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Hi there! I notice you do a lot of online shopping, so I was wondering if I may ask for your advice on taxes. I’m trying to buy a YSL muse from neiman marcus through borderlinx. I hear there is tax which is not included in the final amount at checkout, which is only payable upon delivery. Do you have any idea what this is about? Is such tax just 7% GST of the final amount of checkout? Thanks for your time!
A postal article will be subjected to tax if the CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) value is more than SG$400. So yes, it’s 7% GST of the final amount (inclsive of shipping at checkout). You may want to refer to this link: http://www.ica.gov.sg/page.aspx?pageid=93&secid=91#gst
According to that link, for a parcel with its commercial invoice attached, Singapore Post will deliver the parcel to you and collect GST on delivery. If there is no commercial invoice attached, it will be retained and you will be required to produce the invoice before you get your parcel.
I seldom get my overseas purchases delivered via SingPost. The courier is usually determined by the merchant and most of the merchants I buy from use DHL or FedEx. If your parcel is delivered via DHL or FedEx, they will deliver your parcel directly to your shipping address and will send you an invoice for the tax after the delivery.
Certain websites will indicate if you are subjected to tax upon delivery. As far as I know (and experienced), NAP and shopbop offer “Delivery Duty Paid” or DDP which basically means all relevant import taxes and duties are included in the product price. This is the best cos you then neednt worry about the additional charges.
FYI, I bought my YSL Rock Easy and a Ferragamo bag from luisaviaroma.com and I got to pay import tax for them eventhough I had to return the Ferragamo back becos it wasnt what I expected!
If you dont want to pay the tax or want to pay less tax, you can ask the merchant to under-declare the value of your purchases but i wouldn’t recommend this cos not only is this cheating but if your items are insured and something happens along the way, you wldnt be covered for the actual amount but the amount that was declared. It doesnt matter if your sender declares your parcel as a gift or a purchase. Most merchants dont allow this (i.e. under-declare the value) but I do know that some eBay sellers can do this for you if you request for it.
Hope this helps