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Post by newlifeincroatia on Oct 28, 2013 17:55:02 GMT 1
I really need some help on this as I am not getting any clear answers. I am a returning resident and have already had my container arrive with all my household goods. My car is still in Canada and I did let customs know that I am still bringing my car over. They told me it would cost 75,000 kunas in somekind of taxes to bring my car! This does not make any sense to me. Why were all my household items exempt from tax but my car is not? The car is a 2005 Mercedes SL 500 and I bought it as my last car. If this is the case with tax, are there any other options? I see lots of cars driving around with Ontario plates. Is there an option to leave my Canadian plates and insurance on the car?
Thank you for any guidance or info you can give me!
Latest update on my car.....it is now sitting in Rijeka in a container. I am now only bringing it in for 6 months on Canadian plates and insurance as a Canadian citizen. I am not importing it nor registering it in Croatia & will have to ship it back in 6 months, all due to improper paperwork completion by the OFFICIALS! Where can I find out what I will really have to pay upon collecting it in Rijeka. I should not have to pay trosarina now. There is something called the Istanbul Convention that somehow helps me in this situation but I'm not sure what it is & where I can find it. |
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Post by serendipity on Nov 2, 2013 7:59:37 GMT 1
Croatia has always had a trosarina tax on cars, you are only except from paying pdv. In the past you couldn't import a car older than 7 years but i think that has changed along with the other changes they made after accession. If you are fluent in Croatian this carina doc. Will explain the how trosarina tax is determined. www.carina.hr/Dokumenti/Download.aspx?args=0KktGinSo6HL7lC7FBjkMMsDoavE3nrlpyPWxn0OUqF91LZbYK3IEw==I hope my understanding is incorrect, but going by the cost you mentioned I'm afraid I might be correct that the tax is calculated by determining value + co2 emissions + horsepower + emissions standard level. This means anyone importing a car that is not very green you will be paying considerably more than before accession. |
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Post by crojoe on Nov 2, 2013 10:28:37 GMT 1
Croatia has always had a trosarina tax on cars, you are only except from paying pdv. In the past you couldn't import a car older than 7 years but i think that has changed along with the other changes they made after accession. If you are fluent in Croatian this carina doc. Will explain the how trosarina tax is determined. www.carina.hr/Dokumenti/Download.aspx?args=0KktGinSo6HL7lC7FBjkMMsDoavE3nrlpyPWxn0OUqF91LZbYK3IEw==I hope my understanding is incorrect, but going by the cost you mentioned I'm afraid I might be correct that the tax is calculated by determining value + co2 emissions + horsepower + emissions standard level. This means anyone importing a car that is not very green you will be paying considerably more than before accession. Wonder how much to import my bicycle? ... Just kidding! |
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Post by IstriaOutsideMyWindow on Nov 2, 2013 16:01:18 GMT 1
Can I ask you how long it took to clear your personal goods? Our stuff arrived three weeks ago and we're still waiting... I hope things work out with the car!
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Post by newlifeincroatia on Nov 2, 2013 19:46:53 GMT 1
IstraOutsideMyWindow, in response to your question.....3 weeks is much too long. You would have needed to co-ordinate at the time you sent your container Let me know which port your goods arrived to. It should have arrived to Rijeka. You would have had to had a broker in Rijeka to receive the container for you. Then in Istra you need another broker to get the goods from Rijeka to Istra and prepare it for clearance thru customs, where they translate all your personal items to Croatian and give them an approximate weight. Here's the kicker.....you have to give an envelope with some money in it to the company in Istra so that they give it to the customs agent to clear your goods in a timely manner!!! My items cleared in Karlovac and I was shocked when the broker told me to bring an envelope with $200 Canadian dollars for the customs officer!! The container usually has a 3 day turnaround time, meaning that when it leaves Rijeka, it needs to be back in 3 days to be filled and head to another destination. So, the customs officer can hold the container for any reasons which costs you 250 euros per day. Therefore the "envelope" is the cheaper option. When the broker saw my face upon asking me to bring the envelope, she said "you know how it is, this is the system they are use to". I told her that actually I don't know how it is and if she was working in Canada and asked me that question, she would be fired from her job. Let me know if you need my contact person in Rijeka to help you move things along.
