Importing
Import duty and de minimis checker
Whether your shipment gets waved through, and what it costs the moment it does not.
Most explanations of de minimis get two things wrong. They talk about one threshold when there are usually two, and they describe it as a slope when it is a cliff — going a cent over makes the whole shipment dutiable, not the cent. This shows both thresholds and what crossing each one actually costs.
Not ready to publish — placeholder data
Every threshold, duty rate and tax rate behind this page is currently a placeholder set to zero. The answers below are not real. This page is noindex and out of the sitemap until each value has been read from an official source and dated.
19 values still to verify.
The shipment
Enter the value customs will assess — usually goods plus freight and insurance, not the goods alone.
At $300.00 this shipment is over United States' thresholds, so $0.00 is due before it is released — 0% on top of what the shipment is worth.
Why this can move
United States applies origin-specific rules to some shipments, and the exceptions for this destination have not been verified yet. Treat the answer above as the ordinary case only, and check the position for China directly.
Need the full cost per unit, not just the border charges?
Landed cost calculatorHow the maths works
Two thresholds, tested separately. The shipment value is compared against the duty threshold and the tax threshold independently. Being under one says nothing about the other, which is why the result is a state rather than a yes or no.
The cliff is computed, not estimated. For each threshold the page works out what a shipment one cent below would be charged, and what a shipment exactly at the threshold would be charged, then reports the difference. That difference is the real cost of crossing, and it includes the carrier’s handling fee because that fee only applies once there is something to collect.
A zero threshold means no threshold. Where a destination charges tax from the first cent, the page says the shipment is over the threshold rather than pretending there is a limit at zero to be under.
Origin is recorded, not assumed. Each destination carries a flag for whether its rules depend on where goods came from. When that flag is set and the exceptions have not been verified, the page says so instead of presenting the ordinary rule as the whole answer.
The thresholds behind this page
These are placeholders, not real thresholds. This page is not indexed and is not in the sitemap until every row carries a source and a date.
| Destination | Duty threshold | Tax threshold | Origin matters | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States No federal import VAT | TODO | TODO | Yes | U.S. Customs and Border Protection | — |
United Kingdom Import VAT | TODO | TODO | No | HM Revenue & Customs | — |
European Union Import VAT | TODO | TODO | No | European Commission — Taxation and Customs Union | — |
Canada GST | TODO | TODO | Yes | Canada Border Services Agency | — |
Australia GST | TODO | TODO | No | Australian Border Force | — |
Origins offered: China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, Turkey, Bangladesh, European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Mexico, Somewhere else. Where a destination applies origin-specific rules, the exceptions are recorded per destination rather than inferred.
Common questions
What does de minimis actually mean?
It is the value below which a customs authority does not bother collecting. Assessing and collecting a few dollars of duty costs more than the duty is worth, so most countries set a floor and wave anything under it through. The name is short for de minimis non curat lex — the law does not concern itself with trifles.
Is there one threshold or two?
Two, in most countries, and they are usually different numbers. There is a value below which no duty is charged, and a separate value below which no import tax is charged. The tax threshold is often the lower of the two, and in several countries it is zero — which means a shipment can pass through duty-free and still generate a tax bill.
Why did one extra dollar cost me so much?
Because a threshold is a cliff rather than a slope. Crossing it does not make that last dollar dutiable — it makes the entire shipment dutiable, from the first cent. On top of that, once anything is owed the carrier usually adds a handling fee for collecting it. The jump at the boundary is routinely far larger than the value that triggered it, which is why this page shows the cost of crossing rather than just the threshold.
Is the threshold tested against the goods or the whole shipment?
Usually the whole assessed value, which includes freight and insurance rather than the invoice for the goods alone. That catches people out: an order that looks comfortably under the limit on the supplier invoice can be over it once shipping is added.
Does it matter where the goods are shipped from?
It did not used to, much — a threshold is a value test, not an origin test. That is no longer universally true, because several recent changes have been origin-specific. This checker records per destination whether origin matters, and says plainly when the exceptions for a destination have not been verified rather than implying the ordinary rule always applies.
Can I split an order to stay under the threshold?
This page will not advise you on that. Splitting consignments to avoid duty is treated as an offence in many jurisdictions when it is done deliberately, and the rules on what counts as one shipment vary. Saufee states what the thresholds are and what crossing them costs; what you do with that is between you and the customs authority.
Related calculators
What this is not
This is a calculator, not customs advice. Whether a threshold applies to a particular shipment depends on how it is declared, how the carrier presents it, and rules that can change at short notice — classification and declaration remain the importer’s legal responsibility. The figures here are estimates produced from inputs you chose and from published thresholds that are linked and dated above. Confirm the position for your own shipment before relying on it.