

Russian Federation
Duty and tax depend on an individual’s monthly import activity. The monthly allowance is currently a total value of 1,000 Euro (CIF value = value of goods + shipping) or a total weight of 31 kg. Duty and tax are payable at a combined rate of 30% of the value in excess of 1,000 Euro, although nothing is payable if the duty and tax are 2 Euro or less. (no wonder there are so many Russian forums about phones, tablets and electronic goods from China)
http://www.borderlinx.com/pages/faq/duty-free-limit

Unfortunately we aren't that lucky.
 
Last edited:
garp said:
Seems very stacked in their favour.

Why the subjective and arbitrary valuation of the item, bearing no relation to what was actually paid?

Why the arbitrary extra 10% added to the value for the VAT calculation?

How are you supposed to calculate duties in advance with all this arbitrariness?

Why is there one rule for importers, another rule for goods that are shipped to consumers and a third rule for returning tourists (flat rate 20% + no VAT, under R5000 exempt)?
Click to expand...

Budget 100% of your of your purchase amount. If it costs less you'll be happy.
 
this is just another example of someone who doesn't understand import duties and tax and complains about it.

She would rather be out of pocket R2k+ than pay R1k in tax/duties? riiiiiiight, makes total sense
 
I imported two pairs of sunglasses, a month apart.
The first pair was R300, had to pay customs & vat of R60.
The 2nd pair was R100, customs & the vat was R37.

Effective percentage difference of 17% for the same item.
 
Petec said:
We import almost 90% of the goods we sell in SA.
The import charges are exactly what we have been paying since we started.
What was not mentioned, were the fees you also have to pay your shipper.
It's very expensive to import and us who then retail it on, are getting it in the neck for ripping the clients off.
This is slowly changing however, as SARS is getting strict on individuals who under declare or falsely declare their imports.
Add to that where us import retailers, also have brick and mortar shops with staff bills etc to pay, and it's bloody tough out there.
Click to expand...

Thanks to the internet the world is getting smaller. If I can get the item shipped with customs cheaper than local, my money is going overseas. I have no loyalty to support any shop.
 
envo said:
this is just another example of someone who doesn't understand import duties and tax and complains about it.

She would rather be out of pocket R2k+ than pay R1k in tax/duties? riiiiiiight, makes total sense
Click to expand...

tHIS. Stupid.
 
I buy a lot of stuff via the internet. I always add 25% on the sale price in case I have to pay duty. Amazon now adds on approximate duty and refunds money not used if duty has to be paid.
 
I've been taxed on a $6.00 package a number of times before. In the past they used to let them through, but lately they charge for everything. The VAT on 110% of the value is bearable, but then they add a R20 clearance charge on top of that.
So R66 + R10.16 + R20 = R96.16 Almost 46% Duties. :cry:
 
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