When buying goods online and having them shipped to CH with DHL Express, for example vitamins, is the information below correct from the CH website.
Is it right to say, if my online order inclusive of shipping is less than 62 CHF I will not receive the documents they send via post seeking payment of the tax?
Customs duty and VAT are not levied if the amount due does not exceed CHF 5 per customs declaration. No taxes are levied on consignments with a value up to CHF 62 including shipping costs, customs clearance, insurance, customs duties, etc. (at a VAT rate of 8 %) or CHF 200 (at a VAT rate of 2.5%).
Correct, if DHL Express include everything in the price the OP pays for shipping and handling.
If the parcel were coming in via SwissPost it would be a different matter, as even tax free imports can be subject to checks which incur fees payable by the recipient.
It is up to the seller to label and declare the parcel and its contents. If it is a large seller who regularly ships worldwide, they ought to know what they are doing. A small seller in the EU may not realise that they have to fill in a customs label if the destination is CH.
Presumably you are purchasing from a seller who has taken off their (foreign to us) VAT since this is not due as you not reside in the country where the parcel is coming from. So your order is wholly duty free.
The upper value limit (goods value, incl. transport costs and customs duties) for an import exempt from VAT is:
8% VAT (applicable to majority of all shipments) => CHF 62.00
2.5% VAT (e.g., books) => CHF 199.00
Gifts sent from private individuals living abroad to private individuals in Switzerland are duty-free up to a goods value of CHF 100.00.
Goods purchased on the Internet do not satisfy these conditions and can't be considered as gifts. They are thus subject to duty in accordance with the general provisions.
I've actually been confused about the wording of the tax-threshold from customs, wouldn't the total value and postage costs have to be 16 francs less than 62 francs, since I routinely get charged 16 francs for customs clearance? It sounds like they are adding the potential customs clearance into the total checked for exceeding the threshold, but that clearance fee only applies if it does exceed the threshold.
I only hat to pay import duty once for some leather goods from the US.
Maybe you should order less stuff from the US and more from China or the EU?
You can look at www.tares.ch what goods have what duty rate.
Just like import tax it is only levied and charged if it is CHF 5 or more.
Duty has nothing to do with the value of the goods.
For most origins there is no duty. For most stuff the duty is by weight, including weight of any packaging (kind of like with the import tax where postage is part of the import value). For a few selected things (Watches for ex.) the duty is per piece.