After more than a year of ordering DVDs from online stores (most frequently from e-bay), I encountered yesterday the most shocking surprise of my life.
I ordered four DVDs from an online store in the UK (Chaplin Mutuals volumes 1 and 2, Chaplin Essanays volumes 1 and 2) for GBP 49.72. Add the shipping costs to that, and it would come out at GBP 61.50. Yesterday, I got a notice from the Post Office informing me that the package has arrived. When my staff got there, he was presented with a tentative assessment sheet detailing the numerous fees I had to pay. the breakdown is as follows:
At 10% rate of duty, and at P72.11 = GBP 1, the Total Customs Duty amounted to 443.47.
Add to this the Import Processing Fee (P250.00), Customs Documentary Stamp (P250.00), and BIR Documentary Stamp (P15.00), the Total Taxable Cost became P5,393.23.
Multiply the Total Taxable Cost by the EVAT Rate of 12%, and you would have to add 647.18 to the Total Taxable Cost.
Then, it shows the summary of the amount I had to pay:
Customs Duty: P443.00
Expanded VAT: P647.00
Import Processing Fee: P250.00
Customs Stamp: P250.00
BIR Docs Stamp: P15.00
All this brought the total to P1,605.00!
This is more than one-third of the total amount I had to pay for the items plus shipping!
I was really at a loss on how this came about. Shameful as it sounds, I just gave the Customs officer half of that amount just so my package would be released.
Somewhere, somehow, there must be something fishy about this. I wasn't even going to use this for commercial purposes. It is really discouraging when the amount of taxes we are burdened with is not commensurate with the value of the product we purchased.
Any of you have the same experience?