On 6 Dec 99, 20:27, Ruth Foster wrote:
> Help, I need advice. I am transacting a deal
> with a German merchant. They are charging outrageous
> 16% MWST German tax (not applicable to US buyers). I
> got the merchant to take off the tax, but the
> trade-off is now the merchant says she has to ship the
> package as "merchandise" instead of a "gift". The
> package will have to go through Customs and I will pay
> customs duty I guess. Is this 16% deduction ($120)
> worth the gamble of paying an unknown customs duty
> tax? And how or where would I go to find out how much
> the tax would be? I have done about 3 hours of
> searching (even the Customs web-site) with no luck so
> far. Thanks for any and all help!
First read the following page at the US Customs' site:
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/imp-exp2/informal/duty.htm
Then click onto the link at the bottom of that page which takes you to:
Tariff Database Search
http://205.197.120.17/scripts/tariff.asp
...or read the page about Binding Rulings:
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/imp-exp/rulings/hqrule/about.htm
And Ruth...expect none of this to come easy, which is why you probably
should have your local port's number handy:
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/location/service1.htm
Alan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
