Is the customs clearance cost of cosmetics higher than the product? This pit-avoiding guide is a must-read!

Ms. Li recently bought a set of international luxury skin care products through overseas shopping. When she was looking forward to receiving the goods with great anticipation, she was shocked by a text message: "You need to pay an additional customs clearance fee of 480 yuan." This made her couldn't help complaining: "I only spent 800 yuan on the cosmetics, and the tariff is almost catching up with the price of the product!" In fact, the customs clearance cost of cosmetics has always been a "hidden blind spot" in cross-border consumption. Today, let's uncover the true face of this mysterious bill.

Many people mistakenly think that the customs clearance cost is just the tariff, but it's not the case. Take a set of imported face creams with a declared value of 1000 yuan as an example:

• Tariff: The tax rate for ordinary skin care products is 5% - 10% (the most-favored-nation tax rate in 2023)
• Value-added Tax: 13% (the unified tax rate for cosmetics in the new regulations of 2023)
• Consumption Tax: 15% for high-end cosmetics (the dutiable price ≥ 10 yuan/ml or g)
• Agent Service Fee: 200 - 500 yuan per ticket (the basic service of the customs broker)

1. Product Classification Trap:
The tax rate difference between "skin care products" and "makeup" is obvious. A cross-border e-commerce declared an eye cream as an "eye shadow care product", resulting in the tax rate jumping from 5% to 20%.

2. Declaration of Declared Value:
The customs will initiate the valuation process for declarations that are significantly lower than the market price. The market price of a certain luxury face cream purchased by Ms. Wang on behalf of others was 3000 yuan, but she declared 800 yuan, and finally was required to pay the difference in taxes.

3. Supervision of Special Ingredients:
Ingredients such as alcohol and salicylic acid may be classified as dangerous goods and require additional testing fees. The case library of Zhongshitong shows that the testing fee for an essence containing retinol is as high as 1200 yuan.

4. Choice of Logistics Method:
The cost difference between personal postal parcels (parcel post tax) and commercial customs declaration (trade tax) is significant. A 50 ml essence may be tax-free when sent through the postal channel, but the same product needs to be fully taxed when sent through the express delivery channel.

• Split the Parcels: If the dutiable price of a single commodity is ≤ 500 yuan, you can enjoy the tax exemption quota (it needs to comply with the principle of personal use).
• Pay Attention to Policy Windows: Within the annual quota of 26000 yuan for cross-border e-commerce, you can enjoy the full exemption of tariffs.
• Pre-declaration Service: Through professional institutions such as Zhongshitong to pre-examine the documents to avoid the demurrage charges caused by declaration errors.

With the revision of the Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulations, starting from 2024, there may be a new "Environmental Surcharge" (for over-packaged products). An industry report predicts that the comprehensive customs clearance cost of high-end cosmetics may exceed 35% of the product value.

When you are next carried away by the joy of "chopping your hands", you might as well ask yourself first: "Do I really understand the price of this beauty?" Welcome to share your customs clearance experiences in the comment section. The reader with the most likes will receive an electronic version of the cross-border tax calculation manual.