The trend of recent years, in which customs duties have often been reduced worldwide or eliminated within the framework of free trade agreements, does not generally apply to internal taxes and other levies that may be incurred upon import. They therefore also influence the price of a product in the respective destination country. Knowledge of their type and amount is thus relevant for calculating import costs.

Your benefit

In cooperation with our worldwide network of correspondents and contacts, our foreign trade editorial department researches all taxes and other duties levied at importation. This information is usually published independently of a country’s customs tariff nomenclature. It is therefore not linked to a commodity code, which makes it difficult for the user to carry out the corresponding calculations. Our data on import taxes and duties, however, are all assigned to tariff numbers – namely those of the applicable customs tariff of the destination country. They thus enable calculations for goods classified under a tariff heading not only within the framework of individual queries, but also automatically in bulk.

Examples of integrated taxes and levies

Tax or levy	Examples
Turnover tax rates such as VAT or sales taxes	Special goods and services tax in Singapore Tax on industrialised goods in Brazil
Excise duty rates on specific products levied before entry into free circulation	Consumption tax in China
Additional taxes levied before entry into free circulation	Wine equalisation tax in Australia Meat tax in Algeria
Additional duties or fees levied before entry into free circulation	Recycling fee in the Russian Federation Import declaration fee in Kenya
Advanced taxes applied at importation	Advance income tax in Bangladesh Withholding tax in Pakistan