Understanding DHL handling/advancement/customs processing fees Spain

[2JP]

Anybody know where to find a list of DHL customs handling fees they charge to the recipient for DAP deliveries by country?

I understand it is 2.5% of VAT+duties (min £12 or some such) here in UK but trying to work out why a customer is being charged what appears to be 16% in Spain for CS Charges (ADMINISTRACION DE DC (C1) )

Anybody know the answer or how to minimise it?

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

I think you'll find your answer here:

Customs Services, DHL Express International Customs Clearance Services

Customs services get your shipments delivered. Take advantage of our customs clearance services and expertise when shipping internationally with DHL Express.

mydhl.express.dhl

Thanks for the indirect heads up - I don't think we'll ever send anything to Spain DHL

The minimum multiline fee of 28 EUR looked bad enough, but a similar amount for just looking at the parcel is a scandal. Here's Ireland for comparison:

Customs Services, DHL Express International Customs Clearance Services

Customs services get your shipments delivered. Take advantage of our customs clearance services and expertise when shipping internationally with DHL Express.

mydhl.express.dhl

As you surmised, each country is different...

HTH

 

[2JP]

Thank you. The biggest failing is that they do not itemise what they are charging the recipient and do not inform the shipper what the charges will (or might) be. You can calculate tax and duty, sure, but it is not at all easy to establish what the courier is going to charge for customs clearance.

Just to clarify the 16% I mentioned; this is as a percentage of the VAT+duty owed, not the overall customs value. The DHL customs clearance fee as a percentage of the overall customs value was about 4% (ex VAT). I have no idea which of the fees listed were charged and so there is no way to check them or to mitigate against them for future shipments; it is highly distasteful.

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

So guessing your 16% value didn't equate to 28 EUR? We've had to decipher a few customer bills of late and on a straight forward shipment with hscodes & origin supplied, you're only looking at a disbursement fee plus duty plus vat. Whether the duty charged is what it should be is rare, and I don't think a UK preference statement has ever been honoured! DHL, UPS etc will never tell you what the custom charges will be (even though it should be easily calculated) as they say it's not up to them, but the in country customs authorities. Use the EU inforeuro rates to fine tune the calculation figures:

InforEuro, the exchange rate of the Euro currency

InforEuro helps you convert euro in other currencies. The European Commission’s official monthly accounting rates for the euro, its conversion rate to other currencies and its historic data since 1994 can be found here.

ec.europa.eu

Sometimes they even work out exact ? There's no vat on the disbursement fee. My big niggle is to the multiline entry fees - these were introduced to EU destinations just in time for Brexit - there's none of these to the USA or Australia for example...

 

[2JP]

No, the customs clearance fee was 173.49EUR (plus VAT) associated with a correct VAT charge of 1056.04EUR on a customs value of 5028.74EUR. I have asked the customer to query it and demand an itemised breakdown but I am not sure they will bother. DHL/customs forced the recipient to fill out a pharmaceutical control waiver declaration (utterly irrelevant to the HS code in my opinion) but I can't figure out how they have come to the value they have.

It was not bonded, not more than 5 lines, no data modification, feasibly a couple of the other smaller charges from the list might have applied and maybe an extorted 49EUR for the no-need-for-control declaration but I can't figure out how the total fee comes to 173.49EUR.

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

Ahh, does sound like someone didn't get the fee change memo. 2.5% on the 5k plus the mystic 49 EUR to meet that weeks bonus quota would be close, but no cigar. Sorry no help really, but could be worth asking yourself on the off chance.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

We live in Spain and get UK shipments involving most couriers.

There are four possible charges, a customs fee for the government, a management fee and an admin fee and Spanish VAT at 21%.

Our experiences have shown DPD to be the worst as they own SEUR and this is the worst company to use as their customer services are non existent and still waiting for responses to massive over charge last September.

Over several deliveries DPD/SEUR charge about 3% of goods value a customs Duty and their fee varies from €10-16. In fact the lower fee was for the higher value consignment so not sure how they calculate it, must be on type of goods. We often have problems matching up their declared value of the goods with the actual invoice value.

So in all we paid fees of €22 plus IVA =€26.62 on goods order worth €195 and €374 to them, and average of 8%

Correos, Spanish Royal Mail, charged us 4% Aduanas fee plus a Management Fee plus a handling fee which came to €43.89 on goods of €€334: 13%

DHL Express charged a fee of €30.49 on goods of €265 11.5%

Overall we seem to be paying 8-15% of goods value apart from the VAT which we would normally pay anyway.

 

[2JP]

Many thanks for writing about your experiences though I am none the wiser. Duty and VAT I (think I) understand. However, the customs processing fee calculation appears to have been intentionally made opaque.

As the receiver in Spain, what happens when you try to contact these couriers and ask a breakdown of costs? Do they just ignore you? Do you ever see a separation of the processing fees from duty, for example?

Whether the fees are high is not important in the first instance. What is important is that businesses must be able to calculate the fees in advance in order to predict cost. Even if justified, shippers and recipients are just left with a bad feeling unless they know what is coming.

I find no help on the web; people just complaining about the overall amount they are charged and lots of people mixing up VAT and duties and processing fees. It just makes people outside Spain say, 'Well, what do you expect of Spain'. That can't be good for the international image of a country.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Hi @2JP I'll try and make it a bit clearer.

Firstly our suppliers are exporting from UK so they do not charge us VAT. We have to pay Spanish VAT so we have to pay it direct to the Spanish Government at the end of each quarter or have already paid it to our Spanish suppliers. So the courier has to collect the 21% Spanish VAT before delivery to us.

Because they have to collect VAT and sort paperwork and any duties the couriers are charging fees. Also now that UK are outside the EU there are duties (tariffs) to be paid.

Most do supply a breakdown on the invoice, it is just DHL Express that tends to just show VAT and Single Fee. I would show you one but no easy way of attaching something on this site.

It is difficult to calculate up front because it depends on value of the order, type of goods in order. We had an order for Candle Snuffers and Electric Diffusers which was sent back because electrical equipment did not meet EU standards.

I should point out this is not just Spain, this is anywhere a UK company tries to supply EU.

I have contract with DHL for their standard service (not Express) and they have a page of information for each country. I also use UPS for USA and Sweden as their rates are better and they have pages of information too.

 

[2JP]

Thank you very much Trevor for taking the time to explain it more clearly. I understand the international aspects. I have seen the 'breakdown' of the invoice sent to our Spanish customer. It lists VAT and a fee (duties are 0%), as you say. The fee is not broken down. Because of this, it gives the courier license to charge whatever they like and the service cannot be checked by the customer.

For B2B to VAT registered customers, the VAT is largely immaterial. The customs processing 'fee' is very material as it cannot be reclaimed.

As the shipper, if you know the value of the goods and you know the tariff code, you should be able to work out how much your customer will pay to receive goods from you. For Spain, a large amount seems unaccountable.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Thank you very much Trevor for taking the time to explain it more clearly. I understand the international aspects. I have seen the 'breakdown' of the invoice sent to our Spanish customer. It lists VAT and a fee (duties are 0%), as you say. The fee is not broken down. Because of this, it gives the courier license to charge whatever they like and the service cannot be checked by the customer.

For B2B to VAT registered customers, the VAT is largely immaterial. The customs processing 'fee' is very material as it cannot be reclaimed.

As the shipper, if you know the value of the goods and you know the tariff code, you should be able to work out how much your customer will pay to receive goods from you. For Spain, a large amount seems unaccountable.

Glad to help. Yes we are a mere retailer and some of our UK suppliers are very helpful. We just have to add as much of the 15% fees onto retail prices to maintain our margin.