FedEx and the insane Philippines Customs Taxes
I ordered this digital media player worth USD$169 (Php8180) online from Singapore late last month thinking that since it’s door to door delivery via FedEx, any additional charges is already included in the shipping fee.
Well it’s true in a way ’cause according to some of my peers who’ve experienced international shipping, if you’re lucky it won’t pass Customs and you won’t be charged a penny. Well guess which side of the lucky coin I’m on?
I paid a whopping Php3621.84 for Customs Duties and Taxes. That’s insane! It’s almost 50% of the cost of the package!!
Wanna see how we arrived on that total?
Custom Form & Stamps – P315.00
According to TCCP. Sec. 3301 – Customs fees and charges:
“For each Entry Filed an Import Processing fee of two hundred fifty pesos (250Php) shall be charged as indicated in the Official Receipt”.
I guess the amount increased (couldn’t get in customs.gov.ph at the moment.) and the P15 is for the BIR Stamp.
Duties & Taxes – P2480.00
Ahhh the bulk of my charges. Here’s the breakdown of it (click image to enlarge).
First let’s tackle the value under Tariff Heading which is the category my items falls into. In my case, 8521.90.99 which falls under Video recording or reproducing apparatus which has a rate of duty of 5%. (Source)
According to TCCP. Sec. 201 – Basis of Dutiable Value
Value of the Article in ($)
+ Commission & Brokerage Fees
+ Cost of Containers
+ Cost of Packing
+ Amount of Royalties
+ Cost of Transportation (shipping)
+ Value of Resale
+ Loading and Handling Charges
+ Cost of Insurance
Let’s add 4% for insurance (fixed) and cost of shipping which is $10 because it’s from Singapore. 4% of $169 = $175.76 + $10 = $.185.76
Let’s round up the exchange rate at that time to $49. $185.76 * 49 = Php9102 is my dutiable value.
Now let’s compute for the Customs Duty. It’s basically the dutiable value (Php9102) * Rate of Duty which they pegged at 5%.
9102 * 5% = P455.1. How did they arrive at P592???
Now for the Advance Sales Tax. The Advance Sales Tax has been replaced by VAT and is calculated as such (according to NIRCP. as amended by R.A. 8424 Sec.101):
Dutiable Value + Customs Duties + Doc Stamps + Import Processing Fee
(9102 + 592 + 250 + 250) * 12% = P1233.38. How did they arrive at P1638???
They also charged me P250 for surcharge whatever that means.
Storage Fee – P826.84
Well since they had to process it in Customs, they have to store it somewhere for safekeeping right? But P826.84 just for 1 day?!? I talked to the courier and they told me that I was still lucky that the package only took 1 day to process.
Here’s the breakdown:
Who came up with these fees? P336 just to release something that they don’t own?
Lesson learned
For my research, I went to this page because Customs web site is not available. So anybody know the exact details about computation of Customs Tax? Did I get ripped off?
Well I just have to charge it to experience. Next time I would recommend thinking hard and thinking twice to have something shipped here from overseas.
If I’d known that I would be paying such fees I would’ve just asked it to be delivered to my uncle’s place in Singapore and have it brought over here if somebody’s coming home.
Oh well, guess I’ll just forget about it and enjoy my new toy.
You might also be interested in:
- 7 things you want to ask your Philippines customs officer
- Oops… Philippines Customs did it again
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Filed under: Grrrrr
Hi guys, I have a package delivered by fedex and they are charging me P5,689.53 fee for custom forms and stamps, duties & taxes and storage fee but my mom already paid $164 when she send that package.
Saan po ba pwede mag reklamo about this insane fees, grabe ung charge eh. We did not accept the package kasi ang mahal nga nung fee. The delivery man said that it’s a random check from customs. Does it mean pag na random check package mo sigurado bayad ka nung fee?
They gave us a number to call sa fedex 855-8484 and when we called they said they will call us, 2 beses n kmi nag follow up wala padin tumatawag samin.
Is it possible not to accept the package and let fedex send it back to my mom, do we have to pay again para ma return to sender nalang yung package?
Thanks
im not sure if pwedeng ireturn to sender habang nasa fedex office. better ask them that pero for sure they’re not going to send it back for free. and if hindi nyo naman kinuha, maiiwan lang yan sa customs at paghahatihatian na siguro nila.
sobra naman yung fees niyo. halos kasing mahal ng product itself. hindi ba nideclare ng mom mo yung amount? kasi kung hindi nideclare sila mismo ang maghahanap ng value sa net eh. good luck sa pagfollow up.
hi,
im here in US for training. its my first time here and im thinking of buying some stuff that i can bring home for pasalubong. kaya lang di ko sure ung pagbabayad ng tax sa airport at baka tagain din ako! sayang naman kung iiwan ko lang dun.
do you have an idea on this?
hi apple…
I dont think you need to pay airport tax kung dala mo yung mga pasalubong sa bagahe mo. ive been to 3 trainings in the US and bought alot of stuffs…… bottles of victoria secrets, alot of bags, shoes, electronic items and sa bagahe ko lang sila nilagay (check your baggage weight limits). Upon arrival sa NAIA, wala naman ako binayaran.
i think you only pay Customs Tax if you shipped the items. Tama ba ko Calvin?
hi apple, yup reyna is correct. wag ka lang dumaan sa “with goods to declare” sa airport. pasalubongs are fine especially those bought at the airport. kaya tawag dun “duty free”.
great!!!
thank you soooo much guys!
Hi Guys!
I desperately need help. I have this plan of buying this phone on Ebay. And I was told by my friend that BOA may charge me some additional taxes once it arrived. I just want to ask, the package that I baught is a refurbish phone and I got it for $80. Including the USPS handling and the cost of the phone I’ll be sending a payment in a total of $110.
Would it be possible for you guys to give me a rough computation of the possible charge that BOA may impose?
hi dominick i dont have the exact formula here right now pero for a $100 phone, it shouldn’t reach more than P1800 (maybe around P1400 or cheaper I dunno). phones are cheaper to import because they don’t have rate of duty any more.