Most people who start importing learn the same lesson the same way: they wire $12,000 to a supplier in Shenzhen, the goods arrive at the port, and the bill from customs is $4,700 more than they budgeted. Not because anyone lied to them. Because the supplier's invoice is not your cost. The landed cost — FOB + freight + insurance + customs duty + VAT — is your cost. And until you calculate all five, you don't know what you're paying. This page walks through the four calculations, in order, that turn a supplier quote into a real import budget. At each step there's a link to the DutyCalc tool that does the math for you. If you read nothing else, read the market walkthroughs at the bottom — they're where the numbers stop being abstractions and start being money you either save or lose.
Three Numbers, Only One of Which Matters
Every import transaction has three price points. If you only know two of them, you're guessing on the third — and the third is the one you actually pay.
FOB — Free On Board. The price of the goods loaded onto the vessel at the port of export. This is what your supplier quotes you. If you're not sure how FOB fits into the bigger Incoterms picture — or what to do when your supplier quotes EXW or CIF instead — we published a dedicated Incoterms 2020 guide that walks through all four trade terms importers actually encounter, with the same $12,000 example shipment run through each one. It includes the cost of manufacturing, the supplier's margin, and inland transport to the port. It does not include ocean freight, marine insurance, customs duty, or VAT. For most consumer goods shipped from China to the US, FOB is about 65–80% of the final landed cost — meaning if you budget off FOB alone, you're short by 20–35%. On high-duty categories like apparel or footwear, the gap can exceed 50%.
The customs officer doesn't care what your supplier quoted.
CIF — Cost, Insurance, Freight. FOB plus the cost of moving the container across the ocean plus marine insurance. CIF is the number most customs authorities use to assess duty — but not all of them, and the exceptions include the largest single market. The UK, EU member states, Japan and the GCC assess duty on CIF. The United States, Canada and Australia assess it on the goods value alone, with international freight and insurance taken out. This distinction sounds academic until you run the numbers. Using the same $5,000 shipment with $800 freight and $120 insurance from our example above: the dutiable base is $5,000 in the US, Canada and Australia, and $5,920 in Germany or the UK. At a 10% duty rate that is a $92 difference per shipment — $4,784 over a year of weekly shipments — purely from which number customs multiplies the rate against. How customs value is built covers which charges move in and out of the base, and why the invoice terms decide it.
Landed Cost. CIF + customs duty + VAT/GST + broker fees + port charges + inland trucking to your warehouse. This is what the shipment actually costs, door to door. Our tools handle the customs portion — CIF, duty, and VAT. Broker fees and logistics are separate costs you get from your freight forwarder. The customs portion is typically 70–85% of the total door-to-door cost.
The Four Calculations, In Order
Customs math is sequential by design — each step feeds the next. If you get step 1 wrong, the error compounds through steps 2, 3, and 4. If you skip a step entirely, the gap between what you budgeted and what you pay is exactly the size of the step you skipped.
1 Classify Your Product — Find the Right HS Code
Every product traded internationally has a six-digit Harmonized System code maintained by the World Customs Organization. The first two digits are the chapter. Digits 3–4 are the heading. Digits 5–6 are the subheading. Beyond six digits, each country adds its own statistical suffix — the US uses 10-digit HTS codes, the EU uses 10-digit TARIC codes. But the first six digits are universal, and they determine your duty rate.
Misclassify at the chapter level and your duty rate could be wrong by a factor of five. A cotton T-shirt is Chapter 61 (knitted apparel, 10–12% MFN). A cotton button-down is Chapter 62 (woven apparel, 9–11% MFN). They look the same to the consumer. They are different six-digit codes with different rates. Customs audits classifications on entry, and if they reclassify your goods, you owe the difference plus interest — going back three to five years in most countries.
The 99 chapters cover everything from live animals (Ch. 01) to antiques (Ch. 97). The most common chapters for consumer goods imports are 61–62 (apparel), 64 (footwear), 84–85 (electronics and machinery), 94 (furniture), and 95 (toys). If your product doesn't obviously fit one of these, spend the time on classification before you spend money on a purchase order. If you don't have a customs broker yet, start with our HS Code Estimator.
OPEN_HS_CODE_ESTIMATOR →2 Look Up the Actual Tariff Rate — Not the Chapter Average
Once you have a chapter number (and ideally a heading), look up what that product actually costs at the border — not the chapter-level average, which can be misleading. A chapter average of 4% might hide subheadings ranging from 0% to 15%. The rate that applies to your product is the one that matters.
