Apply Item Discount o Customs Value Fields

[lizannev]

I would like to request a feature that allows a discount taken during checkout to be applied to an item's price on the Customs Form. Currently I am processing a lot of International orders that had used coupon codes to get discounts on their purchase. Shipstation sees the discount as a separate line item, and reports the product at full price on the Customs form. This will mean the customer will have to pay a higher tax rate on import, unless we manually go in and adjust the price on every single international order Customs Declaration. I'd like to be able to automate this so that customs forms would reflect the actual price paid, not the item's default price.

[RobC]

I don't think this is a feature request. This is a bug. In addition to not including the discount amount on the customs form (even on a manually created order in ShipStation that has a discount), they also don't include the freight or taxes on the form. At least not for UPS. If I ship ups through ShipStation either the customer is going to be charged the wrong tax/duty amount or I am going to be if I ship DDP. Either way it's customs fraud.

[jescor]

you should not be declaring freight or taxes on a customs form. only the price of the product paid by the buyer.

and a discount should be deducted from the original price so the actual price paid is the declared value.

[RobC]

If you charge your customer for shipping, that amount is taxable in most countries, including the UK and EU.

[jescor]

you might be right on that. do you have a link to reference that? thanks

[RobC]

Sure! Here are a few references regarding taxable shipping charges:

ALL EU countries

https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/buying-goods-online-coming-non-european-union-country_en

• The customs value is made up of:
  • the price paid for the goods,
  • the insurance cost,
  • the shipping cost.

UK:

https://www.parcelmonkey.com/help/customs/how-much-is-uk-import-tax

VAT is charged on:

The value of the item itself

Postage, packaging, insurance

Any customs duty owed

The standard VAT rate for the UK is 20%.

https://blog.stamps.com/2020/12/22/shipping-from-the-u-s-to-uk-with-2021-vat-rules/

VAT is charged on all goods (except for gifts worth £39 or less) sent from:

it’s charged on the total package value, including:

• the value of the goods
• postage, packaging and insurance
• any duty you owe

Australia:

Australia

To calculate the GST on imported goods, add the value of the goods in Australian dollars, plus freight, insurances and the import duty. The 10% GST is calculated on this total.

https://intas.com.au/importing-business-goods-australia/

New Zealand:

https://www.customs.govt.nz/personal/duty-and-gst/duty-and-allowances/

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

GST of 15% applies to all imported items, including anything you bought online or using a mail order catalogue. Overseas suppliers may charge GST on items sent to New Zealand consumers that are valued at NZ$1000 or less.

We calculate GST based on the total of:

• how much you paid for the item, plus
• any international transport and insurance costs, plus
• any import duty.

Canada

Canada calculates using the CIF method, which means the import duty and taxes are calculated based on the value of the imported goods as well as shipping costs. Click here to learn how to calculate customs charges or use our calculator to see fees.

https://www.easyship.com/countries/shipping-to-canada

(also the issue with shipstation not including the discount amount on the customs forms is an issue because nearly ever shopping cart has discount/coupon code functionality & the shipstation integrations put this in Shipstation's discount field). Either shipstation needs to print the discount amount on the customs forms (there is a field for this on the UPS customs forms) or distribute the discount across the items. Otherwise whoever pays customs/VAT is going to be overcharged.