Import Duty Calculator

[Crossy]

Hunting for import duty rates for power inverters etc I came across this site http://www.dutycalculator.com/

It's actually a (not very cheap) paid service but you get 10 free calculations so for those importing rarely one can get a fair idea of how much they will potentially get stung for.

[WilliaminBKK]

Nice calculator - thanks for sharing, seems fairly accurate within .5% that could be their exchange rate. I wish I re-read your "10 free" before I wasted mine playing around LOL

[ripstanley]

Nice calculator - thanks for sharing, seems fairly accurate within .5% that could be their exchange rate. I wish I re-read your "10 free" before I wasted mine playing around LOL

Just post on here and someone can look it up for you.

Edit

I have 9 goes left

Edited September 12, 2012 by ripstanley

[WilliaminBKK]

Nice calculator - thanks for sharing, seems fairly accurate within .5% that could be their exchange rate. I wish I re-read your "10 free" before I wasted mine playing around LOL

Just post on here and someone can look it up for you.

Edit

I have 9 goes left

Thank you for the kind offer, now I'll share how I wasted my credits trying to figure out my sisters wedding gown and all bridesmaid gowns LOL how pathetic.

Thanks again, I really do like the calculator I've spent hours trying to sort that stuff out in the past.

[yougivemebaby]

Could it be possible to lock this topic? People could start posting what they were quoted. Only need to adjust for the exchange rate. Thank you

[WilliaminBKK]

Could it be possible to lock this topic? People could start posting what they were quoted. Only need to adjust for the exchange rate. Thank you

I for one wouldn't want this tread to be closed for "fear" of posts. I'm hopeful some exporters will see it and comment on some more tricks of the trade. The above calculator I've sent to 3 friends and they all love it.

[h90]

I didn't try it yet to save my 10 tries.

But I see two problem, when you select the "Importing from". It will honor the trade agreements.

But if you import some small amounts, you don't have the Form E and the customs will charge the general rate and not the cheaper rate.

Second problem: If you import several goods and they are cleared by the "Express Clearing" the highest rate applies to all goods.

So if you have 499 USD goods with zero duty and 1 USD goods with 30 % duty than you pay 30 % on the 500 USD.

[WilliaminBKK]

H90, in my experience that is what the forwarder does on our behalf breaking items down by line, yes it will honour the trade agreements which is good. Form E to which country ? I am still learning and eager to learn more.

Edited September 13, 2012 by WilliaminBKK

[CharlieH]

I'd love to find a company that ships to the UK regularly and I could put my box in with them, that way they can get the VAT back, and help reduce my costs.(if that was possible).

[h90]

H90, in my experience that is what the forwarder does on our behalf breaking items down by line, yes it will honour the trade agreements which is good. Form E to which country ? I am still learning and eager to learn more.

There are two different ways for customs clearing:

Express clearing, only for small amounts (I forgot the amount, maybe it was 40.000 Baht, but I might be wrong). FedEx, UPS etc etc is doing that when they just deliver one small package. Usually no clearance fees.

Normal clearing: the order will be broken down into the different products. That costs a clearance fee.

Form E is the Certificate of Origin. I am not sure if it is always called Form E. Just we always need it for imports from China and everyone calls it Form E.

Certificate of Origin would be the real name. My Chinese supplier told me that they always loose half a day applying for it, and they get it after the shipment is on the way, so they send me only this paper extra per DHL.

So it is only useful for larger amounts.

That is the way we do it, maybe there are smarter ways.....

[CWMcMurray]

H90, in my experience that is what the forwarder does on our behalf breaking items down by line, yes it will honour the trade agreements which is good. Form E to which country ? I am still learning and eager to learn more.

Form E is for ASEAN / China fta

Form D is for other ASEAN countries

Form AK for Aean / Korea

Form AI for ASEAN / India

Form AJ1 for ASEAN / Japan

Form AANZFTA for ASEAN / Australia & New Zealand

Form TAFTA for Thai / Australia FTA

Form JTEPA for Thai / Japan FTA

Note that the above are specific types of certificate of origins, not to be confused with a general certificate of origin...

For example...If you have just a general C\O and tried to apply for preferential duty rate under ASEAN / China FTA you would not receive the reduced duty amount... You would need the specific type of C/O called Form E

Edited September 13, 2012 by CWMcMurray

[h90]

H90, in my experience that is what the forwarder does on our behalf breaking items down by line, yes it will honour the trade agreements which is good. Form E to which country ? I am still learning and eager to learn more.

Form E is for ASEAN / China fta

Form D is for other ASEAN countries

Form AK for Aean / Korea

Form AI for ASEAN / India

Form AJ1 for ASEAN / Japan

Form AANZFTA for ASEAN / Australia & New Zealand

Form TAFTA for Thai / Australia FTA

Form JTEPA for Thai / Japan FTA

Note that the above are specific types of certificate of origins, not to be confused with a general certificate of origin...

