Import Duties & Taxes When Importing from China: Rates Explained

Import duties and taxes from China are the part of your landed cost that catches importers off guard most often — because the number on your supplier’s invoice is only the starting point. On top of the goods you pay the freight, the insurance, the duty (calculated on the CIF value, not the factory price), and then VAT or GST in almost every destination market. This guide explains every tax you’ll face, how the calculation works, how the US, EU, UK, Australia and New Zealand compare, and how to legally reduce what you owe. It’s written for importers and e-commerce sellers budgeting a real landed cost from China.

The Taxes You’ll Pay: Duty, VAT & More

When you import from China, you’ll typically face up to four kinds of charge — and not every shipment faces all four:

1. Customs duty — the core tax, set by the product’s HS code as a percentage of the customs value.
2. VAT / GST — a consumption tax charged in the EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand and most other markets, usually on top of the duty-inclusive value. The US does not charge a federal VAT.
3. Additional tariffs — layered on top of the base duty for certain goods and origins. In the US this is the Section 301 / 232 / 122 stack; other countries have their own anti-dumping measures.
4. Anti-dumping / countervailing (AD/CVD) — punitive duties on specific products (steel, aluminium, solar panels, some chemicals) deemed to be sold below fair value or subsidised.

Understanding the layers matters, because “the duty is 5%” rarely tells the whole story — a 5% base duty plus a 25% Section 301 tariff plus VAT can turn a $10,000 shipment into a $14,000+ landed cost.

How Import Duty Is Calculated (CIF)

The formula is simple, but the base is where people go wrong:

The customs value is not the factory price. For most Incoterms it’s the CIF value:

Worked example. You buy $8,000 of goods, pay $150 insurance and $1,200 ocean freight. Your CIF value is $9,350. If the HS code carries a 4% duty, you owe $374 in duty. If your market also charges 20% VAT, that VAT is applied to the duty-inclusive value — $9,724 × 20% = $1,944.80 — bringing the total tax bill to $2,318.80 on top of the freight you already paid. That’s the gap between “the goods cost $8,000” and what actually leaves your bank account.

The two levers you control are the HS code (get it right to pay the correct, and often lower, rate) and the Incoterm (whether freight and insurance are even included in the value). Our guide to HS codes explains classification, and the Incoterms 2020 guide shows how CIF, FOB and DDP change the calculation.

Import Duties & VAT by Market

This cross-market table is the quick reference — the base duty range and the VAT/GST rate for the markets Transifly ships to most often. Duty rates vary by HS code, so treat the range as directional and check your exact code against the official tariff.

Duty and VAT/GST references: Australia — Australian Taxation Office (ATO); New Zealand — Inland Revenue (IRD).

What this table tells you: the US is a duty-and-tariff market (no VAT), while the EU/UK/Australia/NZ are duty-plus-VAT/GST markets. That’s why a US importer’s tax bill is dominated by the Section 301/122 stack, while a European importer’s is dominated by VAT.

US Import Taxes: The 301 & Section 122 Stack

The United States layers several taxes on China imports, and 2026 has been unusually volatile. Here’s the structure, marked “as of August 2026” — verify current rates against the official sources before quoting:

1. MFN (most-favored-nation) duty — the base rate from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), usually 0–10% for consumer goods. This is the stable floor.
2. Section 301 tariffs — long-standing additional duties on a broad range of Chinese goods. These have been in place in various forms since 2018.
3. Section 232 tariffs — national-security duties on steel and aluminium (both 50%, raised from 25% and 10% in June 2025), plus a newer 50% copper tariff from April 2026.
4. Section 122 surcharge — the newest layer. After the US Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA-based tariffs as unlawful in early 2026, the administration imposed a surcharge under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (a balance-of-payments tool). Its legality is contested — it faces a WTO challenge and domestic litigation, and as of August 2026 it has not been ruled unconstitutional, but its legal basis is disputed. The Section 122 authority is set to expire on 24 July 2026.

What this means for importers: the US duty picture is genuinely uncertain right now. A tariff that applies today may be struck down or lapse tomorrow, and a new layer could appear. If you’re importing from China to the US in 2026, the practical steps are: check the current HTS rate for your code, confirm the latest Section 301/122 status with CBP or a licensed broker, and consider DDP so your forwarder absorbs the calculation risk into one quoted price.