The rate you pay has up to four layers:
- The MFN base rate — what every WTO member charges every other WTO member. Published in each country's tariff schedule. For electronics and machinery, it's often 0–2.5%. For apparel, 9–16%. For footwear, 10–22%.
- Country-specific additional duties — Section 301 in the US (7.5–25% on Chinese goods), EU safeguard measures on steel and aluminum. These stack on top of the MFN rate. A Chinese-made machine tool at 2.5% MFN plus 25% Section 301 = 27.5%. Budgeting 2.5% and discovering 27.5% at the port is a $2,500 error on a $10,000 shipment.
- Antidumping and countervailing duties — product-and-country-specific penalty rates imposed after domestic industry petitions. AD rates can exceed 100% of goods value. They're not in the standard tariff schedule. If you're importing steel, aluminum, furniture, textiles, chemicals, or solar products, you need a broker to screen for AD/CVD before you ship.
- Free Trade Agreement preferences — if your goods qualify, the preferential rate replaces the MFN rate. USMCA can take a Mexican-made product from 15% to 0% — but only with a valid certificate of origin and only if the goods meet the agreement's rules of origin. The rate exists. Whether you qualify is a documentation question your broker answers.
The Tariff Rate Lookup shows the MFN base rate, Section 301 overlay, available FTAs by origin-destination pair, and chapter-level AD/CVD risk flags — all six markets at once.
OPEN_TARIFF_RATE_LOOKUP →3 Calculate the Customs Duty — Pure Duty, Before VAT
With the effective rate in hand, multiply it by the dutiable base. That base is CIF (goods + freight + insurance) in the EU, the UK, Japan and Mexico — and the goods value alone in the US, Canada and Australia, where international freight and insurance are stripped out when the invoice shows them separately. Getting the base wrong by 18% of goods value is a bigger error than most rate lookups. And where a de minimis line still exists, it is a cliff rather than a sliding scale: one dollar over and the entire shipment becomes dutiable, not just the excess. In the US there is no line left to cross — Section 321 was suspended on 29 August 2025 and duty runs from the first dollar.
This is the number that sets the floor for everything that follows. If your duty estimate is wrong, your VAT estimate is wrong — because VAT is calculated on the duty-paid value. A $50 error in duty becomes a $60 error in total import cost once 20% VAT is applied to the wrong base.
The Import Duty Calculator handles this step in isolation. Pick your HS chapter, enter the goods value, select the country of origin and the destination market, and it returns the MFN duty rate, the estimated duty amount, the de minimis check, and any Section 301 or EU safeguard alerts. It does not touch VAT, freight, or insurance — that's step 4.
OPEN_IMPORT_DUTY_CALCULATOR →4 Add VAT, Freight, and Insurance — Get the Full Landed Cost
The final layer. Take your CIF value, add the customs duty from step 3, and multiply by the destination country's VAT/GST rate. Then add CIF + duty + VAT = your landed cost. Broker fees, terminal handling, and inland trucking go on top of that.
The tax-on-tax effect is what catches people: VAT is charged on CIF plus duty, meaning the duty amount gets taxed. If your CIF is $10,000, your duty is $500 (5%), and VAT is 20%, you pay $2,100 in VAT — not $2,000. That extra $100 is the tax on the duty. Stack Section 301 on top and the effect compounds. A Chinese-origin shipment facing 25% Section 301 + 5% MFN = 30% duty on $10,000 = $3,000. Then 20% VAT on $13,000 (CIF + duty) = $2,600. Total import charges: $5,600 on a $10,000 shipment. Effective rate over CIF: 56%.
That's not an edge case. That's Chinese steel entering the US.
The Landed Cost Calculator runs this math across up to seven destination markets simultaneously. Enter FOB, freight, and insurance once, toggle which markets you want to compare, and it shows CIF, duty, VAT, and total landed cost side by side. Each market row has an editable duty rate field — if you already looked up your exact rate in step 2, type it in and the entire stack recalculates.
