Backround: I signed for a parcel from Hairybaby that was a surprise gift from a friend. Two tshirts about 30 euro in cost of products. THen few weeks later I received a bill for 61chf to pay for importing the parcel. I called up Swisspost and said that this was a gift and I am not importing anything why do I have to pay tax on a gift. They said to have an email sent from Hairy Baby to confirm this but after doing that this is the reply I received.
"Thank you very much für your e-mail. Unfortunately we cannot make a difference between presents and other imports. In the case of an Inco Terms 20, all costs of customs clearance, customs duty and VAT are charged to you as recipient. Please contact the sender if you do not agree with the choice of Inco Terms.
Because of this we cannot cancel your invoice. The only possibility you have is that the shipper confirms the absorption of costs.
I hope that this information was of some help for you."
I am livid. the cost of the tax is ridiculous esp as I have imported items myself in the past such as a buggy and it never came to this amount.
Anyone else come across this problem? It would mean I would have to tell everyone not to send us gifts for our newborn as we would risk huge tax bills!
That does seem really high. Also, gifts are allowed from private person to private person up to 100 chf? Even if they didn't consider the company a private person and thus that this was a gift, wouldn't you only be charged 8% of the cost + customs duty (1 chf / kg)? So something like 4 chf? What's the breakdown of the charges?
Tell your friend to have it sent to them next time; they can then open, rewrap and send it onto you as a gift. Swisspost just see merchandise arriving and tax accordingly. They don't know or care who paid for the product. It's the thought that counts.
I can't put precise figures on it, but the majority of that bill, 40 -
50 franks or so, is simply a processing charge that you pay for pleasure of having the post check the package. The tax is likely to be lesser part of that bill.
You should be able to refuse the package and return it back to the sender to avoid the all the custom fees. I've done this at the Post station while picking up a package. But since you've already signed and received the package, I'm not sure if returning is still an option.
I know I received some chocolates from my in laws 2 yeasr ago and ending paying 30 CHF, It's so expensive but the next time ask them to declare the gift as a used items )
There's nothing to get. It is called being shafted.
My case:
60 Euro coat, approx 90 CHFat the time.
Came with bill of 30 CHF (12 CHF tax + 18 CHF admin).
I refused collection and the PO held it for me.
I called tax authorities.
Me: Hi calling about this coat. Worth 90 CHF, you want to charge me 30 CHF, i.e. 33% tax
Him: Oh no sir, it is a flat rate tax and the 18 CHF is an admin charge
Me: Mate, it is all the same to me. I am happy to pay the 7.x% MWST but not 33%. Or, I will refuse delivery, you will have to pay for it to be resent, I will then ask the company to resend to a friend in France and they will bring it over for me. Your choice.
...by the way, there's no prizes for guessing what happened next...
Was it sent by EMS? or normal post? EMS/Courier prices are higher for import inspections. Standard post is 18CHF plus taxes (8% of value including postage).
That's outrageous. And to receive an invoice AFTER the fact is even more so because you already signed for it without knowing you'd be taxed.
One of my husband's colleagues got some gifts from his Italian Mom for his home - necessities like a rug, blankets, and towels - and was highly taxed too. So I told him next time to just have stuff sent to us in France and we'll bring it over to him.
Consider the cost and times involved in taxing your parcel : Open the invoice, check the invoice, translate some terms, open the package, repack the package, research the value online, type your details into their system, prepare a bill, send a bill, follow up when you don't pay or when you complain etc etc.
Taking an average of 20 minutes per parcel is not unrealistic. How much would your company charge for 20 minutes of your time, plus some overheads? I would say 30+ Francs is not unreasonable.
The simple fact is that it costs money to receive parcels from abroad. People don't work for free.
The whole thing is ridiculous. The declared value on the package was under 100 chf.
This has happened to me twice in the last year - once on some shoes I ordered from London - which didn't fit and so I was out the customs fee regardless - and once for a gift from my brother. I had to pay upfront at the Post Office or I couldn't go home with the package.
This is one of the reasons why Switzerland can keep prices so high. The solution for gifts over 100 chf is to lie outright on the customs ticket and hope your package isn't opened (cuz then you pay the customs handling fee no matter what's in the box) - or just do your shopping and gift-exchanging abroad.
Plus if the whole process is only taking 20 minutes max, and the Post Office is getting 43 francs for it (customs clearance plus that mysterious 10 chf "commission") then that translates into about 130 francs an hour, which is WAY over minimum wage in my book. someone is making money on this, and I guarantee you it's not the poor sucker opening up the package in the back room.
I received lots of parcels when i had my new born BUT they were all sent by the sender and not sent by a company. So the moral of this story is for your friends and family to have the items delivered to them and then they send the item here with gift stated on the packaging.
I wasn't charged any customs and i received around 15 separate gifts in total
This is one of the reasons why the OP has this charge. If people declared the goods and cost as per customs requirementsand correctly, there would be less inspections of goods. The OP's friend / company that sent the goods followed the normal procedure of a company delivery declaration. However because so many people are declaring goods as 'used' or with incorrect values, customs are checking more and more.
As various people have said, the unfortunate part for you was that your friend did not send it directly. You would have found it would not (less of a chance) have been hit with customs charges.
I reeceive between 1 and 8 packages to CH a week. They however do not come from larger firms like Amazon. They are from smaller sellers. Not many come with yellow tape on them having been 'checked' by customs. Those that do, do come with a bill after for the work customs have done. I take it as given that with the importing of the goods that i want from overseas I will end up with some customs charges.
For me, it is a small price to pay for goods from overseas. However it is my choice to import and take that risk.
I think the customs don't buy the "gifts" label anymore, so trying to avoid import tax this way is risky.
The customs had very strong guidelines recently to try to curb the Euro shopping out of switzerland. So if it goes through the post, you're likely to get caught now. The only way I think is physical delivery, in the trunk...