International trade is one of the oldest human activities which has been instrumental during the development of many civilizations. There is one particular term that is strongly associated with the international trade – the import duty. The import duty is a tax collected on the imported and on some of the exported goods by the country’s customs authorities. A good’s value will usually dictate the import duty. Depending on the context, the import duty may also be known as a customs duty, a tariff, an import tax or an import tariff. There are two main reasons for raising the import duty – the income for the local government and to give a market advantage to the locally grown or produced goods. Sometimes the duties are imposed because of the political reasons. In many cases they are a tool in the hands of the world leaders in conducting an offensive foreign policy. Nevertheless, every entrepreneur who wants to deal with the import of goods has to take into consideration the international tariffs. Importing some goods may turn out as more cost-effective than the similar ones. It is not obvious how to properly estimate the value of the import duty. Nowadays some websites offer free calculators which can be very helpful in the estimation of the value of the import duty. Generally, to use such tools we have to share some basic information like from which country is the good imported or what type of good is imported. When it comes to the more precise calculators the user can be asked about the HS code of the imported goods. The HS code is an international standardized system of the product names and numbers used to classify products for trading. It is important for setting the product’s value and the shipping cost. On some websites it is required to share some information about the shipping and the insurance cost. We have to remember that the more information we put into the calculator, the more precise estimation we will get.
These are our top three duty calculators.
- Customs Duty Free (https://customsdutyfree.com/duty-calculator/)
Customs Duty Free is a great calculator which we can use without any extra charges. On the website we can find not only a duty calculator, but also much more information that can be very helpful. Customs Duty Free provides the lists of necessary documents while importing, the rules of customs clearance and even the trade statistics for every country.
- Duties etc (https://dutiesetc.com/import-duty-and-customs-calculator/)
It is a well prepared duty calculator for 110 countries around the world. Calculation at Duties etc are characterised by a great accuracy. On the website we can find also a payable smart logistics software suited to different models of businesses.
- Simply Duty (https://www.simplyduty.com/import-calculator/)
As the name implies it is a simple to use calculator, which can give very precise estimation of duty. For all registered users – 5 calculations are free. What also deserves the attention is the glossary with the logistics terminology which can be very useful for every importer.
All of the mentioned websites provide similar tools to calculate the duty. Undoubtedly, the international trade could become much easier with such calculators. But at the end we have to remember that they are only a non-binding assistance for the importers. To be sure about the extra costs of importing goods and to find the official information it is always advisable to search through the official embassy websites of the countries to which we intend to import goods.