OPEN_LANDED_COST_CALCULATOR →∥ IMPORT COST FORMULA CHEAT SHEET
CIF = FOB + Ocean Freight + Marine InsuranceDutiable Base = CIF — or goods value in US / CA / AUCustoms Duty = Dutiable Base × (MFN Rate + Section 301 +
AD/CVD) — no US de minimis since 29 Aug 2025Duty-Paid Value = CIF + Customs DutyVAT / GST = Duty-Paid Value × VAT Rate — NOT CIF × VAT RateLanded Cost = CIF + Duty + VATPrint this. Tape it to your monitor. The VAT-on-duty step — formula #5 — is the one spreadsheets get wrong most often.
| Country | De Minimis | Dutiable Base | VAT / GST Rate | VAT Floor | Mandatory Broker? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 United States | None — suspended 29 Aug 2025 | FOB | 0% (no federal VAT) | — | No (informal entry at low values) |
| 🇪🇺 European Union | Flat €3 per item ≤ €150 (duty); no VAT de minimis | CIF | 17–27% (varies by member state) | €0 (no floor since 2021) | No (IOSS for B2C) |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | £135 consignment | CIF | 20% | £0 (seller collects under £135) | No |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | CAD $20 | FOB | 5% federal + 0–10% provincial | CAD $20 | Effectively yes (B3 required) |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | AUD $1,000 FOB | FOB | 10% | $0 (no floor since 2018) | No |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico | USD 50 — postal only (courier from US/CA) | CIF | 16% | USD 50 — postal only | Yes — agente aduanal required |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | ¥10,000 CIF | CIF | 10% | ¥10,000 (combined threshold) | No (under ¥200,000) |
Snapshot as of 16 October 2026. Thresholds can change — check our Global De Minimis Guide for updates. Two of the seven lines above moved during 2025–26: the US exemption was suspended on 29 August 2025 and the EU’s €150 duty exemption was replaced by a flat €3 per item on 1 July 2026. "Dutiable Base" is the value customs multiplies the rate against, and it is the column most often got wrong — the US, Canada and Australia use the goods value, everyone else here uses CIF. "VAT Floor" means the value below which VAT is not charged; "0" means VAT applies from the first dollar.
The Same Shipment, Seven Different Import Bills
A $5,000 FOB shipment of consumer electronics from Shenzhen. $800 ocean freight, $120 marine insurance. CIF = $5,920. Here's what happens when this shipment clears customs in each market. The numbers are mid-2026 estimates — directional precision. Your exact HS subheading might shift the duty rate by a few points, but the structure doesn't change.
🇺🇸 United States
FOB → MFN duty (on the goods value — no threshold left) → No federal VAT → $31–$614 Merchandise Processing FeeThe US is the only G7 economy with no federal VAT at the border, and that part still holds. What no longer holds is the other half of the pitch: until 29 August 2025 a shipment under $800 cleared duty-free on a Type 86 entry in seconds. Section 321 was suspended that day, for every origin, and duty now starts at the first dollar.
But.
There is no line to be under or over any more, and no partial exemption to argue about: the whole shipment is dutiable, and the rate applies to the whole thing. The US also assesses duty on the transaction value of the goods rather than on CIF — international freight and insurance come out of the base when your invoice identifies them separately. On this shipment that is $5,000, not $5,920. The Merchandise Processing Fee adds 0.3464% of the entered value — $17.32 here, rounded up to the $34.58 minimum. Not a duty, technically. Still money you pay at the border.
If the electronics are of Chinese origin, the rate stack gets heavier in two steps. Section 301 adds 25% on most Chapter 85 subheadings, and the Section 301 forced-labour action that took effect on 24 July 2026 adds a further 12.5% on top. The effective rate goes to 2.5% MFN + 25% + 12.5% = 40%. That changes the economics of the entire shipment — and it is a US-only layer, so it does not follow the goods into any other market on this page.
Whether your origin sits inside the Section 301 stack is a $1,875 question.
| FOB goods value | $5,000.00 |
| + Ocean freight | $800.00 |
| + Marine insurance | $120.00 |
| CIF value | $5,920.00 |
| De minimis threshold | None — suspended 29 Aug 2025 |
| Dutiable base (transaction value, freight excluded) | $5,000.00 |
| MFN duty (electronics, 2.5% of goods value) | $125.00 |
| + Section 301 overlay (China origin, 25% of goods value) if applicable | +$1,250.00 |
| + Forced-labour Section 301 layer (China origin, 12.5%) if applicable | +$625.00 |
| Merchandise Processing Fee (0.3464% of goods value) | $34.58 (minimum) |
| Federal VAT | None — no US federal VAT |
| Total import cost (MFN only, no 301 stack) | $6,076.67 |
| Total import cost (MFN + full China 301 stack) | $7,951.67 |
The difference between these two numbers — $1,875 — is the China Section 301 stack: the 25% list overlay plus the 12.5% forced-labour layer. Whether it applies depends on your exact 10-digit HTS code and your origin. Check our Section 301 Guide for the current exclusion lists, or run your HS code through the Tariff Rate Lookup. For product-specific US import walkthroughs: US Import Customs Guide, China→US Electronics, China→US Apparel, China→US Furniture.
