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I have placed myself on Anders Eliasson's wait list for one of his 1A flamencos. One thing, I forgot when figuring the approximate costs was any Import Duty into the U.S.
Does anyone know approximately what this is, or how to determine it? I did a Google and it produced a lot of hits, but most of it was rocket science.
Anders may know. Also, contact Tom at La Falseta and ask him.
Here is one story that I have heard more than once. If you ship DHL you will not be charged duty. I do not know how true (if at all) that statement is. I have had guitars shipped via DHL and they charge more but they really take care of your instrument.
If all that's true and it probably is, then for me I've got to add about 15.2% (8.7% import duty & 6.5% state taxes) to the cost, plus S&I. That will put the cost of a "Plain Jane" 1A blanco at approximately $3918 U.S. at todays exchange rate, this includes an estimated amount for S&I. Interesting that state taxes would be assessed as they normally aren't for inter-state, Internet transactions. Customs must be collecting these on behalf of the various states.
Augggh!!!
I really don't see how shipping by DHL would legally avoid these charges. Aren't they just another common carrier like UPS or FedEX?
I called Customs and they pointed me to The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of The United States, Section XVIII, Chapter 92, page 3. For guitars over $100 it is 8.7%. The agent that I spoke to said he knew nothing about collecting state taxes.
This is probably the 7-8% that Anders was referring to.
For those interested, we in the US do not have to pay duty on guitars coming from Canada or Mexico. Unfortunately, the US and Spain do not have a duty free agreement.
Not sure about that Patrick. I purchased a guitar from Canada recently and had to pay the duty on it.
I did not on mine. I paid 30 buck’s for customs, but no duty.
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of The United States says Canada is exempt. You have to read the exceptions and then find the codes in a 400 plus page document. My guess is the Duty folks don't have a clue either.
Go to this site and look at Chapter 92, page 3. You will see the codes to the right that says "Free". You will see CA.
Now go back to the main page and click on: GENERAL NOTES; GENERAL RULES OF INTERPRETATION. Go to page 7. It says CA stands for Canada, which is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement and is free of duty. But if it’s a leap year, it’s raining, it’s Tuesday and they don’t like you, you have to pay!
But what do I know, that’s just how “I “ interpret it.
If the shipping, taxes, duty are adding up to over $400 - you should just get a cheap ticket fly down there, see the place and bring your guitar back yourself.
Yeah, the world is full of complications. Just remember that we, on the euro side of the big sea are also paying taxes, dutys vat or whatever it´s called on things comming from the US. Here in Spain its 17% and to this you add some extra costs etc, so that reality is around 20%. that´s life
What a bummer. How are you coming up with your numbers, Gecko? You must be placing your order after the summer?
This is the way I do it:
Todays Exchange rate: 1 USD = 0.815 Euros
I figured it for two base prices, a "Plane Jane" Blanco, which I'll refer to as "PJ" (2300 euros) and a Blanco with some of the customation I may want done on it (2900 euros,estimated ) I'll refer to this one as "CB"
Base Prices: PJ 2300 euros = $2822 US, CB 2900 eruos = $3559 US. Shipping: Approximately 260 euros = $319 US for either guitars. Insurance (Approximately 2% of base): $56 for the PJ and $71 for the CB Import Duties (8.7% of base): $246 for the PJ and $310 for the CB My state tax (If assessed, is 6.5%): $149 for the PJ and $321 for the CB
Bottom Line:
PJ = $3592 US CB = $4580 US. Obviously for any base price between 2300 and 2900 euros the figures would have top be adjusted accordingly.
NOTE!!! This has nothing to do with Anders or his instruments and should not be construed as such it's just a fact of life!!
This CB thing is interesting. You haven´t told me about that.
I´m quite sure you dont have to pay import duties AND state tax!!!!!, so please check this.
Just dreaming for the time being of several things I may eventually want to have done if possible and planning for any possible price increase(s) that could occur within the next 6 months or so.
Not if you don't declare it and carry it with you. If you get pulled asside and inspected, they will ask if you bought it in Spain during your trip. Just say no, you bought it used from a friend in the states, and wanted to bring it with you to Spain to take guitar lessons. They would have to go out of their way to investigate. I let the customs officer play a D chord on my Conde years ago.
Huh? I bought a Bernal in Spain in 2002, brought it on the plane, declared it, and they said musical instruments are exempt from duty. Same with all the cd's and dvd's I bought over there. What's all the fuss?
I Purchased a classical guitar last year from the Austrailian guitar maker Jim Redgate, and I had to pay import duties in the U.S to DHL before it could be delivered to me. When ordering a guitar as I did, its best to tell the guitar maker or dealer to put a lesser value of the guitar on the mailing slip, to decrease the import tax.
they said musical instruments are exempt from duty. Same with all the cd's and dvd's I bought over there.
LOL! Who is "they", the stewardess on the airline? US Citizens are exempt up to like $1000 depending. But unless all the stuff was under that amount, then you have to pay. If you said you spent 50 bucks on CDs etc, and 800 for the guitar, they will let you bring it w/out paying. How would they know what a guitar is worth w/out investigating? If you declared your guitar at 3000+, tell me, which state did you land in?
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