What is the import sales tax?
The import tax – correctly called import sales tax – is due when goods are imported from third countries. The German customs administration levies import sales tax alongside other taxes.
The import sales tax is comparable to the better known sales tax that is incurred for deliveries and services within the EU. When it comes to the import of goods from other countries, the import sales tax is charged, which is a consumption tax according to the law. It is also known as an import tax and is subject to customs regulations.
The background to this tax is that goods abroad are exempt from sales tax, but should not reach the end consumer without this value added tax. Taxation on import prevents this.
Important : It is irrelevant whether the goods are imported by a private person or a company, the import tax applies equally to everyone.
If goods are imported into Germany, taxes must of course be paid. This type of sales tax is known in technical jargon as import sales tax. However, this tax is not claimed by a tax office, but by the Federal Customs Administration. To measure the amount of this tax, the customs value is used as the basis. However, this is made up of various amounts.
Everyone who enters Germany and brings goods with them has to declare them. That means, taxes have to be paid for it. There are limit values for this in the European Union, so if you bring goods worth less than 150 euros, you do not have to pay any import sales tax.
According to sportingology, The tax must inevitably be paid on all goods brought from a third country. It is to be equated with the sales tax and this is of course passed on by the company to the customer.
What should the tax do?
In the real sense, the import sales tax is intended to replace the taxes from the country of origin and it is intended to prevent goods from being imported tax-free. In terms of the amount, it corresponds to VAT, which is 19 percent high here.
7 percent less tax will then have to be paid for works of art, books or food.
If you come from abroad and have to pay import sales tax, you may be able to deduct this on your next income tax return because it can be declared as input tax .
Keep your eyes open when shopping on the Internet
Anyone who frequently uses the Internet to order certain items should find out in advance where these products come from. If these are companies from England, France, etc., there are no fears that import sales tax will have to be paid retrospectively.
There are also online shops that, for tax reasons, do not send their goods from England but from non-EU countries, but import sales tax is then payable for the recipient. For this you have to pay a lot of money at a customs office.
Under certain circumstances, a nice amount can come together, because it has to be added to the actual value of the goods. This is a simple formula, the value of the goods + shipping + customs duty + 19 percent import sales tax .
The tax is not only interesting for a company, but also when making purchases on the Internet.
Who has to pay the tax?
It doesn’t matter who has to pay the import sales tax, because everyone who receives something from a non-EU country must automatically also pay the import sales tax. There is a simple example of this: if you buy an item and have to pay 100 euros for it, you must also expect an amount of 19 euros in import sales tax. That’s 19 percent of one hundred, the normal VAT amount. This is then offset against the input tax already paid by an entrepreneur. However, not everyone can count on input tax, because private individuals, federal, state and local authorities do not have the right to an input tax deduction. The group also includes all small businesses for whom input tax is not levied.
If you want to order on the Internet, everyone should first find out how much they still have to pay in case of doubt. This can be found out from a list that can be viewed under “Import sales taxes”. There you will find a detailed list of which items and what taxes have to be paid for. For example, a duty rate of 12 percent must be calculated for clothing made of leather or a rate of 8 percent for shoes with a leather upper.
This is how the EUST is calculated
First of all, customs determine a customs value that is higher than the actual value of the goods because it includes foreign taxes as well as shipping costs. A customs duty is calculated from this. The customs value plus the customs amount, plus the transport costs, form a calculation base amount. The EUST is then 7 or 19 percent of the assessment base.
But there are also people who have an allowance of 22 euros. These are usually commercial importers, but things look different for gifts to private individuals from a third country. An allowance of 45 euros is provided here. To calculate the value, the customs declaration is used again.
In some cases, the tax can also be circumvented, which is possible when it comes to a gift item that has also been declared as such and which may only be sent to a private person. Furthermore, it must not be delivered regularly and it must be a personal item. Under no circumstances may the recipient pay anything for the shipment, and it may not be an exchange transaction.
Customs declares that authorized companies can also claim import sales tax as input tax. In order to be able to use this input tax deduction, the company must be a small business that is not exempt from statutory sales tax. In addition, private individuals, the federal government and municipalities in Germany and German federal states are not entitled to input tax deduction.