For example...If you have just a general C\O and tried to apply for preferential duty rate under ASEAN / China FTA you would not receive the reduced duty amount... You would need the specific type of C/O called Form E

Thanks!! Now I really understand it...

[CWMcMurray]

H90, in my experience that is what the forwarder does on our behalf breaking items down by line, yes it will honour the trade agreements which is good. Form E to which country ? I am still learning and eager to learn more.

My Chinese supplier told me that they always loose half a day applying for it, and they get it after the shipment is on the way, so they send me only this paper extra per DHL.

So it is only useful for larger amounts.

That is the way we do it, maybe there are smarter ways.....

You may want to look for a new customs broker....

You can clear goods upon arrival paying General duty rate making comment in the customs docs that you will be submitting FORM E upon arrival for duty refund

You can then process refund once Form E arrives

If shipment is really small it may make sense to hold a couple of days until form arrives

Also as for DHL shipments, no need to only use tariff code for highest import duty

Many customers will not let DHL clear goods but will pass to their customs broker to clear to ensure customs docs are correct

[h90]

H90, in my experience that is what the forwarder does on our behalf breaking items down by line, yes it will honour the trade agreements which is good. Form E to which country ? I am still learning and eager to learn more.

My Chinese supplier told me that they always loose half a day applying for it, and they get it after the shipment is on the way, so they send me only this paper extra per DHL.

So it is only useful for larger amounts.

That is the way we do it, maybe there are smarter ways.....

You may want to look for a new customs broker....

You can clear goods upon arrival paying General duty rate making comment in the customs docs that you will be submitting FORM E upon arrival for duty refund

You can then process refund once Form E arrives

If shipment is really small it may make sense to hold a couple of days until form arrives

Also as for DHL shipments, no need to only use tariff code for highest import duty

Many customers will not let DHL clear goods but will pass to their customs broker to clear to ensure customs docs are correct

Well we do the documents before arrival with a scan of the Form E and when we go and pick it up we bring the Original Form E...No problem on that.

DHL: How to do that? Usually the DHL guy comes brings the goods and collect the money......No notification before.

In most cases there is just small amounts, so the customs broker would cost more than the saved amount (and most of our goods are 0-10%, so having the 0% goods taxed at 10% is not that much on a 150 Euro product), but sometimes we have higher priced goods than it might save some money.

[CWMcMurray]

You can have standing order with DHL that they can not clear your goods, but if in your case the import duty is less than than cost of customs and delivery to have other broker , then may not make sense for you to switch process

Another thing you can look at if you have many suppliers sending you small packages from single country (like China or US or Germany or other) is to set up weekly or bi weekly consolidations and then uplift via airfreight

We do this for many customers and normally if they have more than 2 or 3 shipments in the consol they will normally see a savings in costs

[h90]

You can have standing order with DHL that they can not clear your goods, but if in your case the import duty is less than than cost of customs and delivery to have other broker , then may not make sense for you to switch process

Another thing you can look at if you have many suppliers sending you small packages from single country (like China or US or Germany or other) is to set up weekly or bi weekly consolidations and then uplift via airfreight

We do this for many customers and normally if they have more than 2 or 3 shipments in the consol they will normally see a savings in costs

Unfortunately most things are urgent. Sometimes I have a DHL shipment just on the next day of the previous from the same company, but could not wait this day....

DHL and FedEx from two supplier in China are surprisingly cheap. Often just 20-25 Euro while similar one from Austria are 60-80 Euro.

Of course China is much closer but still the difference is surprising me.

Bigger things we do seafreight, which is surprisingly fast, easy and cheap from Shanghai.

We sometimes got products from China per TNT Road (Truck, reasonable fast and cheap and TNT knows our products already and does the clearing) but I am confused. My supplier in Ningbo can use it. My supplier in Shanghai got told from TNT that they can't do it. Wrong information or they don't cover all of China???

[yougivemebaby]

Could it be possible to lock this topic? People could start posting what they were quoted. Only need to adjust for the exchange rate. Thank you

I for one wouldn't want this tread to be closed for "fear" of posts. I'm hopeful some exporters will see it and comment on some more tricks of the trade. The above calculator I've sent to 3 friends and they all love it.

I meant locked in place so its a permanent fixture to thai visa. Maybe I stated it wrong lol

[yougivemebaby]

Nice calculator - thanks for sharing, seems fairly accurate within .5% that could be their exchange rate. I wish I re-read your "10 free" before I wasted mine playing around LOL

One could just go to many of the internet cafe's. Get on a different computer and use a different registered email address.

[CWMcMurray]

You can have standing order with DHL that they can not clear your goods, but if in your case the import duty is less than than cost of customs and delivery to have other broker , then may not make sense for you to switch process

Another thing you can look at if you have many suppliers sending you small packages from single country (like China or US or Germany or other) is to set up weekly or bi weekly consolidations and then uplift via airfreight

We do this for many customers and normally if they have more than 2 or 3 shipments in the consol they will normally see a savings in costs

Unfortunately most things are urgent. Sometimes I have a DHL shipment just on the next day of the previous from the same company, but could not wait this day....

