asked the Minister for Finance if, in view of the fact that taxes, duties, handling and clearance fees on books, magazines, and so on, entering this country are assessed on face value, he will devise an appropriate system to ensure that book club members, who rarely have to pay the face value of such material, are recouped the extra money they are obliged to pay in taxation.
Written Answers . - Literature Import Charges .
352.
: Books imported by book club members are assessed for value-added tax purposes on face value (where shown) only in cases where no other evidence of value is available. Where the prices actually payable by book club members are declared by the senders on the relevant customs declaration form affixed to the parcel or on an invoice enclosed therein these prices are generally acceptable for the purposes of assessing the VAT charge. Where there is no evidence of value the value is estimated and tax is charged on that basis.
The attention of persons who import goods by post is drawn to the necessity for advising consignors abroad to exercise care in describing goods on the customs declaration form attached to each parcel fully and correctly in order to ensure that any duty or tax chargeable will be correctly assessed at the time of importation and that expeditious delivery of the goods will be facilitated.
Normally, only value-added tax is chargeable on the books in question, and the tax is waived where the amount chargeable on the contents of an individual parcel does not exceed 50p.
The post office customs clearance fee is not charged by reference to the value of the goods imported. It is a flat rate fee collected on any item on which VAT charges are payable and is intended to recoup the post office for the extra work involved in collecting and accounting for the VAT charges.
353.
asked the Minister for Finance the present position in regard to the imposition of value-added tax, handling charges, post office clearance fees and all other duties or extra financial charges on books, magazines or other literature entering the country; on what basis and how the appropriate level of tax is assessed; whether such assessment involves the opening of parcels; and if he will outline the need and justification for such charges.
: Except for goods imported in certain circumstances of a non-commercial nature, books, booklets, newspapers and periodicals are chargeable to value-added tax on importation at the rate of 10 per cent and other literature at the rate of 25 per cent. Where the importer is a VAT-registered person payment of tax at importation may normally be postponed if the goods are for business use, but the tax must be accounted for in the VAT return for the period in which the importation took place. There is no customs duty chargeable on books, magazines or other literature, with the exception of children's picture books and advertising material such as commercial catalogues imported from countries outside the EEC which are liable to customs duty at the rate of 12.3 per cent and 8.6 per cent ad valorem respectively. Where the amount of duty and/or value-added tax chargeable does not exceed 50p the charge is statutorily waived.
Post office clearance fees are collected only on items on which customs or VAT charges are payable. The fees charged are 40p in the case of a letter post item and 50p in the case of all other items. The fee is intended to recoup the post office for the extra work involved in collecting and accounting for the customs/VAT charges.
The duty/VAT charge is normally levied by reference to the value declared by the consignor on the relevant customs declaration accompanying the goods. Where the declaration does not give sufficient information, where the examining officer is otherwise dissatisfied with the particulars declared, or for the purposes of spot-checking, the parcel may be opened to facilitate the correct assessment of any charge.
The rate of any customs duty chargeable is determined in accordance with the common customs tariff of the EEC. The VAT rate is the same as that which applies to similar goods on sale within the State.