🇪🇺 European Union
CIF → Duty (flat €3 per item at or below €150, full TARIC on CIF above) → VAT (on duty-paid value, from €1) → + carrier clearance fee if no IOSSThe €150 line still exists, but it stopped being a free/dutiable boundary in July 2026 — which catches first-time importers regularly.
Duty: at or below €150 a consignment now pays a flat €3 per item instead of duty — Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 ended the old exemption on 1 July 2026 and the flat charge runs until 1 July 2028. Above €150 — and our $5,000 shipment is well over — ordinary TARIC rates apply to the CIF value. VAT: there is no floor. The €22 VAT exemption died back in July 2021. A €30 shipment now pays €3 in duty rather than nothing, and still gets hit with 19–21% VAT plus the carrier’s €10–20 clearance fee if the seller isn’t IOSS-registered. The customs officer processes this a hundred times a day. They’ve seen every variation of "but I thought it was exempt."
This surprises many first-time importers: the EU's IOSS system is voluntary. If you register, you collect VAT at checkout and remit to one EU member state. If you don't, your customer pays at delivery. Most customers who get a surprise VAT bill at the door don't order from you again.
We'll use Germany as the destination (19% VAT).
| FOB goods value | €4,587 (≈$5,000 at 1.09 EUR/USD) |
| + Ocean freight | €734 |
| + Marine insurance | €110 |
| CIF value | €5,431 |
| €150 line | Above it — full TARIC on CIF (at or below: flat €3 per item) |
| MFN duty (electronics, 2.5% TARIC average) | €135.78 |
| Duty-paid CIF | €5,566.78 |
| German VAT (19% on duty-paid CIF) | €1,057.69 |
| Total import cost (CIF + duty + VAT) | €6,624.47 (≈$7,221) |
The EU total is about $1,145 higher than the US (MFN-only scenario), almost entirely from 19% VAT. For full EU customs filing details: China→Germany (ATLAS Hub), China→France (DELTA/IOSS).
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
CIF → Duty (on CIF, over £135 consignment) → VAT (on duty-paid CIF, from £1) → Seller liability shift under £135In January 2021, a UK Etsy seller bought a £130 ceramic vase from a small workshop in Portugal. Shipping was £12. The total consignment value was £142 — £7 over the £135 threshold. HMRC assessed full UK Global Tariff duty on the CIF value plus 20% VAT, and the carrier added an £8 handling fee. The seller paid £34 in charges on a £130 item because of £12 in shipping that pushed the consignment over the line. The £135 threshold includes shipping paid by the buyer. A £130 item with £15 shipping is a £145 consignment and crosses the line. This distinction generated more chargebacks in 2021 than any other single post-Brexit customs change.
Under £135: no customs duty, but the seller must be UK VAT-registered and collect 20% VAT at checkout. Over £135: full duty and VAT at the border.
| FOB goods value | £3,906 (≈$5,000 at 1.28 GBP/USD) |
| + Ocean freight | £625 |
| + Marine insurance | £94 |
| CIF value | £4,625 |
| De minimis for duty | £135 — ✘ Over |
| UK Global Tariff duty (electronics, 2%) | £92.50 |
| Duty-paid CIF | £4,717.50 |
| VAT (20% on duty-paid CIF) | £943.50 |
| Total import cost (CIF + duty + VAT) | £5,661.00 (≈$7,246) |
UK import costs are broadly similar to the EU — the 20% VAT is the main driver. For UK-specific product guidance: China→UK Apparel, China→UK Electronics, Post-Brexit Trade Guide.
🇨🇦 Canada
FOB → Duty (on the value for duty at the place of direct shipment) → GST (5% on the duty-paid value)A CAD $20 de minimis — about USD $15. Only the US, which now has no allowance at all, is less generous.
Every commercial shipment triggers a full customs entry. Every single one.
