tax : usa > europe

[ymages]

what is your experience buying in usa from europa ?

did you pay any additional taxes ?

 

i wanted to buy my canon eos 20D but I have heard it;s possible to

hahe to pay 300 euros tax of importation

 

i am now looking for zooms ...

[jespdj]

How much you have to pay depends on the country where you live. Here in the Netherlands you have to pay import duty and VAT. The amount of import duty differs for different products, for some products it is 0%. VAT is 19% in the Netherlands.

 

Even with the added tax and shipping costs, it might still be cheaper to buy it in the USA. I bought a Canon EF f/2.8 Macro at B&H, I had to pay 120 Euros tax when it arrived, but it was still cheaper than if I would have bought it in a shop here.

 

Maybe the tax or customs department of your country has a website with info about this, so try to find it.

[ymages]

but in any case you will pay a tax ?

 

for the canon eos 20D it seems that it was 300 euros

in that case for a small 100 euros difference at the end i bought it in france

 

merci :-)

[nikos peri]

Erick, yes the french Douanes are very good at catching these things. Last I had something shipped into France, it was about 5% import duty plus VAT, all calculated on the goods value+shipping converted at an extortionate exchange rate.<p>

For example: $1000 D70 at B&H + $100 shipping<br>

will be converted into 887 Euro (rip off 1.24 forex rate)<br>

With tax and VAT, you're at 1100 Euro.<p>

Trust me, nos amis les betes des douanes ne laissent rien passer.

For the same amount of money, you could buy a cheap plane ticket, fly to NYC, buy the camera (shoot some great pictures) and fly back.

[tamlyn]

A friend of mine bought his 300D from the US and didn't pay any tax or duty. When I bought my D70 I considered buying from the US and investigated the tax situation. If you get caught, not only do you pay VAT and import duty but you risk a fine for not declare it properly. In the end I decided it wasn't worth the risk.

 

Nicola isn't joking about flying to NY. I realised it would be just as cheap for me to do that. I didn't because I didn't have the time and I would rather have a UK guarantee than a US one if something goes wrong.

[ymages]

thanks :-))

 

yes it's incredible !! I had better to fly there buy my 2 or 3 zooms + the canon and back

 

it is a non sense ...

 

ok i shall buy it in germany .. they have the best price in europa

[jespdj]

As far as I know you don't pay extra tax if you buy it inside the European Union.

 

If the difference is only $100 or ?100 for a 20D, I'm not sure if I'd get it all the way from the USA... being able to go back to the shop if there's anything wrong with the camera is also worth something.

[ymages]

inside europa there is no tax I currently buy between france and Germany

 

and in usa you get one year garanty (i think) in europa 2 years

[tom_burke3]

There are three issues: a) VAT; b) import duty; and c) guarantee/warranty.

 

a) VAT: If you import something into the EU, you are supposed to pay VAT at whatever rate

is current for that type of good in the country where you import it. That's true whether you

buy it by mail order/on-line, or whether you go to NYC, buy it physically at B&H and bring

it back yourself. If you do a mail order/on-line import you are very likely indeed to be

required to pay the VAT - it will probably have been levied on the carrier, eg FedEx, and

they will reclaim it back from you. Oh, they may add an 'admin charge' as well. However,

there's no penalty, they just charge you the tax - you haven't tried to evade any duty. If

you go to New York, buy it personally and then walk back through the Green channel at

customs you may well get away with it, but on the other hand if you get caught you may

have to pay a surcharge as well as the tax, because you tried to evade payment.

 

b) import duty: this may not be levied at all (it's different for different items) but in any

case it's only a few % at worst;

 

c) guarantee/warrantee: for me, this is the stopper. If you buy a Canon digital SLR camera

in the USA, you have a warranty with Canon USA only, not Canon Europe or in the country

where you live. If there's a problem with the camera it's very likely indeed that Canon

Europe will not honour that US warranty. You may also have a warranty from the NYC

retailer, but that will require you to send it back to them. So either way, you'll either have

to mail it back to USA or pay for a repair in europe. In actual fact, you may not even have a

warranty in the USA! - I believe that in many cases part of the condition of the warranty is

that you be a 'resident of the country of sale', ie the USA.

