A stuffed manatee mailed from Canada to a newborn in the United States arrived with a $93 bill, more than the toy cost. Stuffed toys are duty-free under the US tariff. Whatever produced that bill, it was not the toy rate.
The kind of story that fills our inbox. It is why this page exists.
Free tool · Customs Bill Checker
Got a surprise import bill? Check it in 30 seconds.
Enter what was in the box and what the carrier charged, or upload a photo of the bill and we read it for you. We check the destination's thresholds, the tax arithmetic and the courier's fee, run the commodity code through a real customs pipeline whenever our classifier is online, then tell you exactly what to dispute and how.
- Classification by the pipeline Mayple uses to clear thousands of parcels a week.
- Rules for 27 destinations: US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia, the Gulf, Japan and more.
- No sign-up. What you enter is kept to improve the checker (privacy policy).
Result
Classifier still running. The verdict may change once it answers.
Line by line
What to do next
- Who decides
- How
- Deadline
Reference for this check
Check reference . Quote it in full if you write to us about this check, including to have it deleted.
What it should have cost
| Line | Expected | Charged |
|---|
How the item should be declared
Rules for
How the check works
Four questions every import bill has to answer.
1
Is the item classified correctly?
Your description goes through the same classification pipeline Mayple uses for the brands it ships: an agent proposes the heading, the real lines of the customs nomenclature under that heading are fetched, and it picks one. If the code on your paperwork points somewhere else, you will know, and whether the wrong code carried a higher rate.
2
Was anything due at all?
Every destination has thresholds: below them no duty, sometimes no tax, and in many countries the seller was supposed to collect the tax at checkout. A charge below the line is the most common overcharge, and the easiest to reverse.
3
Is the arithmetic right?
Duty is a percentage of the goods value (or goods plus shipping, depending on the country). Tax is a percentage of that plus the duty. We recompute both and compare the effective rate you paid with the rate you owed.
4
Whose fee is that?
The handling or brokerage line is the carrier's own charge for paying customs on your behalf. It is legal, it has a typical range, and it disappears when a shipment is sent delivered duty paid. We tell you whether yours is normal, excessive, or charged for advancing money that was never owed.
Why bills go wrong
Most overcharges are not fraud. They are a form filled in fast, in a warehouse, by someone who has never seen the product.
The wrong commodity code
The HS code decides the rate, and it is chosen by whoever prepares the shipment. A knitted cotton t-shirt is 6109.10; call it "clothing" and a broker may pick a woven line or a textile article with a different rate. In Mayple's own catalogue work, agent classification against the real nomenclature corrects a meaningful share of hand-entered codes.
Origin confused with ship-from
Duty follows where the item was made, not where it was posted. Since 2025 the US stacks additional tariffs by country of origin on top of the normal rate, so a China-made item mailed from Canada is assessed at the China rate, while a genuinely Canadian item may qualify for 0% under USMCA if the paperwork says so.
Tax charged twice
Under £135 in the UK, €150 in the EU, AUD/NZD 1,000 in Australia and New Zealand and SGD 400 in Singapore, the seller should collect the VAT or GST at checkout. Carriers cannot always see that it was paid, and charge it again at the door. Your order receipt is the evidence.
Thresholds ignored
Parcels below a country's de minimis owe no duty, and often no tax. Couriers processing thousands of parcels an hour still bill some of them. Note the exceptions: the US has had no de minimis since 29 August 2025, and the EU replaced its €150 exemption with a flat €3 per item on 1 July 2026.
The value inflated
Duty and tax are computed on the declared value. A retail price where the invoice showed a discounted one, a currency converted twice, or shipping included where the country uses the goods value alone, all push the bill up.
Fees dressed as taxes
Brokerage, disbursement, advancement, clearance, storage: the carrier's own charges are often shown next to the government's, and paid together at the door. They are negotiable, sometimes refundable, and avoidable altogether when the seller ships delivered duty paid.
