What are duties and taxes?

Duties and taxes are set, applied and charged by the authorities; FedEx applies the rates set by the authorities in the customs declaration.

Duty is a type of tax charged on products being shipped across borders and is controlled by the customs of each country/territory. The purpose of duty is to maintain fair competition between imported and local goods.

Tax is set at a national level and is usually charged at the point of sale for goods bought and sold in a country/territory. It is also applied to goods entering a country/territory, often at the point of importation or at the point of sale in the origin country/territory.

Tax can be referred to differently depending on the individual country/territory, for example VAT (Value Added Tax) in the UK; GST (Goods and Services Tax) in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan; TVA (Taxe sur la valeur ajoutée) in France; BTW (Belasting Toegevoegde Waarde) in the Netherlands; and USt (Umsatzsteuer) in Germany.