China import duty calculator

The sheet has three steps. First customs value is added. Duty is applied to it. Then VAT is calculated on the sum of customs value, duty and costs from the border to the first destination in Serbia.

Example: goods 10,000 EUR, freight to the border 1,200 EUR, road from the border to the warehouse 300 EUR, basic rate 10%. Customs value is 11,200 EUR, duty 1,120 EUR, VAT base 12,620 EUR and VAT 2,524 EUR. At customs you pay 3,644 EUR. With origin proof and a 0% rate you pay only VAT of 2,300 EUR, which is 1,344 EUR less.

The saving is larger than duty alone, because duty enters the VAT base. When duty falls to zero, part of VAT falls too.

Customs value is not only the invoice price. All freight, insurance, loading and handling costs to the place goods enter Serbia are added. Costs after the border do not enter customs value, but they enter the VAT base.

What you add depends on Incoterms on the invoice, that is where the supplier’s obligation ends.

The free trade agreement with China applies from 1 July 2024. Each HS code has a category that decides when duty falls to zero. You read category and basic rate from the tariff for your code.

For planning enter the rate that holds in the year of import. For categories that fall gradually, the agreement rate sits between the basic rate and zero.

A lower rate holds only if you prove Chinese origin. Proof is an origin certificate on the Serbia-China agreement form, issued by the competent body in China, or an origin statement by an authorised exporter with an approval number. Form E is a form for other Chinese agreements and does not apply to import into Serbia.

The certificate is valid 12 months from issue. If it was not issued at export, it can be issued later within a year, marked as issued later. Goods must travel direct from China. Transhipment in a third country is allowed if goods stay under customs control and are only unloaded, transhipped or stored there.

You claim preference at import, in the customs declaration. What else goes in the file before shipment is on China Serbia import documents, and agreement rules on Serbia China FTA.

The general 20% VAT rate applies to most goods from China: furniture, textiles, footwear, electronics, lighting, tools, machinery and packaging. The special 10% rate applies only to goods on the legal list, such as staple foods, medicines, some medical devices, textbooks, fertiliser, seed, firewood and pellet.

A VAT-registered firm usually deducts import VAT as input tax. Then VAT is money you lock until the return, not a cost of goods. That is why the tool also shows cost without VAT, in total and per piece.

Excise on alcohol, tobacco and fuel. Special fees, for example for products that become special waste after use. Forwarder, broker, storage and our fee. Final duty is done in dinars, so the rate moves the number a little.

A wrong HS gives a wrong number, however exactly you add the rest. When you need a sheet with sourcing, send a goods description and invoice. We return a checked code and landed cost from China.