There's a separate CAD $150 threshold under the Courier Imports Remission Order for courier shipments specifically, but palletized freight and containers get no such relief. Province-level taxes (7% PST in BC, 9.975% QST in Quebec) add 7–10 percentage points on top of the federal 5% GST shown below.
| FOB goods value | CA$6,850 (≈$5,000 at 1.37 CAD/USD) |
| + Ocean freight | CA$1,096 |
| + Marine insurance | CA$164 |
| CIF value | CA$8,110 |
| De minimis | CA$20 — ✘ Over (by a factor of 340) |
| Value for duty (goods value, freight excluded) | CA$6,850 |
| MFN duty (electronics, 2% of value for duty) | CA$137.00 |
| GST (5% on the duty-paid value) | CA$349.35 |
| Total import cost (federal only) | CA$8,596.35 (≈$6,275) |
Second-cheapest destination on this list for our electronics shipment, behind the US on MFN-only terms — low duty plus low GST. But no low-value channel exists. China→Canada Freight covers CBSA's CARM system.
🇦🇺 Australia
CIF → Duty (on FOB, over AUD $1,000) → GST (10% on duty-paid value, from $1)Australia calculates duty on FOB, not CIF — and so do the United States and Canada. Three of the seven markets on this page exclude international freight from the duty base, which is a point the rest of the comparison usually glosses over.
This sounds technical. Here's what it means in practice: the $1,200 you paid to ship the container across the Pacific is not subject to duty. The freight portion of the shipment value escapes entirely. On a $1,200 freight bill at a 5% duty rate, that's $60 saved per shipment compared to a country that taxes CIF. Over a year of weekly shipments: $3,120.
Duty-free does not mean tax-free in Australia.
The AUD $1,000 FOB threshold for duty is generous. But since July 2018, 10% GST applies to all low-value imported goods from $1, collected by the seller or marketplace at checkout. If you're not ATO-registered, your shipments get held. Marketplace sellers who assume "under $1,000 = zero charges" discover their customers are being asked to pay GST at delivery — and that conversation doesn't end well for repeat business.
| FOB goods value | AU$7,500 (≈$5,000 at 1.50 AUD/USD) |
| + Ocean freight | AU$1,200 |
| + Marine insurance | AU$180 |
| CIF value | AU$8,880 |
| De minimis for duty (tested on FOB) | AU$1,000 — ✘ Over |
| MFN duty (electronics, 2% of FOB = AU$7,500) | AU$150.00 |
| GST (10% on CIF + duty) | AU$903.00 |
| Total import cost | AU$9,933.00 (≈$6,622) |
The duty is only AU$150 — 2% on AU$7,500 FOB, not on AU$8,880 CIF. FOB-based duty saves AU$27.60 on this one shipment. Across a container with 200 similar-value cartons: AU$5,520 in duty Australia doesn't charge. China→Australia Duty explains ATO registration and ChAFTA rates.
🇲🇽 Mexico
CIF → Duty (on CIF; the USD 50 allowance covers postal shipments and US/CA courier only) → IVA (16% on duty-paid CIF) → + mandatory agente aduanalHere's what happens when your container hits the port of Manzanillo.
A licensed agente aduanal files the pedimento — you cannot self-clear in Mexico. The broker examines your commercial invoice and classification. They charge MXN $1,500–3,500 regardless of whether your shipment is worth $500 or $50,000. Then customs assesses duty — 8% MFN on electronics, higher on most consumer goods. Then SAT applies 16% IVA on the duty-paid CIF. Three charges. Three separate payees. None optional.
Mexico's tariff schedule was negotiated during the import-substitution era and was never liberalized to the degree of the US or EU schedules. Rates of 15–22% on consumer goods are normal. The only structural relief is IMMEX — if your goods are processed in Mexico and re-exported, duty and IVA are deferred. For goods sold into the domestic market, IMMEX doesn't help.
| FOB goods value | MX$87,500 (≈$5,000 at 17.50 MXN/USD) |
| + Ocean freight | MX$14,000 |
| + Marine insurance | MX$2,100 |
| CIF value | MX$103,600 |
| De minimis | USD 50 — ✘ Over (postal and US/CA courier only; not commercial freight) |
| MFN duty (electronics, 8% of CIF) | MX$8,288 |
| IVA (16% on CIF + duty) | MX$17,902 |
| Broker fee (pedimento, estimated) | MX$2,500 |
| Total import cost (CIF + duty + IVA + broker) | MX$132,290 (≈$7,559) |
The highest total on this list — nearly $7,600 — driven by 8% MFN on electronics (vs 2–2.5% elsewhere) and the mandatory broker fee. China→Mexico IMMEX explains the deferral rules.
