Import duty on guitar from Japan question

Jeff Hitman · Post by **Jeff Hitman** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:54 am

Morning all... I am looking into purchasing a guitar from a Japanese dealer and have no idea how the import duty works. Can anyone tell me about the process, what the rate is and any other info you think I should know about such a transaction before I jump in?
Thanks!
-Jeff

declan · Post by **declan** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:16 am

Hi Jeff
here is a previous post from the forum might enlighten you a little. It depends on where you are as to how much duty/VAT/fees etc will be charged, some countried have higher import taxes than others

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php ... ht=customs

villager · Post by **villager** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:22 am

guitar cost in japan =?500
shipping with case =?90
vat +import duty 20%=?118
parcelfarce charge =?13.50

total for a ?500 guitar=?721.50

this is pretty accurate...

declan · Post by **declan** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:41 am

?13.75 for parcelforce villager, dont forget that extra 25p the B????rds take off you, this sickens me more than the VAT, they have already been paid for the shipping and this fee is just an insult

Here is another example with a running total, as you can see the duty is applied to the cost of the guitar and the shipping, then the VAT is applied to that total followed by parcelforce fees

Price of Guitar e.g ?940
Add Shipping from Japan e.g ?60
Add 3.7% import Duty = ?1037
Add 17.5% VAT = ?1218
Add ?13.75 for Parcelforce in the UK to process the customs charges

some US buyers have reported paying no Duty or import taxes but this seems to depend where in the US you are

joukov · Post by **joukov** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:10 am

Do you really pay import duty for shipping? In Finland it goes like this ->

Price of guitar e.g. ?940
Add 3.7% import duty +?34,78
Add shipping from Japan e.g. ??60
total ?1034,78
Add 22% VAT +?227,65
Total ?1262,43

My choice to pick the guitar from customs or pay for postal worker to bring the guitar to my home door.

Here you have to pay VAT for shipping only if you purchase the guitar from a guitar shop or a company, not if it is purchased from a private person.

marcusnieman · Post by **marcusnieman** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:16 pm

No import duty here in the states. What you pay for the guitar plus shipping is what you pay - period.

Schocker · Post by **Schocker** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:17 pm

Do you really pay import duty for shipping?

Yes we do...and VAT!!

TSL · Post by **TSL** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:20 pm

marcusnieman wrote:No import duty here in the states. What you pay for the guitar plus shipping is what you pay - period.

I had to pay the delivery person about 9% on a Tokai that came from Ishibashi, via EMS. I live in the midwest USA.

marcusnieman · Post by **marcusnieman** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:42 pm

I've purchased about a dozen guitars from Japan and have never paid a penny on delivery. Wonder if it is something that varies state by state.

magentaplacenta · Post by **magentaplacenta** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:09 pm

West coast here, only 1 guitar purchase from Japan, no import fee. It arrived regular US Postal Mail.

TUNAFREAK · Post by **TUNAFREAK** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:12 pm

Ditto......West coast also about 8 over 5 years.

Mark

sneakyjapan · Post by **sneakyjapan** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:57 pm

I always ship insured postal service from Japan to North America. Written up as gifts, it takes a week door to door by air mail and there have never been any additional charges nor...so far...damage. Works for me.

TSL · Post by **TSL** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:08 pm

You can't get a store to write "gift" on the customs form though, that would be fraud for them.

Don't know why I got stuck paying, but I did, and had to sign a rather official government form as well. -And it was my regular mailman (maillday, actually) who brought my guitar to the door. The box did say EMS on it though, so it should've gone through the same customs as the other forum members here, who got away without a fee.

ochay · Post by **ochay** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:25 am

Shoot there in Europe you'd might as well just buy a Gibson ......

Schocker · Post by **Schocker** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:41 am

As I've said before, the customs people here don't care if it's a gift or not; if its value (including shipping cost) exceeds the duty threshold (?35, I think) then it is eligible for tax. Occasionally things slip through but not often and if Parcelfarce is involved then forget it, you WILL get stung.