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Customs value in the EU: what goes into the base for duty, excise and VAT

CIF to the EU border, and the VAT and excise bases in Poland: which costs enter the calculation and which do not.

· ImportOS

Duty, excise and VAT in the EU are calculated not on the bid on the lot but on the customs value. Different charges have different bases, and this is where mistakes are most common.

Customs value: CIF to the EU border

Under the Union Customs Code (Articles 71 and 72), customs value includes the price of the goods and the cost of transport and insurance to the place where they enter the EU customs territory. For US cars in the calculator that means:

  • the lot price,
  • auction fees,
  • US inland transport,
  • ocean freight,
  • insurance.

For Poland the composition of the base is set as: lot_price, auction_fee, inland_us, ocean, insurance[✓].

Not included: delivery after entry into the EU (the port and the road to the destination) and the broker's own fee.

The VAT base

The VAT base is wider: customs value plus duty plus excise plus costs up to the first place of destination in the country. In Poland these include the port and EU delivery: port, inland_eu[✓]. The VAT rate in Poland is 23%[✓].

The excise base in Poland

Excise in Poland is also calculated on customs value plus duty plus costs to the first place in the country: port, inland_eu[✓]. The rate depends on engine size: <= 2000: 3.1%; > 2000: 18.6%[✓] (a 2000 cc threshold).

Practical consequences

  1. More expensive delivery within the EU does not raise duty, but it raises VAT and excise.
  2. A higher lot price raises all three bases.
  3. Changing the composition of the base (for example if your contracts fold the port into the value) changes the amount, so agree it with your customs broker.

The calculator shows customs value and its composition separately in the result, so you can check this for every lot.

Sources