Anyone have experience w Import Taxes into the US? Looking at purchase from EU

[CHRISTY-DANIELLE]

Hi All

I'm looking for info in importing from Germany to US. The customs website is confusing!

I'm looking at a diamond ring that is over 10k. But will be for personal use.

But looks like I can avoid fees if diamond is loose? Import fees only in complete jewelry?

So confusing! Any knowledge you can share would help me decide what to do.

 

[Rfisher]

I think DHL has a calculator on their website. With different scenarios /questions to tailor their estimate for.

Or they used to. I’ve used it before for a jewelry shipment.

(How exciting )

 

[Rfisher]

Or this one which was recommended by the vendor

Import Duty Calculator

Calculate import duty and taxes in the web-based calculator. It's fast and free to try and covers over 100 destinations worldwide.

www.simplyduty.com

If I remember correctly - classification codes entered into the shipping paperwork by the vendor can and does change fees due, and varies by countries.

 

[CHRISTY-DANIELLE]

I just read that a loose diamond won't get charged import fees but a diamond ring would? Could be 7% which is a chunk for this purchase!
Any clue on that ?

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

No duty if it’s over 100 years old.

 

[CHRISTY-DANIELLE]

How would you prove that? It's supposed to be. Would seller just need to describe it that way?

 

[Rfisher]

I think that’s part of the classification code

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

How would you prove that? It's supposed to be. Would seller just need to describe it that way?

Yes. On bill of sale.

 

[Austina]

I don’t know anything about the tax situation, but if the seller puts antique on the bill of sale, that should be sufficient. I know when I was in the UK, that FedEx would ring to collect duty on imported items before releasing them for delivery, and they would ask if it was an antique piece.

 

[CHRISTY-DANIELLE]

I played with the duty calculator @Rfisher linked. If it's listed as an "antique" there's $0 duty.
"Antique diamond" = 7%

 

[Rockdiamond]

Not for nothing...but...
We've had cases of rings coming back for repair that got tagged and taxed. They were classified as return and repair ( I think that's the specific term) but it didn't matter to US customs.
And once the shipment is tagged you can spend months trying to straighten it out....Make sure all the ducks are in a row, or accept that taxes and duties might be inevitable....

 

[TXwidow]

and then there are few countries that have a lower import tax. I used to do importing of industrial items (nothing to do with diamonds or any sort of jewelry) and at that time was pretty familiar with how those 'codes' worked. The specific countries where one gets a lower cost duty was simply a bunch of abbreviations and I had to send an email inquiry to get the actual country.

Here is the response:

c) Products Eligible for Special Tariff Treatment. (i) Programs under which special tariff treatment may be provided, and the corresponding symbols for such programs as they are indicated in the "Special" subcolumn, are as follows:
Generalized System of Preferences.......................................................A, A* or A+ United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement.....................................AU Automotive Products Trade Act.............................................................B
United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act............BH Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft............................................................C United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement....................................................CL African Growth and Opportunity Act...............................................................D Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act....................................................E or E* United States-Israel Free Trade Area..............................................................IL United States-Jordan Free Trade Area Implementation Act............................JO Trade Agreement Between the United States and Japan .................................JP Agreement on Trade in Pharmaceutical Products....................................K Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act...........................................................................P or P+ Uruguay Round Concessions on Intermediate Chemicals for Dyes.................L United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act......................................R United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act..................MA United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement...................................................SG United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act.......................OM United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act..................PE United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act........................KR United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act.........CO United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act.............PA Nepal Preference Program ..................................................................................NP United States-Mexico-Canada