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Post by ZAD on Nov 2, 2013 20:12:15 GMT 1
IstraOutsideMyWindow, in response to your question.....3 weeks is much too long. You would have needed to co-ordinate at the time you sent your container Let me know which port your goods arrived to. It should have arrived to Rijeka. You would have had to had a broker in Rijeka to receive the container for you. Then in Istra you need another broker to get the goods from Rijeka to Istra and prepare it for clearance thru customs, where they translate all your personal items to Croatian and give them an approximate weight. Here's the kicker.....you have to give an envelope with some money in it to the company in Istra so that they give it to the customs agent to clear your goods in a timely manner!!! My items cleared in Karlovac and I was shocked when the broker told me to bring an envelope with $200 Canadian dollars for the customs officer!! The container usually has a 3 day turnaround time, meaning that when it leaves Rijeka, it needs to be back in 3 days to be filled and head to another destination. So, the customs officer can hold the container for any reasons which costs you 250 euros per day. Therefore the "envelope" is the cheaper option. When the broker saw my face upon asking me to bring the envelope, she said "you know how it is, this is the system they are use to". I told her that actually I don't know how it is and if she was working in Canada and asked me that question, she would be fired from her job. Let me know if you need my contact person in Rijeka to help you move things along. Ministry of Justice - Directorate for Criminal Law, Anticorruption sector Address: Directorate for Criminal Law Ministry of Justice Zagreb, Meduliceva 36 Phone: +385 1 486 2359 Fax: +385 1 486 2346 Web: www.pravosudje.hr |
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Post by IstriaOutsideMyWindow on Nov 2, 2013 22:09:30 GMT 1
Oh OK, that's how you got your stuff so fast! We do have someone working on it and we have provided all the documents required. No one has mentioned an envelope but we won't go down that route... they have been saying all along "If you pay custom duties and TVA you can have the stuff today" but we know we're not required to pay anything. So we're playing the waiting game... let's see what happens next.
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Post by serendipity on Nov 2, 2013 23:46:11 GMT 1
I've had two containers shipped with my povlastica and was not asked to give the customs officer any money. My container was in both cases released in just a couple of days. I did have to pay port fees which I was told about before hand by my agent in the states and it was stated in my shipping bill that they where not included. I know that many ship items that are still subject to a customs tax, mainly building and renovation material for their new home in Croatia, and by the books anything that is in a box and new should also be taxed. So giving the customs officer $200 is usually the cheaper route to go.
I prefer this kind of corruption to the one I experienced in the States where my container was held for one month by US customs and a private company does the inspection for them, then I get billed for the inspection $1,939 dollars plus another extra $4000 for layover, rollover and demurrage. When I tried finding out how to fight these fees I found that this is a common occurrence in the US after 9/11. After which this law was implemented Under 19 USC 1467, CBP has a right to examine any shipment imported into the United States and it is important to know that you, the importer, must bear the cost of such cargo exams. Per the CBP regulations, it is the responsibility of the importer to make the goods available for examination. Apparently this holds true for exports too.
Istria I would be really concerned about that container sitting in port for that long.
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Post by IstriaOutsideMyWindow on Nov 3, 2013 9:03:34 GMT 1
Thanks Serendipity, our shipment (we did not have a whole container of stuff) is not in the port but at the customs office. We have paid the port fees. We don't have any new stuff, it's just our used personal effects. We have supplied all the documents they wanted. I'm hoping it will be released soon.
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Post by IstriaOutsideMyWindow on Nov 16, 2013 9:19:06 GMT 1
Well we finally got our stuff! And this is only after a friend who works for the regional government helped us out. Apparently there are new procedures following EU entry and officials are still adjusting, there are problems in the tranposition of EU customs law into Croatian law, the customs officials sent our papers to the wrong regional office... these are some of the excuses we've been told...
I didn't mean to hijack this thread newlife, and I hope you figure things out for your car.
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