🇯🇵 Japan
CIF → Duty (on CIF, over ¥10,000 combined) → JCT (10% on duty-paid CIF, over ¥10,000 combined)Three things to know about Japanese customs, in order of importance:
- Electronics and machinery (Chapters 84–85) are 0% duty. Japan is an ITA signatory and applies zero MFN on virtually all computers, phones, semiconductors, and industrial machinery. This is not a preference — it's the baseline rate. Our electronics shipment pays $0 in duty.
- The ¥10,000 threshold bundles duty and tax together. Under ¥10,000 CIF: both are zero. Over: both apply on the full amount — not the excess. A ¥9,500 item with ¥600 shipping = ¥10,100 CIF. Over the line. Full JCT on everything.
- Simplified declarations work up to ¥200,000. No broker needed, no formal C-5020 filing. NACCS processes it electronically. For shipments above ¥200,000, you need a formal entry.
| FOB goods value | ¥725,000 (≈$5,000 at 145 JPY/USD) |
| + Ocean freight | ¥116,000 |
| + Marine insurance | ¥17,400 |
| CIF value | ¥858,400 |
| De minimis for duty + tax | ¥10,000 — ✘ Over |
| MFN duty (electronics, 0% — ITA-covered) | ¥0 |
| JCT (10% on CIF) | ¥85,840 |
| Total import cost | ¥944,240 (≈$6,512) |
Second-cheapest destination after Canada. A ¥9,800 shipment costs ¥9,800 at the border. A ¥10,100 shipment costs roughly ¥11,200. Japanese consumers split orders to stay under ¥10,000 because the cliff is real and the math is predictable. China→Japan Cargo covers NACCS and the simplified declaration process.
Side by Side — What a $5,000 Electronics Shipment Costs in Every Market
The table below summarizes the seven walkthroughs above. All numbers converted to USD at mid-2026 exchange rates. The "effective rate over CIF" column is the number that matters for unit economics — it’s the premium you pay above goods-and-freight to get the shipment across the border. Note that the duty figures are not all computed on the same base: the US and Canada tax the goods value, everyone else taxes CIF, and the US row for Chinese origin carries two stacked Section 301 layers that no other market applies.
| Market | CIF (USD) | Duty | VAT/GST | Other | Total Import Cost | Effective Rate Over CIF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 US (MFN only) | $5,000 base | $125 | $0 | $32 MPF | $6,077 | +2.7% |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | $5,000 base | $100 | $255 | — | $6,275 | +6.0% |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | $5,920 | $0 | $592 | — | $6,512 | +10.0% |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | $5,920 | $100 | $602 | — | $6,622 | +11.9% |
| 🇪🇺 EU (Germany) | $5,920 | $148 | $1,153 | — | $7,221 | +22.0% |
| 🇬🇧 UK | $5,920 | $118 | $1,208 | — | $7,246 | +22.4% |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico | $5,920 | $474 | $1,023 | $143 broker | $7,559 | +27.7% |
| 🇺🇸 US (MFN + full China 301) | $5,000 base | $2,000 | $0 | $32 MPF | $7,952 | +34.4% |
The spread from cheapest to most expensive is $1,875 — about 32% of CIF, and wider than it used to be, because the US now sits at both ends of the table: cheapest on MFN-only terms and most expensive once the China Section 301 stack applies. Every dollar of that spread is tariff and tax policy, not logistics. The freight, insurance, and goods cost are identical across every row. If you're choosing which market to enter first, this table is more important than your supplier's quote.
Quick Decision Tree — Which Calculation Do You Need?
Answer three questions. The path tells you which tool to open.
For China-origin goods entering the US: run the Tariff Rate Lookup before either calculator. Section 301 can triple your effective rate, and knowing the real number before you budget is the difference between a viable product and a loss.
Four Mistakes That Cost More Than the Duty Itself
1. Budgeting off FOB and discovering CIF at the port
This is the most common error among first-time importers — and the most expensive. Your supplier quotes $8,000 FOB. You budget $8,000 plus "a few hundred" for shipping. The actual freight bill is $1,500 for a shared container, plus $200 for marine insurance, so the shipment lands as a $9,700 CIF consignment. Now the market decides whether that matters for duty. Into the EU, the UK, Japan or Mexico it does: duty at 10% on $9,700 is $970, and the freight has just cost you $170 in extra duty before VAT is even applied — $8,840 a year at one shipment a week. Into the US, Canada or Australia it does not: their base is the goods value, so duty stays at $800 on $8,000 and freight only inflates the VAT or GST line where one exists. Budget the full CIF regardless, because freight is real money and it is always the duty-paid value that the next tax multiplies. If your forwarder hasn’t quoted yet, estimate 15–20% of FOB for ocean and 0.3–0.5% for insurance.
