Background of the Norwegian import rules:
Norway has the most stupid rule for private import in the world. Every package items worth below 200NOK (without shipping) is tax-free, everything above will give you tax on the whole amount included shipping.
Here are some examples, using the currency rate of $1 USD = 5,36NOK, max tax-free value is $37,31
Package 1:
Items = $37 USD
Shipping = $12 USD
Tax = $0 USD
Total = $49 USD
Package 2:
Items = $38 USD
Shipping = 12 USD
Tax -> ($38 + $12) * 25% = $12,5 USD
Declaration fee = $16
Total = $38 + $12 + $12,5 + $16 = $78,5 USD
The difference is huge! You pay 37,5% more for package 2 since the items is above the tax-free limit and that is just $1 more. Crazy, but thats the way it is in stupid Norway.
Amazon.com and coupons
Amazon shall print the value of the items outside the box based on the CN22 custom declaration. Everything they ship without reduced prices will be correct. Only the packages with reduced price items could give you a tax claim: That is where the problem starts.
If you for instance buy two Blueray movies for $19 USD and gets one for free, the CN22 price would be:
MOVIE $19
MOVIE $19
Shipping $12
You didn’t pay for the second movie, but still Amazon.com printed the real value of the product on the CN22. The Postal service (Posten) doing the import declaration will give you a tax-claim for $12,5 USD + $16 declaration fee. Since you did not actually pay full price of the products you notice Posten that the declaration is wrong: That is where the problem continues!
Postens ban of Amazon.com
Posten has contacted Amazon.com to stop sending packages with the wrong value on the CN22. They haven’t been giving any feedback and I guess they don’t want to change their CRM system just because Posten whine about it.
Posten wants to make the end-users suffer. They will not remove the toll costs for packages from Amazon.com, other firms are OK, just not Amazon! “It is a policy” they say, “Arrogant” I say.
Posten wants to be a “green” company that claim they reduce CO2 outputs and want an environmental profile for the end-users. Their “policy” will increase the number of returned packages to Amazon.com and will not reduce CO2 nor make the customer happy.
If you have experienced the same, please call “Posten Utland Kundeservice” on +47 23147600 and leave a complain!
If you have questions or any more information to add to the post, please write an comment!
Update 21.May.2013:
Posten is transparent regarding their declaration fees (133 NOK pr 01.07.2013), other transport carriers are quite evil in their process.
After reading this article I would like to inform all to ensure to check the declaration prices before shopping.
Tollpost, DHL, Schenker, FedEx and similar logistics firms can charge you whatever they like for the declaration fee, since there are no regulations.
If you can choose, use the Royal Mail or similar carrier from the originator country.
Example from the article:
Customer ordered something for 222NOK + shipping 126 NOK, total of 348 NOK.
Tollpost charged the customer 983 NOK in fees (inclusive government tax).
That is over 280% over his original price!
Take precautions and avoid them and spread the word to your friends!
Let’s be honest, you don’t like the fact that you’re paying import duties at all. Often people are confused by the concept of ‘value’ and ‘cost’. In terms of import this is messy because of exchange rates, shipping costs, and purchase price with the added issues of what constitutes valid and correct documentation.
In your example, a video at $0 doesn’t have a value of $0. Although I have to say video is an annoying example, isn’t a mass copied video valueless by definition? Yet, the movie companies place a value on it. So, it is still worth $19, even if you are getting a deal where the second one is free. In this case the item should still be taxed at the correct value, just like winning a car you still have to pay tax on its value, not its cost. This is a fundamental difference between a sales tax and value-based tax although the two concepts often intermingled. Furthermore, any item in a foreign country is valueless to you if it isn’t shipped, so shipping is naturally included in the valuation of the item.
As for the comments on protectionism. Having the same VAT applied to imported and locally purchased good is not protectionism, it is a level playing field. Allowing significant quantities of imported goods to be brought in without tax would put retailers in Norway at a distinct disadvantage.
Hi Cameron,
Sorry for a late reply, my blog has been unavailable for some time.
