I ordered 2 action figures from the states, totaling up to USD 60. And when the shipment arrived earlier, my mum said the tax was RM 180. She refused to pay it and asked the FeDex to clarify why the tax was so high. Is customs allowed to tax us for 100% of the value of the items?

Nope. The figures were USD 60, and the shipping was USD 25. which is roughly around RM 270

But my previous shipment which was also taxed was of lower value around USD 70 including shipping. Previously the tax for that was RM 54, because they calculated RM 150 (which was the converted value of the item) + RM 384 (Freight charges, assigned by customs depending on origin of country), so by their calculation, the total + shipping was RM 534, which exceeds RM 500.

I was surprised that it was RM 180 this time. Still waiting for FeDex to get back to me.

This post has been edited by naith: Jan 26 2012, 01:45 PM

You may get tax, but note that the way to calculate whether you exceed RM 500 is slightly different. The way customs calculates whether you exceed RM 500 is as below:

value of item + freight charges + insurance

value of item = converted to RM
freight charges = based on their table, not what you paid
insurance = 1% of the converted value of the item

In my case, I ordered something from the states, which I paid RM 270 for (including shipping). But based on customs calculations, the total value came up to RM 570+, so I already exceeded the limit.

To add salt to wound, the shipper declared the item as plastic materials instead of toys, so I am being taxed RM 180+ (30% instead of 10%) for the shipment.

This post has been edited by naith: Feb 23 2012, 07:15 AM

I don't think so. The way it works (at least when I order from the Blizzard Store anyway) is that the shipping company has already paid for the tax, so they are asking me to pay them back essentially.

Anyway, I have already told them I refuse the package and told them to ship back to Blizzard. The shipper (FeDex) says they will charge the tax and shipping fee back to the sender (Blizzard)

The tax is calculated using

Value of item + Freight charges + Insurance (1% of the value)

The freight charges are not what you paid, but according to the table attached. Since its from UK, the minimum freight charge is RM 287. If it weighs more, they will increment it accordingly. (<- this is daylight robbery courtesy of Customs)

Also, I think for DHL you have to pay them a certain fee for clearing it through customs (<-not sure about this though)


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The freight charges are assigned by customs. The shipping cost you paid does not come into the equation. I've kena-ed twice already. 2nd time the shipper declared my shipment as plastic material, so the tax was 30 % of the CIF, but my calculation of the tax was accurate.

My shipment came through Fedex, so they had already paid for the tax (so by the time the shipment comes to the house, its just a matter of paying them back). In the case of the 30% tax, I rejected the shipment, so that shipper had to pay for tax (I emailed the shipper and they acknowledged that they had made the mistake, so I guess that's why they agreed to absorb the tax)

If you do have doubt, you could try to get taxed yourself That's kinda how I found out about the way things were done.

Though not everything gets taxed. I had a big/heavy shipment before CNY, which the value of the item was clearly stated on the invoice (USD ~170) and it didn't get taxed

This post has been edited by naith: Feb 25 2013, 09:31 PM