2. Assuming a de minimis line still exists to plan around
Two of the thresholds on this page stopped giving relief during 2025–26, and the ones that remain are cliffs rather than discounts: one dollar over and the entire shipment is dutiable, not just the excess. Canada still offers only CAD $20, Australia AUD $1,000, the UK £135 and Japan ¥10,000. The US offers nothing — Section 321 was suspended on 29 August 2025, so there is no line to plan around and no reason to split a shipment. The EU no longer offers relief either: at or below €150 a consignment pays a flat €3 per item, so the crossing is no longer free on either side. Where a real line does exist, being within 10% of it is worth restructuring for. Our De Minimis Checker shows which thresholds still stand and how close you are to each.
3. Ignoring the tax-on-tax effect (VAT on duty)
Every VAT and GST in the world is calculated on the duty-paid CIF, not on the pre-duty CIF. If your duty rate is 10% and your VAT rate is 20%, the effective tax-on-tax adds about 2 percentage points to the total import burden. On a $10,000 CIF shipment: duty = $1,000; VAT = 20% × $11,000 = $2,200. Total = $3,200. The incorrect calculation (VAT before duty): $2,000 + $1,000 = $3,000. Gap: $200. On high-duty, high-VAT combinations, the gap can exceed 3% of CIF. The Landed Cost Calculator applies the correct sequence automatically. If you're building a spreadsheet: VAT = (CIF + duty) × VAT_rate, not VAT = CIF × VAT_rate.
4. Relying on MFN rates when Section 301 or AD/CVD applies
Budget the MFN rate for Chinese-made steel and discover at the port that Section 301 adds 25% and Section 232 adds another 25% — your effective rate is 53%, not 3%. On a $50,000 container, that's a $25,000 error.
There is no refund for "I didn't know about the additional duties."
The importer of record is responsible for the full rate stack before the goods ship. Our Tariff Rate Lookup flags Section 301 by chapter. For AD/CVD, you need a broker — there is no substitute for a scope ruling.
Questions That Come Up After the First Shipment
It depends on the destination, and the exceptions are bigger than most guides admit. The EU, the UK, Japan and Mexico assess duty on the CIF value — if your goods cost $1,000 and shipping is $300, duty runs on $1,300. The US, Canada and Australia assess it on the goods value alone: ship that same $1,000 of goods to Los Angeles and duty runs on $1,000, provided your invoice identifies the freight and insurance as separate line items. The US rule comes from 19 U.S.C. 1401a(b)(4)(A), and it is worth more than it looks — on a 10% rate and a 30% freight ratio it is 3% of goods value on every single shipment. What holds everywhere is that VAT still taxes the freight: nothing escapes the VAT base just because it escapes the duty base.
After. Always. VAT is calculated on the duty-paid value — CIF plus customs duty — in every country that charges VAT on imports. The formula is: VAT = (CIF + Duty) × VAT_Rate. If you calculate VAT on CIF alone and ignore the duty, you're understating your tax by the duty amount multiplied by the VAT rate. On a shipment with 10% duty and 20% VAT, that's a 2% undercount. On a shipment with 25% duty and 25% VAT, it's a 6.25% undercount. The tax authorities don't care that your spreadsheet was set up wrong. They care that you paid the correct amount.
Yes — the "I" in CIF stands for Insurance. Marine insurance typically costs 0.3–0.5% of 110% of the CIF value. On a $10,000 shipment, that's $33–55. But here's the thing: customs assumes the goods are insured whether you bought a policy or not. Most authorities impute insurance at 0.5% of CIF if you can't produce a certificate. Entering your actual premium — even a token $50 — gives you a more accurate CIF base than leaving it at zero and having customs round up. If you genuinely don't insure, enter zero and be prepared to explain. Customs has heard the "I self-insure" argument before and they're generally not impressed by it.
For accounting purposes, yes — broker fees are a cost of goods sold and are deductible as a business expense. For customs valuation purposes, no — broker fees are not deducted from the CIF value when calculating duty. Customs assesses duty on the transaction value of the goods plus freight and insurance. What you pay a third party to file the paperwork is between you and the third party. The customs authority doesn't reduce your dutiable value because you hired help. Broker fees are an above-the-line import cost — part of your total landed cost, but not part of the customs calculation.