DHL and FedEx from two supplier in China are surprisingly cheap. Often just 20-25 Euro while similar one from Austria are 60-80 Euro.

Of course China is much closer but still the difference is surprising me.

Bigger things we do seafreight, which is surprisingly fast, easy and cheap from Shanghai.

We sometimes got products from China per TNT Road (Truck, reasonable fast and cheap and TNT knows our products already and does the clearing) but I am confused. My supplier in Ningbo can use it. My supplier in Shanghai got told from TNT that they can't do it. Wrong information or they don't cover all of China???

It sounds like you have things pretty well in hand and if happy with your current broker then that is all that really matters

Although you may want to ask them about the Form E issue for requesting refund after form is received. Of course you would also need to check about actual duty that can be refunded against processing costs, but may be one area to look at to possibly save costs

Also for trucking between Thailand and China, the routes pretty much take one of two paths...

Exiting Thailand in the north then up through Laos and then into China to consolidation point in Kunming

Or

Exiting Thailand in the northeast then up through Vientiane Laos and then into Hanoi and then into China to consolidation point in Nanning

The Kunming route is more for in land (western) Chinese destinations , while cargo to / from east coast China go through Nanning

Normally it is possible to arrange trucking to Shanghai, so not sure of exact issues that may be causing problems, guess would need more info to see if some specific problem unique to this shipper

China can be a bit 'funny' sometimes and certain suppliers may not have authorization to act as exporters which may cause sometimes cause issues. Also sometimes things can be arranged via 'connections' but different ports and modes may require different connections

Although the above routes are based upon our service, TNT may use different routes and may or may not serve all locations. ( not sure of exact details of TNT service)

Edited September 14, 2012 by CWMcMurray

[h90]

You can have standing order with DHL that they can not clear your goods, but if in your case the import duty is less than than cost of customs and delivery to have other broker , then may not make sense for you to switch process

Another thing you can look at if you have many suppliers sending you small packages from single country (like China or US or Germany or other) is to set up weekly or bi weekly consolidations and then uplift via airfreight

We do this for many customers and normally if they have more than 2 or 3 shipments in the consol they will normally see a savings in costs

Unfortunately most things are urgent. Sometimes I have a DHL shipment just on the next day of the previous from the same company, but could not wait this day....

DHL and FedEx from two supplier in China are surprisingly cheap. Often just 20-25 Euro while similar one from Austria are 60-80 Euro.

Of course China is much closer but still the difference is surprising me.

Bigger things we do seafreight, which is surprisingly fast, easy and cheap from Shanghai.

We sometimes got products from China per TNT Road (Truck, reasonable fast and cheap and TNT knows our products already and does the clearing) but I am confused. My supplier in Ningbo can use it. My supplier in Shanghai got told from TNT that they can't do it. Wrong information or they don't cover all of China???

It sounds like you have things pretty well in hand and if happy with your current broker then that is all that really matters

Although you may want to ask them about the Form E issue for requesting refund after form is received. Of course you would also need to check about actual duty that can be refunded against processing costs, but may be one area to look at to possibly save costs

Also for trucking between Thailand and China, the routes pretty much take one of two paths...

Exiting Thailand in the north then up through Laos and then into China to consolidation point in Kunming

Or

Exiting Thailand in the northeast then up through Vientiane Laos and then into Hanoi and then into China to consolidation point in Nanning

The Kunming route is more for in land (western) Chinese destinations , while cargo to / from east coast China go through Nanning

Normally it is possible to arrange trucking to Shanghai, so not sure of exact issues that may be causing problems, guess would need more info to see if some specific problem unique to this shipper

China can be a bit 'funny' sometimes and certain suppliers may not have authorization to act as exporters which may cause sometimes cause issues. Also sometimes things can be arranged via 'connections' but different ports and modes may require different connections

Although the above routes are based upon our service, TNT may use different routes and may or may not serve all locations. ( not sure of exact details of TNT service)

Thanks a lot for this value information.

These shipments are usually 100-300 kg. The girl at my supplier called TNT and they told them that TNT would pick it up and fly it to their consolidation point and quoted a complete ridiculous price of 1 airfreight and the truck freight.

My guess is she just got the wrong person on the phone, or she asked her forwarder if he can send TNT instead of contacting them direct.

I'll ask TNT in Thailand the same question, if they can do it on our customer account. Maybe I get a better answer.

Are you working in logistics? Because of your detailed knowledge....

[CWMcMurray]

That's entirely possible, I am sure if you get the management at TNT involved, they will be able to sort things out for you

Yes I am working for a Thai owned freight forwarding company here in Thailand.

If TNT doesn't give you the answers you are looking for, let me know and will see if anything we can do to help (even if it is to double check costs/answers you are getting from TNT- to keep them honest ).