Customs duty
Set by your country based on what the goods are, using a tariff classification. Varies hugely by product. Textiles usually attract more than books.
Verified October 2026
Customs, duty and taxes on parcels from India
Three of the five markets we serve changed their rules during 2025 and 2026. Most shipping sites still quote the old ones. Here is the current position.
Do I pay customs duty on a parcel from India?
Usually yes, and it depends entirely on your country. The United States now charges on every shipment with no exemption. Canada exempts only the first twenty Canadian dollars. The UK charges VAT at every value and duty above one hundred and thirty five pounds. Australia is the most generous at one thousand dollars.
Why this page exists
Three of five markets changed their rules recently
If you are comparing forwarders and finding confident statements about duty free thresholds, check the date. A great deal of what is published on this subject is now wrong, and in the customer's disfavour.
- The United States withdrew its 800 dollar exemption entirely. Suspended globally in August 2025 and indefinitely for all non-postal modes in June 2026.
- The European Union abolished its 150 euro duty exemption on 1 July 2026, replacing it for now with a flat three euro duty.
- Canada's widely quoted 40 and 150 dollar thresholds do not apply to parcels from India. Those are trade agreement figures for shipments from the United States and Mexico.
Side by side
What applies in each market
Our five destinations compared. Figures are for goods you bought yourself and had forwarded, which is what most of our customers are doing.
| Destination | Duty free up to | Sales tax or VAT | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Nothing. No exemption. | Formal entry fees apply | Strictest of the five since June 2026 |
| Canada | CAD 20 | GST 5% plus provincial | Lowest threshold of the five |
| European Union | Nothing since July 2026. Flat EUR 3 below EUR 150. | VAT at every value, rate set by country | Changed on 1 July 2026 |
| United Kingdom | GBP 135 for duty only | VAT at every value, no minimum | Stable until October 2028 |
| Australia | AUD 1,000 | GST 10%, collected at point of sale | Most generous of the five |
Genuine private gifts between individuals attract separate reliefs in the UK at 39 pounds and Canada at 60 Canadian dollars. Goods you bought and forwarded to yourself do not qualify.
How it works
The four charges, kept separate
These are different things with different rules, and conflating them is where most confusion starts.
VAT, GST or sales tax
Set by your country based on value. Usually applies at a lower threshold than duty, and in the UK and EU at every value with no minimum.
Clearance or entry fees
Charged per shipment for processing the customs entry. These have become significant in the United States since every parcel now needs a formal entry.
Brokerage or disbursement
What the carrier charges for paying the duty on your behalf and billing you. Per shipment, which is the argument for consolidating.
What we do about it
Accurate classification is worth real money
We cannot reduce the duty rate your country sets, and anybody promising to is proposing a false declaration with consequences that land on you rather than them.
What we can do is describe and classify every item accurately on the commercial invoice. This sounds like paperwork hygiene and it is, but it has a direct financial effect. A vague declaration such as gifts or personal items gives the carrier nothing to work with, and a carrier with nothing to work with classifies defensively, which means at a rate high enough to be safe. An itemised invoice with correct classifications is assessed on what the goods actually are.
The second thing we do is tell you the position before you ship rather than after. If your parcel is going to tip over a threshold, or if an item is likely to attract a much higher rate than the rest of the box, you should hear that while you can still do something about it.
Common questions
Questions we get asked most
No, and no honest forwarder can include it. Our price covers moving the parcel from our warehouse to your address. Duty, VAT, GST and any clearance or brokerage fee are assessed by your own country on arrival and are payable by you as the receiver.
The carrier normally pays it on your behalf at the border and then bills you, either before delivery or shortly after. They usually add a brokerage or disbursement fee for doing so. You will hear from DHL, UPS or FedEx directly rather than from us.
No. Under-declaring the value of a shipment is a false customs declaration, and the consequences land on you as the receiver, not on us. We declare accurately. What we do instead is classify every item correctly, which often produces a lower figure than a carrier guessing defensively from a vague description.
Only where there is a genuine gift relief and the parcel genuinely qualifies, which means a real present sent between two private individuals with no payment involved. Goods you bought and had forwarded to yourself do not qualify in any of our markets, whatever the label says.
Usually one of three reasons. Different destination country, since the thresholds vary enormously. Different date, because three of our five markets changed their rules recently. Or different declared value, since several countries assess on the goods value and tip over a threshold at a specific figure.
It does not reduce the duty itself, which is assessed on the goods either way, and we will not suggest otherwise. What it reduces is everything charged per shipment: the brokerage fee, the clearance fee and the international freight. On routes where almost every parcel is taxable, that is where the saving is.
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