Import Duties and Taxes

Why custom duties matter in international shipping

When you ship something to another country, you may be asked to pay additional duties and taxes before the shipment is delivered.

Governments tax shipments from other countries because they want to:

  1. Protect domestic companies from foreign competitors
  2. Control the flow of certain products
  3. Raise revenue through taxes

Duties and taxes on shipments are legal requirements that must be settled before your shipment can be delivered.

It should be noted that most countries have a tax-free rate, which means that shipments with a value below this amount are not taxed

With over 220 countries in the world, how is it possible to ship worldwide if each country has different valuation methods? Doing manual calculations clearly isn’t a scalable solution.

To start, you should check your local tax department for a duties and taxes calculator. This is a great resource for getting estimates for your frequent shipping destinations.