I received a package from my family in the UK, clearly marked on the customs declaration as Gift £10 item value & £13 postage costs = total ~ 27€

Package was intercepted by Zollamt & held at the post office for me to pay Zoll costs of 2,21 €, plus 6 € handling fee! What gives? I should have been allowed 45 € allowance for this gift from my family without subject to any customs fees?

[https://www.zoll.de/DE/Privatpersonen/Postsendungen-Internetbestellungen/Sendungen-aus-einem-Nicht-EU-Staat/Zoll-und-Steuern/Geschenksendungen/geschenksendungen_node.html](https://www.zoll.de/DE/Privatpersonen/Postsendungen-Internetbestellungen/Sendungen-aus-einem-Nicht-EU-Staat/Zoll-und-Steuern/Geschenksendungen/geschenksendungen_node.html)

Can I make a complaint to Zollamt & claim this back?

5 comments

  1. You didn’t pay any Zoll on this. What you paid is the Einfuhrumsatzsteuer which is 19% of the value. So 2,21 Euro of a value of 10£ makes sense considering translation to Euro.
    The 6 Euro handling fee you can’t claim back either. The only way you could have avoided paying the fees is if you would have rejected the package altogether and have it send back to the sender.

    Source: I work at the post office.

  5. You should complain, it should be written at the end of your invoice (Rechtsbehelfsbelehrung). Something like:

    Ich widerspreche hiermit Ihrem Zollbescheid Az. 1234 vom dd.mm.yy, da es sich um ein privates Geschenk handelt. Ich bitte um Rückerstattung der Zollgebühren und sonstigen Auslagen auf mein Konto 1234567.

    Should work via e-mail, but it will take time.

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