EU Import Duty & VAT

The European Union charges import duty (set by the product’s TARIC code) plus VAT (set by the destination country, per the EU Taxation & Customs rules), and 2026 brought a major change for small parcels:

• The €150 de minimis is gone. From 1 July 2026, the EU removed the €150 low-value consignment relief — previously, parcels under €150 entered duty-free. Now all imports are subject to duty.
• Transition period: from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2028, parcels valued at €150 or less pay a temporary duty of €3 per item (under Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382). This is a stopgap rate that applies during the transition, after which standard duty rules take over.
• VAT is charged on everything, regardless of value, at the destination country’s rate — for example 20% in France, 19% in Germany, 21% in the Netherlands and 21% in Spain. The VAT is charged on the duty-inclusive value.

The DDP implication: the €3-per-item temporary duty, on top of full VAT, is exactly the kind of change that quietly raises the landed cost of B2C parcels. A DDP forwarder quotes you one number that already reflects it, so you’re not surprised at the border.

VAT & GST Reclaim: The DDP Catch

Here’s a tax detail that changes the DDP-vs-DAP decision, and that most importers don’t find out until they try to claim a refund:

• Under DDP, the seller (or forwarder) is the importer of record. The import VAT is paid in their name, so if you’re a VAT-registered EU buyer, you generally cannot reclaim the import VAT — it wasn’t paid by you.
• Under DAP (or FOB/CIF), you are the importer of record. You pay the import VAT yourself, and if you’re VAT-registered, you can reclaim it on your next return.

The same logic applies in Australia and New Zealand with GST: GST-registered importers can claim GST credits, but only if they’re the importer of record. So if VAT/GST reclamation is worth real money to you, that’s a reason to choose DAP and be your own importer of record — or to discuss it explicitly with your forwarder before committing to DDP. Our DDP vs DDU vs DAP guide walks through this in full.

DDP vs Self-Clearance: The Real Cost

The real question for most importers isn’t “what’s the duty rate” — it’s “should I clear it myself, or pay DDP and bundle the tax into one price?”

Self-clearance (DAP / FOB / CIF): you pay a lower freight line and settle the duty, VAT and broker’s fee yourself. You keep control of the declaration and can reclaim VAT. But you carry the risk: a misclassified HS code, an unexpected anti-dumping duty, or a customs hold are all on you.

DDP: you pay one all-in price that already includes the duty, tax and clearance. It’s more expensive on paper, but it’s predictable — the forwarder has already worked out (and absorbed the risk of) the exact landed tax.

To make it concrete at August 2026 rates, a China-to-Europe shipment through Transifly:

Transifly August 2026 Europe-lane reference rates. DAP air is our air transportation from China lane — a lower freight rate, but you add destination duty, VAT and a broker’s fee yourself, which can push the total past the DDP price once you factor in your time and the risk of a misclassification.

For low-value parcels and first orders, DDP usually wins on certainty. For high-volume importers who are VAT-registered and want the reclamation, self-clearance usually wins on cost. Our DDP shipping from China page has current all-in rates, and we’ll quote both ways so you can compare with real numbers. For the clearance process and documents themselves, see our sister guide on customs clearance when importing from China.

How to Reduce Your Import Taxes Legally

You can’t avoid duty, but you can legitimately lower what you owe:

1. Use the correct HS code. Misclassifying up costs you money; misclassifying down risks penalties. A correct, lower-rate code is the single biggest legal saving.
2. Claim a free-trade agreement (FTA). Goods with a valid Certificate of Origin under an FTA can enter at a reduced or zero duty. The US, EU, UK, Australia and NZ all have preference programs.
3. Don’t over-declare freight. The duty is charged on CIF value, so freight that’s genuinely paid is included — but double-counting or inflating freight raises your duty needlessly.
4. Consider the de minimis and threshold rules for low-value parcels in each market — though the EU has just tightened its €150 rule.
5. Reclaim VAT/GST if you’re registered. In the EU, UK, Australia and NZ, being the importer of record lets you reclaim the import VAT/GST, which is a real, legal saving.

The honest caveat: the biggest “saving” sellers get offered is undervaluing the invoice — and that’s not a saving, it’s a penalty risk. Customs authorities can re-value the goods and issue fines, and it can bar you from future shipments. The legal levers above are slower but safe.