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Re: [OM] Duty on imports into the US

Subject: Re: [OM] Duty on imports into the US
From: "Scott Nelson" <SNelson@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 11:29:18 -0500
Well, I did say duty calculation complex, arbitrary, and almost impossible to 
predict....I believe it's unlikely that US Customs will charge anything or 
bother inspecting (beyond a drug dog sniff) a personal use item of < $200 
declared value. If they do, it's probably an entirely random sample.

>>> garth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 09:00:00 03/13/2001 >>>
At 10:27 AM 3/13/2001 -0500, Scott Nelson wrote:

[snip]

>The duty on lenses form [from] a MFN is typically 2.30r $46.  Although, the 
>duty calculation is incredibly complex and well, arbitrary, and the ten year 
>NAFTA gradual tariff phase out makes everything even  more complicated, so 
>does the original country of manufacture being outside of Canada.

Actually, "the original country of manufacture being outside of Canada" 
shouldn't matter at all.  NAFTA rules state that initial purchases of equipment 
from a MFN (Most Favoured Nation) into the NAFTA zone can be charged duty, but 
once the equipment is being re-sold inside the NAFTA zone (either new at retail 
or as a used piece of equipment), it's deemed to have already had the required 
duty levied against it, and so should not be subject to duty again.  That's "in 
general," of course.  I *know* it's true for camera equipment -- this point was 
precisely the argument I had with a newbie Canada Customs agent a while back.

I don't know how it is for Americans, but for Canadians, if you're using a 
courier as a Customs broker (and typically you are), the courier has to charge 
you the following:

1. The $5.00 CDN "handling fee" imposed by the Feds several years ago, after 
they realized that the NAFTA rules were causing more and more Canadians to 
cross-border shop free from duties (what did they expect?); they wanted to 
discourage Canadians from this advantageous practise;

2. GST (yes, you have to pay it even on transactions which occur outside of 
Canada, though they can only police it in certain situations, so many such 
"subject" transactions never get looked at).

The courier will also charge you any additional fees it incurs on shipping not 
covered by the sender, as well as its own administration fees.  These can be 
substantial.  I'm expecting more than $400.00 of total fees for the 250/2.0 
Zuiko I won at auction -- possibly more than $500.00.  I'm also expecting 
delays (another "high-value item").

Garth



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