Quote:
Originally Posted by dafire
But that's exactly what I said. You don't pay VAT but you have to pay import taxes which are the same amount as your local VAT.
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I'm sorry, but that's not correct.
The money you pay to the delivery company when your purchase is delivered is either mainly or entirely VAT. It might also contain an element of import duty, but in the case of electronic products like the Kindle, that's either very small or zero. The amount of the import duty is definitely not the same as the amount of VAT.
I have in front of me my invoice from UPS for the import of my Kindle last April. It clearly shows GBP 32.03 for VAT, zero for import duty and "other government charges", and GBP 11.00 as a "brokerage fee" (the fee UPS charge for collecting the VAT on behalf of the government).
It could be that you are using the term "import tax" as a catch-all term for all charges that you pay on import, but there is a crucial difference between import duty and VAT. Import duty is a charge that everyone must pay, and is non-recoverable. VAT is a charge on consumption, and can be reclaimed by businesses on their inputs (which would certainly include devices like the Kindle).
The bottom line is this. Whether you buy a product from a US source and have them send it to you, or you buy it in Europe from a supplier who sourced it from the US, the element of the total cost of purchase that is directly attributable to taxes is going to be pretty much the same.