'import duty tax' Shopping

lemate09 from third planet from Sun (Contact Member) - 05/25/09 10:47

Some other sites suggest that huge duty taxes are applied to items shopped online. What is Uruguay's policy on receiving bought goods such as electronic or vitamins, etc.?

Comment #1 Lee from Pocitos (Contact Member) - 05/26/09 08:00

Gifts under US$50 seem to be duty free.

Other items if you get the simplified plan get taxed at 60% of the invoice values (they look for an invoice before they look at the customs declaration). That includes the 22% IVA.

If you have to go see a customs broker the tax rates seem to total just about 60% regardless of the item and fees on top of that.

Vitamins seem to be misclassified as medicine and require permission from the ministry of health and that permission is free, but requires a prescription from an Uruguayan Dr.

At the airport you don't seem to get bothered for any taxes or problems with vitamins. As long as it dosen't look like you are importing stuff to sell.

Comment #2 Patrick from Rural east Colonia departmento (Contact Member) - 05/29/09 16:56

Some time ago I ordered 2 large dog doors from the USA which were sent by post.

When they arrived in MVD I was summoned to MVD (I live 120 kms away) and spent a fun day getting them.

First I had to queue at the main post office in Missiones (a street in the Old City) and after 30 minutes of searching, the post office found the parcel which was placed on a table for customs inspection. After a while a customs officer arrived to inspect the packet but refused to open it until I gave him the invoice (which was inside the parcel.) After much persuasion he agreed to look inside, found the invoice and carefully examined the dog doors and the packaging for contraband. He them set about calculating the duty to be paid and after three attempts decided that the sum in question was 3, 217 pesos.

I got out the money to pay him... but no. The duty had to be paid to the cashier at customs HQ down by the docks. I gathered the various papers and walked the mile or so to the HQ. After much searching I found the appropriate office where I queued for another 30 minutes. The nice gent took all the papers, gave them a good stamping and added another paper but wouldn't take my money. I then had to find a special hole in the wall elsewhere in the building where another person took the thick bundle of papers, stamped them all again, gave me some of them back along with two more papers and accepted the 3, 220 pesos I offered him. We then had a long explanation about how regulations forbade customs to give change and how said regs also prohibited him from accepting the 3 pesos in question as a gift so a senior officer was summoned who gave me 3 pesos and a lecture on the importance of having adequate change when visiting customs.

I returned triumphant to the post office and queued for customs who sorted my papers in a mere 20 minutes before queuing at the post office counter for another 20 minutes, giving them several signatures and my cedula details. Only then was I given the 2 dog doors which were much admired by my fellow customers :-)

Street theatre can't hold a candle to Los Funcionarios :-)

Patrick.

Comment #3 Elaine (1) from Ireland (Contact Member) - 06/07/09 16:29

haha! you gotta love the Uruguayan postal system! I am still waiting for my Christmas presents...and my birthday present (which was sent October 2008 from Australia) has just turned up back at my sister's door in Sydney and I never even received a notification!

I think I'd prefer to play the customs tax just to be able to receive stuff!! How do the dogs like their new doors? :)

Comment #4 Patrick from Rural east Colonia departmento (Contact Member) - 06/15/09 21:34

I only received my postal summons on the day before they threatened to send the parcel back. Friends tell me of a company called Miami Box which seems expert in delivering books etc from the USA.

Sad to say the walls in which the dog doors are due to be installed are still at the yet-to-be-built stage so the doors are still in their box and I'm still official doorman to 2 dogs and 2 cats.

OTOH, the building works have been extending upwards and the inner skin of the tower is finally up to battlements level with massively high ceilings inside as I had to make it taller in the interests of good water pressure. An unexpected effect has been the arrival of Sunday tourists who stop in the road to view my constructional eccentricity... there were more than 30 cars last weekend. Maybe its because crenelated towers aren't often seen in rural Colonia. I wonder where I could find a suitable cannon for use as a decorative flourish? :-)

Patrick.

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