Destination rules at a glance
What each country lets in duty-free, and who should have collected the tax.
Headline rules as of September 2026, in each destination's currency. Thresholds apply to the goods value unless noted; "checkout" means a registered seller collects the tax when you order, so nothing should be demanded at the door. Carrier fees are typical courier ranges, not tariffs.
| Destination | Duty threshold | Import tax | Tax collected at checkout up to | Typical carrier fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | No threshold since 29 Aug 2025; origin-based tariffs stack on the MFN rate | None at import | — | $10–35 brokerage |
| United Kingdom | £135 | VAT 20% | £135 | £8–12 |
| European Union (13 member states) | Flat €3 per item up to €150 (paid by the seller); rate above | VAT by member state: Germany 19%, France 20%, Italy 22%, Spain 21%, Netherlands 21%, Ireland 23%, Belgium 21%, Austria 20%, Sweden 25%, Denmark 25%, Poland 23%, Portugal 23%, Finland 25.5% | €150 (IOSS) | €8–20 |
| Canada | CAD 150 by courier from the US/Mexico (CAD 40 tax-free); CAD 20 from elsewhere | GST/HST 5–15% by province | — | CAD 10–60 |
| Australia | AUD 1,000 | GST 10% | AUD 1,000 | AUD 15–90 incl. import processing charge above AUD 1,000 |
| New Zealand | NZD 1,000 | GST 15% | NZD 1,000 | NZD 20–80 incl. border levies above NZD 1,000 |
| United Arab Emirates | AED 300 CIF in Dubai (AED 1,000 Abu Dhabi); 5% duty above | VAT 5% | — | AED 20–80 |
| Saudi Arabia | SAR 1,000 CIF; 5–15% duty above | VAT 15%, always | — | SAR 15–100 |
| Singapore | No duty on ordinary goods | GST 9% | SGD 400 (OVR) | SGD 10–30 |
| Hong Kong | No duty on ordinary goods | None | — | HKD 0–30 |
| Japan | ¥10,000 total customs value (duty and tax) | Consumption tax 10% | — | ¥500–1,500 |
| South Korea | USD 150 (USD 200 from the US), duty and VAT | VAT 10% | — | Up to ₩20,000 |
| Switzerland | Duty by weight, usually a few francs | VAT 8.1%, waived when the tax is CHF 5 or less (about CHF 62 of goods) | — | CHF 12–35 |
| Norway | Duty only on clothing/textiles (10.7%) and food | VAT 25%, always | NOK 3,000 (VOEC) | NOK 100–300 |
| Israel | USD 500 (about ILS 1,800) | VAT 18%, from USD 75 (about ILS 270) | — | ILS 30–120 |
Sources: the customs authorities and finance ministries of each destination, and the carriers' published surcharge schedules. Indicative; the official tariff decides. Corrections welcome at [email protected].
Getting it fixed
The carrier filed the declaration. The carrier can amend it.
1
Ask for the entry
Every import has a declaration: the commodity code, the declared value, the country of origin and each duty, tax and fee line. You are entitled to see it. Most disputes are settled the moment it is read out loud.
2
Say precisely what is wrong
"Too expensive" goes nowhere. "Heading 9503, 0% duty, assessed as 6307 at 12%" or "value £110, below the £135 relief, duty charged" gets a re-assessment. The checker writes this sentence for you.
3
Escalate to the authority if needed
CBP Form 19 in the US (180 days from liquidation), form C285 with HMRC, a post-clearance amendment in the EU, form B2G with CBSA. Deadlines run from the import date, so start now; the result names yours.
Questions, answered.
Why was I charged duty on a gift or a cheap parcel?
Most countries exempt low-value parcels from duty, but the thresholds differ and some have gone. The United States removed its $800 de minimis on 29 August 2025, so every parcel entering the US is dutiable. The EU withdrew its €150 duty exemption on 1 July 2026 (replaced by a flat €3 per item, charged to the seller). The UK (£135), Australia and New Zealand (1,000 in local currency), Japan (¥10,000) and others still exempt small parcels from duty. Gift exemptions exist in some countries but are narrow and rarely applied by couriers.
