The luggage tax is the import tax on the luggage or mail items that individuals carry when passing through customs. It is a comprehensive tax of value-added tax and consumption tax in the import tariff link.
The luggage tax is for personal items rather than bulk goods. The tax rate of the luggage tax is generally lower than the tax rate of the same type of imported goods. According to the relevant customs regulations, additional fees will be levied on items that exceed the amount specified by the General Administration of Customs. Specifically, it refers to personal mail items, passenger luggage items and other personal items for personal use. The luggage tax applies to direct mail products purchased by buyers when they go shopping overseas and through cross-border e-commerce platforms.
At present, the customs implements a general trade supervision model for imported goods. In order to encourage the development of cross-border e-commerce, the customs department has relaxed the tax and fees for cross-border e-commerce retail, issued a transitional policy for import supervision and extended it many times.
In recent years, the customs department has reduced the rate of the luggage tax levied on personal imported mail items. The State Council Tariff Committee announced that starting from April 9, 2018, the tax on imported articles will be adjusted, and the import tax rates on imported articles will be adjusted from 15%, 25% and 60% to 13%, 20% and 50%. Among them, the tax rates of food, medicine, electrical appliances and other commodities have been reduced to varying degrees, with a general reduction of 2% to 10%, in order to expand imports and promote consumption.
The reduction in the tax rate of the postal tax means that the taxes and fees that need to be paid when bringing overseas goods to the customs for transit have been reduced. Taking a product declared for 600 yuan as an example, if the tax rate is reduced from 25% to 20%, the tax will be reduced from 150 yuan to 120 yuan, a reduction of 30 yuan; if the tax rate is reduced from 15% to 13%, the tax will be reduced from 90 yuan to 78 yuan, a reduction of 12 yuan.