From July 1st the following applies: For every package bought in foreign mail order business, import sales tax is to be paid. The 22-euro exemption limit for packages from non-EU countries is falling – it is considered to distort competition compared to domestic retailers and is supposed to bring 150 million euros annually for the Ministry of Finance.
If you order from large platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba or Wish, you can assume that the 20 percent import sales tax will already be paid by the sender. This works via the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS), an electronic portal of the European Union. So far, shipments with a value of up to 22 euros from the mail order business from non-EU countries have been delivered without import sales tax being collected. According to the Ministry of Finance, the value of goods for shipments from Asia was noticeably lower. According to the trade association, 97 percent of all parcels were previously duty-free and duty-free.
As the market leader in the parcel sector, Austrian Post expects to process the import sales tax for seven million small parcels annually.
The domestic parcel delivery service has to pay for the additional effort. At the post office, paying the sales tax (which is calculated from the value of the goods plus the shipping costs) costs five euros for a goods value of up to 150 euros, and ten euros above that. DHL Express announces a tariff of 18 euros gross – but only from a goods value of 25 euros. The deliverer should collect the money. If information on the value and content is missing, the recipient will be contacted and the post office will charge a processing fee of 24 euros. The Ministry of Finance is now announcing priority checks on small consignments at customs.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