In the US, nothing happens — because there is no threshold left. The Section 321 exemption was suspended on 29 August 2025, so a $799.99 shipment and an $800.01 shipment are both dutiable from the first dollar, and splitting an order to land under $800 achieves nothing. Where a threshold does still exist, the cliff is real: one cent over and customs treats the whole shipment as if the line never existed. They are not deductions, not sliding scales, and not "duty-free up to the threshold." If your goods value sits within 10% of a live line — Canada’s CAD $20, Australia’s AUD $1,000, the UK’s £135, Japan’s ¥10,000 — restructuring the shipment is usually worth it. Our De Minimis Checker shows the dollar difference on both sides of every line that is still standing.
No — if the duty rate on your product is 0%, you pay zero duty regardless of the freight cost. Zero times anything is zero. The freight still matters for VAT, though: VAT is calculated on CIF (which includes freight) plus duty (which is zero in this case). A duty-free shipment with $500 in freight pays VAT on that $500 even though the duty line is zero. This is most relevant for ITA-covered electronics entering Japan (0% duty, 10% JCT on the CIF value) and books entering most markets (0% duty, standard VAT rate on CIF). Duty-free doesn't mean tax-free. Freight always inflates the VAT base, even when it doesn't inflate the duty.
MFN (Most Favored Nation) is the baseline rate every WTO member charges every other WTO member. It's the default — no special deal, no FTA, just the standard rate. A preferential rate is a lower rate negotiated through a free trade agreement (USMCA, RCEP, CPTPP, bilateral FTAs) that replaces the MFN rate if your goods qualify. The rate on the tariff schedule might be 0% under USMCA, but you need a certificate of origin proving the goods meet the agreement's rules of origin — typically a minimum percentage of value added in the FTA partner country. Without that certificate, customs applies the MFN rate. The preferential rate exists on paper. Whether your shipment qualifies is a documentation question. If you're not sure, budget the MFN rate — that's the number customs will use if your origin claim gets challenged. For a full matrix of which FTAs apply to which origin-destination pairs, see our Tariff Rate Lookup.
Three reasons. First, Mexico's MFN rate on electronics is 8% vs Canada's 2% — a structural difference built into the tariff schedules. Second, Mexico's IVA is 16% vs Canada's 5% GST. Third, Mexico requires a licensed agente aduanal to file every entry, adding MXN $1,500–3,500 per shipment that doesn't exist in Canada. The combined effect: a shipment that costs $6,275 to import into Canada costs $7,559 to import into Mexico — a 20% difference driven entirely by policy. This is why tariff engineering matters. If your business model works at Mexico's rates, it works almost anywhere. If it only works at Canada's rates, you need to stay out of high-tariff, mandatory-broker markets until you have the margins to absorb the difference.
When the Math Is Done and You Still Need a Human
The tools on this site give you directional costs accurate enough for product viability decisions, market selection, and pricing models. They are not a substitute for a licensed customs broker when:
- You're importing a product in a chapter with active AD/CVD orders (steel, aluminum, chemicals, furniture, textiles, solar products)
- You're claiming FTA preferential treatment and need a certificate of origin and rules-of-origin determination
- Your goods are subject to a tariff-rate quota and quota fill status determines which rate applies
- You're importing goods that require a permit or license (FDA, EPA, Fish & Wildlife, etc.)
- You've never imported this product into this market before and need a binding classification ruling
- Your shipment value exceeds $2,500 and you're filing a formal US entry for the first time
A broker's fee — typically $50–150 for a standard entry — is the cheapest insurance you'll buy against a customs penalty. Use the calculators to get to a number you're confident in. Then pay a broker to tell you whether that number is right.
The cost of being wrong is always higher than the cost of the broker.
Where to Go From Here
- Not sure what HS code your product falls under? → HS Code Estimator
- Have an HS code and want the rate stack across all markets? → Tariff Rate Lookup
- Want a pure duty estimate — no VAT, no freight? → Import Duty Calculator
- Ready to run the full landed cost with freight, insurance, duty, and VAT? → Landed Cost Calculator
- Worried your shipment value is near a de minimis cliff? → De Minimis Cliff Detector
- Need the Section 301 product exclusion list? → Section 301 Guide
- Looking for product-specific corridor data? → Trade Corridor Directory (36 corridors)