Well in my country the government wants 21% + additional costs of everything that comes into the country from outside of the EU be it brand new ( which I can understand ) or be it 2nd hand. They make no distinction between the two.
For 2nd hand goods I totally disagree as the tax has already been paid somewhere at some point and it has got nothing to do with the government here. Legalized theft IMHO.
actively stating an items true worth
So law is risk based now. 😒 Would like to hear your rating for some other laws as deceit and deception is higher in my book.
The problem with your logic is that there are plenty of places where no sales tax is charged...
IMHO this is the crux of the situation : 'An items true worth (and what that has to do with/how to to determine by the tax authorities)'. So, if one buys a $50000 watch in an auction abroad (lets say there was one other bidder who drove the price that high, you had to absolutely have it - the value of something is what someone is willing to pay for it, right?) but it generally goes for about half that, the moral argument here is that $50k is the true worth and thus the buyer should go out of his way to pay 20% tax on it when he brings it into his country? Or rather in this case, the business made a profit and would have thus legally recorded it through the tax system that way...(private sales are not done this way).
What about the case of the well known dealer who bought a submariner as a 'for spare parts' watch for $600 on a well known platform and is now selling it for $45000? If that watch were to cross borders at initial purchase (say he bought it from Australia and shipped it to the US), the moral argument is that he should pay tax on $600, as that is what he 'bought' it for, right? The value he added was replacing the crystal and bezel and giving it a service (hardly $44400 worth of added value). In this case it was a private sale, the tax authorities have no record of a value of 'whats in the box' for that transaction.
How many of you folks with serious expensive watch collections whose 'true worth/value' is climbing every day, flip them for a profit, and declare this in their annual income tax and thus pay tax on the profit made? Because if you have a watch for example that you paid $4k for that is now worth $25k that's a taxable capital gain of $21k when you sell it (is it not? I stand to be corrected here).
This is all very grey...
No, breaking laws and rules is risk based. People smoke where they shouldn't; people speed (even by just 5 km/h); people walk their dogs off leads; people J walk; people own guns they shouldn't; people take drugs; people covet their neighbours...
I think I've illustrated the point - people break laws and rules all the time, and in doing so they take a risk. If they undertake an assessment and deem the risk too high, they probably won't break the law or rule.
Before you respond, please recall: "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone..."
No grey area here, buyer paid $5000 seller has to declare the value to the governments for posting to buyers country.
Learnt early from my father ' No one likes a liar or a thief "
I've never heard of the authorities examining bank transactions to verify shipment values - certainly not for individuals - but then maybe it's different in Europe?
How many of you folks with serious expensive watch collections whose 'true worth/value' is climbing every day, flip them for a profit, and declare this in their annual income tax and thus pay tax on the profit made?
If the seller (selling for $5000), when he was the buyer, paid $4000 for it, he made a profit of $1000, and thus he himself has to pay tax on that $1000, right? Which I am sure nobody does...my point is : why is this ok/overlooked in the morality above?
Easy, never asked anyone to change a decleration and never would ( being a gov officer 😀 that has fined and prosecuted people for it )
Learnt early from my father ' No one likes a liar or a thief "
In the USA that is considered Federal wire fraud and bank fraud. But don't worry they will probably just send you to one of those nicer non-violent offender camps in a pleasant climate.
Edit : @eugeneandresson not to mix everything OP talks about import VAT but you referred to the sales VAT and omitted the taxes on personal assets (Capital) that increase in line with the value of your collection, depending on what you declare. Another room for fraud, another topic 😀
Easy, never asked anyone to change a decleration and never would ( being a gov officer 😀 that has fined and prosecuted people for it )
Learnt early from my father ' No one likes a liar or a thief "
Somewhat OT but being in AU customs, have you ever seized anything particularly cool, memorable or interesting?
Just curious ☕
And further OT... Why is it that whenever drug dealers / bikies / smugglers are raided and their swag seized and its shown on the news here, they always for some reason have amongst the loot taken into evidence either a samurai sword, or nunchucks? Literally every bikie raid here in AU its like "police seized ice, steroids, handguns, gang colours and a set of nunchucks" and its not like its even a good weapon, you're better off with a stick than one of those stupid things.
Just curious ☕
Nunchucks are a prohibited weapon
I am trying to determine how the 'import VAT' country (buyers country) could actually determine the value of the goods imported from the sellers end (in this case, the OP is worried about consequences)...