The post is about Norway special rule stating that goods that you pay 200NOK or less for are VAT free (ex shipping).
This rule is a huge disadvantage for retailers in Norway, but hey; I don’t make the rules.
For the consumer there is a huge disadvantage with large fees when limit is just above 200NOK. And when you pay less than 200NOK you are not suppose to pay this fee or VAT.
The year after this post the postal system in Norway have changed its attitide. It is possible to dispute incorrectly values as long as you can document them. So in the cased it is now possible to dispute.
This year the goverment “raised” the VAT-free limit to 350NOK, inc shipping.
Bluray, dvd, games, clothes, small electronics etc are for the Norwegian consumer 25% cheaper when buying online when value are less than 350NOK.
My opinion is that this rule should be removed and that customshandlers fees shall be regulated.
Regards. Lars
Cameron is correct as to why your Amazon example is flawed – VAT is based on the value, not the price, of the goods.
Bør nok si att Sverige IKKE har tull-moms på ting bestill fra innenfor Europa. det vil si att ting du bestiller fra amazon.uk blir moms satt av amazon, og ingen tull-moms. Norske posten er forkastelig her. Om jeg bestiller en bruk ting fra noe annet land så må jeg egentlige betale moms på brukt ting. så (250*1.25)+200 i tull-håndtering..seriøst?
Det er fordi Sverige er med i EU og dermed EUs momskompensasjons-ordning. D.v.s at medlemslandene betaler hverandre mva på statsnivå, etter hvor mye de beregner det har blitt importert eller eksportert for.
Denne ordningen burde selvfølgelig Norge ogsÃ¥ vært med i, men nordmenn ønsker jo stort sett ikke Ã¥ samarbeide med vÃ¥re naboer via EU (vi er jo “annerledeslandet” som er sÃ¥ special fucking snowflakes at vi tror vi ikke passer inn i klubben…)
Totally agree that the import rules and vat are unreasonable here. The figure of 200NOK has been the same for more than 20 years, yet apparently it’s not changed because “it’s an easy number to remember”. Gah! I wish they’d apply the same logic to income tax then.
But in fact, I don’t mind paying 24% moms, but the admin charge that Posten add is totally unreasonable for small valued items just over the 200 kr mark.
If I drive to Sweden, I can bring back 3000 NOK worth of goods without declaring it (6000 if I stay overnight). Why should having those goods sent in the post be treated any differently?
Other carriers, such as JetCarrier (www.jetcarrier.no) are much more reasonable – there is no admin charge, you just pay the moms on the declared value in addition to reasonable shipping costs.
More than 20 years? That’s an understatement… Next year it will be 40 years. Yes, that’s right; forty years without adjustment.
The VAT is in fact 25%, and the supposed reasons for not raising the import limit are unfortunately a bit more complex and controversial than it being easy to remember. 500 and 1000 are arguably even easier numbers to remember.
Even with a new government, unfortunately protectionism has so far won the battle over inevitable globalization. Let’s check in again in three years..
mye ok innsendinger her. synes nok kurt sitt innlegg virker mest korrekt,,jeg trodde f…meg jeg ble utsatt for nettsvindel, men jaggu var d ikke dette toll+moms+deklarering tullet med amazon evt. posten, dem er grÃ¥dige begge to. jeg gjorde en stor feil mistenker jeg, i tillegg til Ã¥ bestille cdr for over 200 kroner, valgte jeg send as quikly as possible løsningen, dvs send dem sÃ¥ raskt de (cd’r) kommer inn… fy f..mÃ¥ nÃ¥ betale mer enn dobbelt av det egentlige beløpet. MÃ¥ nok fÃ¥ flere gressklipper oppdrag etter dette, fy f Ã¥ssÃ¥!!
Sanne ord! Jeg er desverre dritt lei av Posten.
Det verste er at jeg som forbruker har liten (ingen) innflytelse på hvordan Posten håndterer dette.
Her blandes ingenting.
