EEC Tax-free import allowances revised upwards as of DEC 1st, 2008

[__philippe]

This was already mentionned a few months ago by another cpf member, but probably bears repeating as the festive season is fast closing upon us:

Effective December 1st 2008, tax-free import allowances into European Union countries will be raised to EUR 150 (from the current paltry EUR 22 limit); that's about USD 200 worth of tax-free goodies...

Full official announcement gory details to be found here:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:085:0001:0002:EN:PDF

Cheers,

__philippe

 

[jzmtl]

Aww lucky EU people, I just got dinged on $50 of batteries.

 

[IanT61]

It might be worth reading this before getting too excited :sigh:

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...nt&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_PROD1_028770

 

[Coop]

most important bit:

It appears people incorrectly believe that from 1 December 2008 goods with a value less than €150 (£105) imported from outside the EU will be admitted without any import charges being levied, but the Regulation applies only to Customs duty.

Import VAT and Excise duties (where applicable) will still apply at the current rate.

So for me in NL that basicly means that for stuff under 150 euro I can get charged with 'just' 19% VAT. For stuff over 150 euro I can get charged with 19% VAT + administrative/import/other customs fees.
Which means that for dutch people, they can save a maximum of 16.something euro on stuff less than 150 euro in value.

 

[__philippe]

As far as I understand, excises duties apply mainly to alcool, tobacco, perfumes and goods of similar category; one hopes flashlights buyers should not be too concerned...

Anyone with more precise information is welcome to chime in, of course.
(please provide specific official sources whenever possible)

Thanks.

__philippe