customs taxes on orders from Mouser to EU

[nrxnrx]

Hi!

<subject>, really. When I order from Digikey I need to pay customs tax on delivery. Strangely, I've never had to pay VAT.
What's the deal with Mouser? Do they reship from EU or will I need cash around? I've not been out for a few weeks (not even to an ATM), and I really enjoy that.

--
Mihai

[magic]

When I ordered from Mouser they added VAT to the basket price during checkout. I paid nothing on delivery.
They must have some deal with the customs to pre-pay all the import charges.

[olkipukki]

<subject>, really. When I order from Digikey I need to pay customs tax on delivery. Strangely, I've never had to pay VAT.

Do you pay in RON or EUR?

https://www.digikey.ro/en/resources/local-support#FAQs3

When placing an order in RON Currency Incoterms are CPT (Duty, customs and VAT due at time of delivery).

When placing an order in EUR Currency Incoterms are DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key).

[nrxnrx]

<subject>, really. When I order from Digikey I need to pay customs tax on delivery. Strangely, I've never had to pay VAT.

Do you pay in RON or EUR?

https://www.digikey.ro/en/resources/local-support#FAQs3

When placing an order in RON Currency Incoterms are CPT (Duty, customs and VAT due at time of delivery).

When placing an order in EUR Currency Incoterms are DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key).

EUR. I don't order often, but this was my last order: according to Digikey I wasn't supposed to need to pay customs, but I would need to pay VAT.  My order was an ADALM-PLUTO and a few SMA-things adapters. Customs called and after telling them it's a demo board for some chipmaker's ICs I ended up paying no VAT but a customs' tax in the amount the VAT would have been (+-5EUR).

[janoc]

Mouser has EU warehouses, so you shouldn't need to pay any customs. However, you will be paying VAT. The same as if you were ordering or buying something from a local store.


Digikey ships everything from the US, they don't have any EU stock, despite having EU phone numbers on the website and trying to look like an EU company. The "customs" are usually collected by UPS or who they use today because they charge a flat customs declaration fee (about 20 euro) on everything, regardless whether or not the order actually has any customs due. So you are most likely paying that - the rip-off paperwork fee and not the actual customs. If you make fuss with Digikey, you can often get this ridiculous fee waived/reimbursed.

You likely won't need to pay VAT for Digikey orders because your order is most likely below the VAT collection threshold on import (the paperwork to collect VAT from a few resistors would cost 10x more than the tax collected).

However, be aware that this varies between EU countries, because the tax and customs legislation is very different from country to country and  not harmonized across the EU (tax regs were explicitly left to the individual member states). E.g. in Denmark I didn't have to pay any fees when ordering from Digikey. Here in France if I order from there now, I get slapped with that 20 euro paperwork fee. Elsewhere you get both the papework fee AND VAT because that country charges VAT on every import (or have some ridiculously low threshold like 20 EUR for it).

This has been discussed on the forum in the past.

[wraper]

Mouser has EU warehouses, so you shouldn't need to pay any customs. However, you will be paying VAT. The same as if you were ordering or buying something from a local store.

They have no warehouses in EU and parts ship from US. You are buying from their EU entity though.

Digikey ships everything from the US, they don't have any EU stock, despite having EU phone numbers on the website and trying to look like an EU company. The "customs" are usually collected by UPS or who they use today because they charge a flat customs declaration fee (about 20 euro) on everything, regardless whether or not the order actually has any customs due. So you are most likely paying that - the rip-off paperwork fee and not the actual customs. If you make fuss with Digikey, you can often get this ridiculous fee waived/reimbursed.

You can buy from Digikey with DDP shipping. No fees to pay at delivery.

[nrxnrx]

Thanks everyone! I'm postponing my buy for a few days, but considering I can't get my TCXOs from anyone but digikey or mouser it'll have to be one of them. I'll update this thread when I receive the parts.

--
Mihai

[olkipukki]

EUR. I don't order often, but this was my last order: according to Digikey I wasn't supposed to need to pay customs, but I would need to pay VAT.  My order was an ADALM-PLUTO and a few SMA-things adapters. Customs called and after telling them it's a demo board for some chipmaker's ICs I ended up paying no VAT but a customs' tax in the amount the VAT would have been (+-5EUR).

That's bizarre. When last time did you buy from DigiKey, who has delivered to you and what is a last stop before entered into Romania?

I would expect EUR payment and VAT charge goes through Germany office and their DE VAT there.

[olkipukki]

Mouser has EU warehouses, so you shouldn't need to pay any customs. However, you will be paying VAT. The same as if you were ordering or buying something from a local store.

Actually, one of main Mouser's route and distribution goes through France and their cleared everything via France VAT office too.

Here in France if I order from there now, I get slapped with that 20 euro paperwork fee

Private, right?
Did you try to pay in USD and choose UPS delivery?

https://www.digikey.fr/en/resources/local-support#FAQs3

Euro Currency

EUR currency orders Incoterms vary based on ship method.

Business-to-Business shipments with a validated VAT number are DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key).
All other shipments are CPT (Duty, customs, and VAT due at time of delivery).

USD Currency

USD currency orders Incoterms vary based on ship method.

UPS freight pre-paid shipments are DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key).
FedEx or DHL freight pre-paid shipments are CPT (Duty, customs, and VAT due at time of delivery).

[janoc]

Mouser has EU warehouses, so you shouldn't need to pay any customs. However, you will be paying VAT. The same as if you were ordering or buying something from a local store.

Actually, one of main Mouser's route and distribution goes through France and their cleared everything via France VAT office too.

Yep. Their EU HQ is in Munich, though.

Here in France if I order from there now, I get slapped with that 20 euro paperwork fee

Private, right?
Did you try to pay in USD and choose UPS delivery?

Nope, payment in EUR and you don't get to choose the delivery method. Ordered both in personal and corporate capacity from there. Both times  the same thing happened.

This really does vary between countries, they have different policies everywhere. I have dealt with Digikey from Denmark, Switzerland and now France - and each time it has been different. The Romanian example really doesn't apply because Romania isn't even in the eurozone.

[Garryy]

I was in a similar scenario and found that it is dependent on the EU countries' tax and customs rules, which are vastly different. The tax-free threshold for parcels in the EU is on average 22 euros per piece of mail. I recommend that you contact a firm that assists you in saving taxes, such as https://www.paystubcreator.net/ because you need to save money anywhere you can right now. I only spent a few dozen dollars because it saved me time and money, and the site created a bill for me in seconds.

[langwadt]

I was in a similar scenario and found that it is dependent on the EU countries' tax and customs rules, which are vastly different. The tax-free threshold for parcels in the EU is on average 22 euros per piece of mail.

not since ~middle of last years, the threshold is now 0

but at the same time they made "One Stop Shop" so a shop can collect and pay the VAT at checkout, both inside and outside EU