Det er Posten som tar på seg flere hatter og gjør at forbruker taper penger urettmessig. Hvis avsender (kunden for Posten) Amazon skriver feil verdi på pakka og går over 200 kr krever Posten at jeg skal skal betale forenkelt tolldeklareringsgebyr + momsen. Deretter skal jeg klage til tollvesenet for feilaktig moms, og deretter klage til Posten for å få tilbake tolldeklareringsgebyret.
En hver person burde skjønne at dette bugner ingen og Posten burde være mye mer smidig og evnt lage en onlineløsning for dette, for problemet blir ikke mindre med årene!
Enig i at det burde vært en online løsning, men ellers tror jeg du tar feil. Det er som andre ogsÃ¥ har skrevet _verdien_ av pakka – og ikke prisen du har betalt – som skal legges til grunn for mva ved import. Ofte er disse to det samme i praksis, men ikke alltid – som ved f.eks. “2 for prisen av 1”-tilbud, der du betaler for én gjenstand men fÃ¥r to i verdi. Det er da verdien av begge du skal betale merverdiavgift for.
Du blander Posten og Tollvesenet. Du kan klage til Tollvesenet, men det er en annen instans.
Du har full rett til å klage og henvise til virkelig betalt verdi. Slik har det vært hele tiden og det er først nå Posten velger å gå til det skrittet å nekte Amazonkunder hjelp. Tilbakemeldingene er; vi får for mye henvendelser om dette.
Jeg er ingen jurist og skal ikke refere til en eneste lov. Men jeg vet hvordan det har vært før og jeg vet hvordan det er nå.
Tollvesenet har fått en mail og er villig til å behandle klagen for urettmessig momsinnkreving. Fortsatt gir det ikke mine 90 kr tilbake fra Posten!
Da tror jeg du har misforstått. Posten har ingen plikt til å rette på noen deklareringer overhodet. Hvis dette er noe du har tenkt å stå på, må du vise til regler og lover hos Tollverket som eventuelt skulle tilsi dette.
Jeg har ingen forståelse for at Posten skal kunne utelukke enkelte aktører fra markedet for korrigering. Som sagt, en sak rulles opp i disse dager om dette.
Jeg kan godt forstå Posten og at de ikke lenger korrigerer Amazon sine feildeklareringer. Har Amazon sagt de ikke vil endre dette, så er det ikke Posten sin plikt å gjøre Amazon sin jobb.
Helt riktig kurt! Amazon har fÃ¥tt beskjed og har enda ikke gitt tilbakemelding om problemet. De skriver “virkelig” verdi, ikke betalt verdi konsekvent.
Når du får produktet hjem i kassa har du faktisk ingen steder å henvende deg enn posten. Når posten konsekvent sier nei til å rette tollkrav fra Amazon blir du som forbruker satt i heisen.
Dette blir det en sak av ganske snart skulle jeg tro! Dette mater statskassa med urettmessig kroner som dem faktisk ikke har krav pÃ¥ + posten knir seg i henda for sine 90 kr pr “feil”.
Når det gjelder Sverige er det moms og tollfritt innen EU og dermed vil amazon.co.uk være mest aktuelt for dem.
Er det noen du skal klage til, er det Amazon, skal det være.
“[…]most stupid rule[…]in the world.” Norge er faktisk langt i fra det eneste land i verden med en slik import-grense. Mange andre land i bl.a. Europa har et lignende system. Sverige f.eks. har ikke bare en MVA-grense, men ogsÃ¥ toll og en toll-grense, pÃ¥ import av filmer. I Norge slipper man faktisk toll pÃ¥ filmer.
Selvsagt kunne Posten helt klart vært mer samarbeidsvillig, men roten av problemet ligger hos Amazon og deres mangel på korrekt deklarering. � gå så hardt ut mot Posten er å klandre feil instans, og viser mer mangel på egen forståelse enn Posten sin. Det er Amazon som burde få gjennomgå.
Forøvrig har jeg diskutert dette selv med Amazon. Systemene deres deklarerer filmene med den verdien som varen har i systemene deres, irrelevant av hva du betaler. Dette har de ingen intensjoner på å endre. Så er det noen du skal klage til, er det ikke dem.
Posten burde skjerpe seg!