From July 1, new conditions for delivering goods from China and other countries outside the European Union will come into force. We won’t make you happy, because in addition to VAT, you will also pay new Slovak Post fees. Their amount is reported by Živé.sk as well as by our postal service’s own website.
Summary of the whole article: This is what the fees really are
Because in recent days a proper information “mess” has been going around on Slovak the internet regarding Slovak Post fees, we’d like to set the record straight. This is how it actually works:
The basic fee 9,- € including VAT applies to a shipment where it was necessary to contact the recipient and manually add the missing information. The reduced fee 4,- € including VAT applies to a shipment where it was necessary to manually add the missing information.
The minimum fee 2,- € including VAT applies to a shipment where no operator intervention was needed and customs clearance was fully automated.Slovak Post has decided to temporarily reduce the above fees. The basic fee 9,- € including VAT will be reduced to 4,- € including VAT and the reduced fee 4,- € including VAT will be reduced to 2,- € including VAT. The temporary adjustment should last until 1. September 2021.
This means that you will pay a fee of at least €2 for every single parcel from Chinese warehouses. And that even if you already pay VAT to the seller, when the parcel goes through the so-called “automated customs procedure,” where the authority checks whether the VAT was really paid. We are drawing on information from the official Slovak Post website. Parcels from European warehouses do not go through customs, so this does not apply to them (which we tested ourselves by ordering goods from an EU warehouse).
Original information from the Financial Administration
The Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic recently informed that after July 1st, 2021 a new amendment to the law comes into force that removes VAT exemption for shipments up to €22. Based on the information we also published in our extensive article, it looked like if you fill in the customs declaration yourself, you’ll only pay VAT.
However, Slovak Post is now entering the process, introducing new fees related to customs clearance of shipments from third countries.
New Slovak Post fees
If you don’t want Slovak Post to clear your shipment through customs, but you still want to handle everything yourself, be prepared not only for a new fee but also for additional responsibilities. First, it’s necessary to inform the post office that you don’t want to use their services in customs proceedings.
You need to do this at least 48 hours before the shipment enters the territory of Slovakia via the document titled Statement of Disagreement. You can send it by email to [email protected] or by post to some of the customs-declaration offices.
However, you won’t avoid the 4 € fee for submitting the shipment to the customs authority, storage, and the related procedures. So if you want to handle everything yourself, the fee will cost you 4 € with VAT.
Lower fee when using the post office’s services
The interesting part is that if you leave the customs declaration submission to the post office, in some cases you’ll pay less, just 2 €. The following 3 scenarios apply, and each has a different fee.
The first option is that you don’t object to using Slovak Post services, when the post office attempts to file a customs declaration in an automated way, without any involvement from a post worker. In such a case you’ll pay a fee €2 including VAT. However, the condition is that the post will have all the necessary information from the shipping company or from the sending post. It’s not known, though, what exactly those details must include. Then the assessed VAT (VAT for the goods themselves) is paid by the customer when they receive the shipment.
The second scenario is that you also don’t object to using the post office services, which will attempt to submit an automated customs declaration that will fail due to missing shipment information. Such a shipment will be held in temporary storage due to an obstacle, and Slovak Post workers will manually add the missing details. Then the post files the customs declaration, but because a post worker’s intervention is necessary, you’ll pay a fee €4 including VAT. After that, the assessed VAT (VAT for the goods themselves) is paid by the customer when they receive the shipment.
The third, most expensive scenario is if the automated submission of the customs declaration by the post office fails, and the employee cannot fill in the missing details because they are not available. The parcel is placed in storage again, and the postal worker will contact you and ask you to provide the missing information. The post office then submits the customs declaration and you pay 9 € including VAT. Then the assessed VAT (VAT on the item itself) is paid by the customer upon receiving the parcel.
Temporary fee reduction
Slovak Post has decided to cut the fees until September 1, 2021 that result from an unsuccessful automated submission of a customs declaration (scenarios 2 and 3 from the previous chapter). The €4 fee will therefore be temporarily reduced to €2, and the €9 fee will also be reduced to €4.
Keep in mind, however, that if your parcel is stored in temporary storage for longer than 18 days, you will pay 50 cents for each additional day.
Another problem can arise if the post office decides to carry out a random parcel inspection. In this case, the post office will contact you and ask you to submit proof of purchase to verify its value. Since interaction with the recipient is required, you will pay a fee of 9 € (temporarily 4 €) + VAT.
You can find more information on the official Slovak Post website. New fees probably won’t make anyone happy, so we recommend using verified shipping methods from Banggood that we informed you about in a recent article, or shopping from European warehouses.
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