What is an HS code and why does it decide my bill?
The Harmonized System code is the six-digit commodity classification every customs authority uses; countries extend it to 8 or 10 digits. The duty rate is looked up by that code, so a wrong code means a wrong rate. A stuffed toy is heading 9503 and is duty-free in the US, the UK and most of the EU; declare it as a textile article (heading 6307) and it attracts 6–12%. Whoever filled in the customs form in the warehouse chose the code, and they are often wrong.
The carrier says its handling fee is mandatory. Is it?
The fee is the carrier's own charge for clearing the parcel and paying the government on your behalf, not a tax. It is legal, and typically a flat £8–£12, CAD 10–60 or 2.5% with a minimum, depending on the country. You can dispute it when nothing was due, when it is far above the usual range, or when the charges it advanced are refunded. The only way to avoid it entirely is for the seller to ship delivered duty paid, with duties collected at checkout.
How do I get an overcharge refunded?
Start with the carrier: it filed the declaration and can amend it. Ask for the import entry showing the commodity code, declared value, country of origin and every duty, tax and fee line, and state exactly what is wrong. If the carrier will not correct it, file with the customs authority: CBP Form 19 in the US (within 180 days of liquidation), form C285 in the UK, a post-clearance amendment under Article 116 UCC in the EU, form B2G with CBSA in Canada. The checker drafts the message and names the route and deadline for your destination.
How accurate is this checker?
Thresholds and standard tax rates are exact as published. Duty bands are the usual MFN range for the product type, before any trade-agreement rate or origin-based additional tariff, so they tell you whether a bill is plausible rather than the exact rate. When the classifier is available, the classification comes from the same pipeline Mayple uses to prepare declarations for the brands it ships, and it says how confident it is; the threshold, tax and fee checks run either way. Treat the result as a well-informed first check, not legal advice, and use the official tariff for the final rate. What you enter is kept; see the next question.
Can I upload the bill instead of typing it in?
Yes. Upload a photo or PDF of the carrier's duty invoice or payment notice (JPG, PNG, WebP or PDF, up to 10 MB) and the checker reads the amounts charged, the declared value, the commodity code and the countries into the form for you. It highlights what it filled in so you can correct a misread figure before running the check; the verdict is only as good as the numbers, so do look. Photos are shrunk in your browser before they are sent. The file is stored, with your check once you run one; an upload reference appears under the button so you can ask for the file to be deleted even if you never run the check. The next answer has the details.
What happens to the information I enter?
Each check is kept: the item description, the countries and amounts you enter, the code on your paperwork and what the checker answered, together with the country your connection comes from, your browser's user-agent string and a hashed form of your IP address. The hash lets us spot one connection running the checker in a loop; the address itself is never stored. If you upload a bill, the file itself is kept as well, with the figures we read from it; bills usually show your name and address, so upload one only if you are comfortable with that. We do not ask for your name or email. The data shows which routes and product types produce wrong bills and how often carrier fees are out of line, and it improves the checker. To have a check and any bill uploaded with it deleted or anonymised, quote the check reference shown in full with your result and write to [email protected]. If you uploaded a bill but never ran the check, quote the upload reference shown under the upload button instead to have the file deleted.
I run a brand. How do I stop my customers getting these bills?
Ship delivered duty paid: calculate duties and taxes in the checkout, declare the goods with the correct commodity codes, and pay the authority through the carrier so nothing is demanded at the door. That is what Mayple does for Shopify brands in 80+ countries, with classifications from the pipeline behind this checker.
For brands
Your customers are running this check on your parcels.
Every surprise bill at the door is a refund request, a one-star review, or a customer who never orders abroad again. Mayple ships Shopify orders delivered duty paid to 80+ countries: duties calculated and collected in your checkout, goods declared with codes from the pipeline behind this page, and nothing owed on delivery.