 

So basically you're stuffed. By far the easiest way to get a lower cost DSLR within the EU is

to hunt out a cheap source in another EU country. Here in the UK, AJ Purdy are a

comparatively low-cost supplier, for example. The point is that if you buy an item and pay

VAT anywhere within the EU, you can take it to another EU country without having to pay

any further tax/duty. Be careful with imports from weird places in Europe that aren't

actually in the EU - the Channel Islands, for instance. There are a few others of these.

[ymages]

your answer could be an article in this website it is usefull for everybody .. difficult informations to find

 

for the moment I have never payed anything from france to germany or germany to France (buyed online with credit card ) .. i have no experiences in other EU countries

 

thanks a lot

[andrew robertson]

Maybe you should just pay the taxes instead of dodging them. After all, your society

would go broke if nobody paid their taxes unless they felt like it.

[igord]

No tax for digital cameras, only vat if sent as a present.

[nicola_back]

As I have lived in the US in the past (and now in Europe), I can give some help on this subject.

 

1. Why things are so cheaper in the US as compared to Europe? I can think of at least 3 reasons: (a) Europe was built on the concept of taxes (you pay taxes for everything, even for going to the toilet!), while in USA there is only one small tax (the State tax, usually 4-7%) and if you order between the States you don't pay any taxes at all! This is a good idea for them to support free commerce. If people buy things, businesses can live. There are not such ideas in Europe. (b) European governments spend huge amounts of money for their leisure. For example the European parliament members declare false travel expenses (i.e. from Brussels to Paris!) in order to put in pocket a few thousand euros every while. Each member of the parliament costs a minimum of 500.000 euros per year (think about: luxury hotels, champaigns, chaviar, mercedes cars, porches, trips to Hong Kong or Sydney, etc.). Where do this money come from? Obviously from the tax payer. © The European leaders do not care if people struggle to pay their bills. Most important for them is to arrange their next free summer holidays for their family (their luxury resorts are obviopusly charged on the tax payer!)

 

2. In some EU countries like Greece, it's not true that you'll have to pay import taxes if you mailed order from USA. If the parcel is small (i.e. a digital camera or lens) they won't bother open it at the posts. I buy many small things from the US and I receive my parcels at home without trouble. Sometimes I save from 60 to 300% in euros, especially now that the dollar is so weak.

 

3. The only trouble is that most electronic stores in USA won't bother to ship to Europe. And if they do, they will charge a lot for international shipping. For example, I'm trying to buy the new Panasonic Lumix FZ18. The best price in Europe is at Pixmania: 375 euros including shipping. In the US it costs 250-330 $, that is around 200 euros, but only B&H would ship to Europe charging 125$ for it! So, it's not worth it. So, my search continues.

 

4. The guarantee issue that many people reported here is not really a problem. This is because good brands do not break in 1 or 2 years, so there is no real risk that anything will happen. But even if it does happen, you can always find a solution, even by paying the repair fee. In the worst of the cases you will even the difference between US-Europe price. So, do risk it!

 

5. Traveling to the US is convenient only if you are going to buy many things, not just a digital camera. You can always pass your stuff through the customs (take the green line). A good practice is to unpack the camera in N.Y., put the strap over your shoulder and walk loose thru the customs in your country. If they ask you about the camera say that it was yours before you exited the country. Nobody will charge you anything for things that you own. Simple ideas like these always work. I have passed hundrents of things thru the customs during my travels in the past without paying a single dime! Also, take into account that most custom officers are not particularly smart!

 

6. And a final idea. If you plan to travel to the US to buy your favorite camera or lenses, try Andorra first. Andorra is a rax-free paradise easily reached from France or Spain. Chances are that you will find cheap prices there as in the US. But what about the customs? As both France and Spain hate Andorrans (for many reasons, not to explain here) they will try to search you at the exit customs. A good strategy: If you are French exit from the Spanish border pretending you don't speak spanish well. The opposite holds if you are Spanish. In general you are allowed to buy up to 120 euros from Andorra tax-free. So, buy some kitchen things along with your expensive electronics, i.e. a cofee machine for 60 euros and a pair of good sports shoes for 45. Keep the receipts. Hide well into your car the electronics and when they ask you "what you have bought from Andorra?" show them the coffee machine etc. It will usually work. Spanish officers won't bother searching French citizens entering Spain (again it's a good idea to first dismandle your electronics and have them with you as your own things in an old camera bag. No risk at all! Good?