Is there US Duty and taxes charged on imported airguns?

[Mtl_Biker]

Can anyone here tell me if there is any duty and taxes charged in the States on air rifles imported from Europe? If so, how much?

A friend here in Canada is looking at importing a rifle from Krale in the Netherlands (he can't find what he wants here in Canada) but Krale has stopped selling rifles to Canadians. They will however sell and ship to US addresses without problem. So he's considering using a US address (in upper NY State) for the shipment and then he'd drive down and pick it up and legally bring it across the border personally. The thing is, if there's US duty charged and or taxes, by the time he brings it into Canada (and pays the Canadian duties and taxes which MUST be paid) it would become too expensive.

Does anyone know for sure?

(Krale has stopped selling rifles to Canadians for two reasons: One, UPS Canada will NOT accept any firearms, including air guns for shipment, unlike UPS in the States, so he must use regular postal services; Two, the Netherlands postal service has a size - length - limit for packages they accept and an assembled rifle is too long. They've gotten around this in the past for some customers - including me - by separating the stock from the action and repackaging it smaller. But this costs them money to do and the original packaging is lost, and also the ability to track properly and much longer delivery time leaves this as an unattractive option. So Krale has decided not to sell rifles to Canada in the future.)

[v76]

He can have it shipped to a forwarding company like Freeport in Champlain and declare it at the border.

He'll have to pay the US taxes and brokerage fee to USPS which I don't think Freeport will pay for him in advance. He'll have to pick it up at a USPS dropoff point, then declare it at the canadian border and pay the HST. You won't be reimbursed on the US taxes. These forwarding services are interesting only if the goods come from the same country, generally.

Could still be worth it but gains would be minimal.

[sparky]

According to HTS 9304.00 (et seq), 3.9% tariff on air rifles, but none on anything else (like air pistols).

[Mtl_Biker]

He can have it shipped to a forwarding company like Freeport in Champlain and declare it at the border.

He'll have to pay the US taxes and brokerage fee to USPS which I don't think Freeport will pay for him in advance. He'll have to pick it up at a USPS dropoff point, then declare it at the canadian border and pay the HST. You won't be reimbursed on the US taxes. These forwarding services are interesting only if the goods come from the same country, generally.

Could still be worth it but gains would be minimal.

I deal with Freeport Forwarding all the time (and have for over 30 years now), but that doesn't answer my question about whether or not there ARE any duties and taxes charged IN THE STATES. We know that if there are, we wouldn't be reimbursed, and are just trying to figure out what the costs would be once finally arrived in Canada.

And we're talking about UPS, not USPS.

[Mtl_Biker]

According to HTS 9304.00 (et seq), 3.9% tariff on air rifles, but none on anything else (like air pistols).

Thank you!

Do you know if there are any State or Federal taxes charged if the rifle arrives into New York State from the Netherlands?

[TenMetrePeter]

Didnt Canada just get a free trade deal with EU? Buy from someone who will ship there.

[v76]

My mistake, then swap USPS for UPS.
Sales tax in NY state is 4%, Clinton county will also charge you 4% taxes in Champlain. Throw in the 3.9% duties... 8.9%. Then add the +/- 15% of the CAD value at the border.

[Mtl_Biker]

My mistake, then swap USPS for UPS.
Sales tax in NY state is 4%, Clinton county will also charge you 4% taxes in Champlain. Throw in the 3.9% duties... 8.9%. Then add the +/- 15% of the CAD value at the border.

I'm not following the math... if you say there's 4% NY State plus 4% Clinton county plus 3.9% duty... that's 11.9% not the 8.9 you mention. What am I not understanding?

And exchange rate currently is about 33%.

And is that 3.9% duty you mention charged in the US when it enters from Europe or are you talking about the Canadian duty, because on my last two air rifles imported from the Netherlands directly into Canada, the Canadian duty charged was 3.9%. You mean Canada and the USA charge the same percentage of duty?

Please forgive me for not fully understanding, but are you saying that there *WILL* be both those taxes charged on the rifle or just that those are the tax rates in effect in NY? I'm asking for confirmation because I've received conflicting comments about this with some people reporting that there are NO taxes or duties charged on an air rifle entering the US from Europe. Obviously we'd like to know the answer for sure so that there are no surprises and the purchase doesn't end up costing more than expected.

Thanks for your help.

[v76]

As you can see, one should never do math before their first coffee!

You got it right, 11.9% taxes in the US. Some people do report not having it charged/collected, indeed, but that's a risk on your end. A few states don't collect on online transactions but NY isn't one of them. Sorry, can't help you there!

Duties are 3.9% in the US and 3.5% in Canada. You can have a look at the harmonized tariff schedule for both countries.

And look up the UPS brokerage fee too and credit card surcharge from Krale.

[sparky]

According to HTS 9304.00 (et seq), 3.9% tariff on air rifles, but none on anything else (like air pistols).

Thank you!

Do you know if there are any State or Federal taxes charged if the rifle arrives into New York State from the Netherlands?

Shouldn't be any. Technically, if a person in NY (or any state with sales tax) buys a new gun online, they're supposed to pay the sales tax as part of their income tax, but there really isn't any way of checking. The US postal service does not collect state and local sales taxes, and the local governments don't really have any way of collecting from retailers not in their state (normally, retailers collect state/local tax and give it to the governments). The only mechanism to collect on online sales is to have residents self-report it on their sales taxes, so it's probably the most unreported thing in the country.

[Chia]

Shouldn't be any. Technically, if a person in NY (or any state with sales tax) buys a new gun online, they're supposed to pay the sales tax as part of their income tax, but there really isn't any way of checking. The US postal service does not collect state and local sales taxes, and the local governments don't really have any way of collecting from retailers not in their state (normally, retailers collect state/local tax and give it to the governments). The only mechanism to collect on online sales is to have residents self-report it on their sales taxes, so it's probably the most unreported thing in the country.

It's a huge "problem" here in South Carolina. The local department of revenue finally got Amazon to start charging us sales tax up front (probably with tax incentives), but it took them something ridiculous like four years.

The only reason tariffs work is because they hold the product until its released. States have no such mechanism to enforce their taxes with, since no state has their own postal service.

[theruleslawyer]

I'd avoid UPS if possible. They always have excessive brokerage fees. USPS (or whatever national carrier) is what I tend to use. I had a gun returned to sender with UPS I think maybe they mistook it for a real firearm? In any case every time I've used them for international shipping the experience has been horrible.

As said its 3.9% for air-rifles but you may be able to draw back that tax when you export to canada. Shouldn't be any local tax. I'm not from NY, but I have never been charge local tax when importing goods. I order a fair amount overseas.

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail ... urning-the

Can't really help on the Canadian duties. I know coming into the US you have a certain dollar allowance before you have to pay anything. Typically $800.