I’m wondering something about the shipping and VAT and other costs of pipes. I’ve been searching for hours at the border websites about how shipment and VAT works with musical instruments but I just can’t find the answers to my question. Perhaps anybody of you guys have experience with this? (for example I know a few americans that have Andreas Rogge pipes or a Richard patkos chanter or you name it).
When people ship from EU <----> USA you always pay VAT as well, which means a 21%(in my case, dutch) increase of the price for anyone? Or is there some way to leave that option out? You’re not buying pipes to resell or trade with it or something but it’s for yourself.
any customs costs that should be incalculated?
any other costs that I should be thinking about?
I’ll put an example to perhaps make it a bit more clear.
I want to buy a set of pipes for 1400 euro’s. I am European and I want to buy it in the USA. I know it’s different per country again, but lets say 21% VAT (IF I should calculate that into the price)
Shipping the pipes to the Netherlands would cost me about a 100 dollars so I can calculate that into the price but…
1*) Do I pay VAT costs over a personal set of pipes?
2*) Do I pay customs costs?
3*) Do I have any other costs?
Hopefully anybody can help me out figuring out how much it would cost.
Assuming that the import regulations for the Netherlands are similar to that of the UK.
Take the cost of the pipes, add the shipping cost, add the cost of insurance, apply import duty to the total, then apply VAT to the total including import duty. It works out to around 25% on top of everything in the UK’s case.
In the UK the postal service then charges you an extra 16 euros worth to collect the duty/tax before you get the parcel.
David
PS
I found a website - dutycalculator.com that does the calculations for you. It, gives a result of 366 euros in total duty based on the information you provided.
On this particular point, most of the shipping companies (FedEx, UPS, etc.) charge significantly higher, usually $50 to $60, for exactly the same service.
One tip I have for shipping small items, like chanters, is to mark “Bagpipes” on the customs declaration form, and NOT Uilleann pipes. Bagpipes is the term used in the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, which most countries use for their customs codes. This will help ensure that customs duties are not levied, as bagpipes are rated as free under most customs codes. However, sales taxes (VAT, GST, etc.) are another matter.
