Custom duty on laptop in India 2021

How To Import/Buy a Laptop From USA To India[or any country]?

Siddharth Giri/ 2nd Jul, 2021/ Importing Guide

When it comes to picking a simple budget laptop, an Ultra-book, or a high-end gaming laptop, There are very few options available here in India and those few are very costly compared to the price of the USA market.

The other problem is these brands launch the lower-end variant of the laptop, or some brands never launch their laptop in India. The solution to this problem is we can import our favorite laptop from the USA to India.

I imported my laptop in the year 2017 and at that time I saved almost 25% compared to the Indian Price. Now the situation is a little different, importing a laptop from the USA can cost you some extra money but you will be able to get your hands on your favorite laptop.

In this guide, I will show you two different methods to import a laptop from the USA to India. Before anything else, lets see the breakdown of the total price I paid for my laptop.

• Laptop Price: 34,981.8/- [$534.89]
• Shipping Charge [including Insurance]: 9221.4/- [$141]
• Landing + Warehouse + Disbursement Charge:784.8 [$12]
• Customs Duty: 21,384.16/- [$326.98]
• Total Cost of Laptop: 66,372.16/- [$1014.09]

I paid 66,372.16/- [$1014.09 @ 65.4 INR/USD] for the laptop but at that time price of the same laptop was 86,000 [$1,315] in India. If you want to see the picture of my imported laptop, you can visit this page.

Steps to Import Laptop from the USA:-

Now lets see how you can import a laptop from the USA to India. There are many ways to import a laptop from the USA to India but I will show you only two methods, which are possible for everyone.

Method 1. Import a Laptop using Freight Forwarders

Step 1. Get USA Address

We all know that International shopping websites like Amazon & Other doesnt ship most of the products outside the USA. AmazonGlobal is a good option for international buyers but the problem is, even AmazonGlobal doesnt ship most of the products outside the USA.

The solution is a freight/parcel forwarding company. First, you need to register for free/paid membership on the freight forwarder website to get a USA address. After that, you will immediately receive a US address, which you can use to shop from US online retailers.

I had used ShopUSA because of its low shipping charge but, later I regret my decision. You can read ShopUSA Review for more details. I will recommend you to use MyUS or USGoBuy instead of ShopUSA.

• MyUS Coupon: Get 20% Discount + Free One Month Premium Membership!
• USGoBuy Coupon: Get $2 Discount Coupon!

I havent imported another laptop but I used MyUS and USGoBuy to import other products and I think, these two freight forwarders are cheaper and better than the others.

UsGoBuy has an advantage, they allow you to declare the item value as per your requirement. This option can help you to save customs duties. For example, You can mention $800 for a $1000 laptop. Obviously, Its not a guaranteed way to save customs duty but theres a possibility that it will lower the customs duty.

Difference between MyUS and Other Freight Forwarders:

The biggest difference between MyUS and other freight forwarders is the shipping charge calculation process, MyUSs shipping charge is based on the Real Weight of the Box but other freight forwarders shipping charge is based on the dimensional weight of the Box.

USGoBuys shipping charge calculation is also based on the dimensional weight but the price per lbs/kg is lower than the others. Also, please dont believe in the expected price of ShopUSAs shipping calculator. I had calculated an $85 shipping charge using ShopUSAs calculator because the actual weight of my package was less than 8 LBS. Later they charged me $141 because they calculated 16 LBS billable weight due to the dimension [20 X 18 X 6] of that package.

Step 2. Choose Shipping Address

After getting the USA address, you can use freight forwarder address as your shipping address when purchasing products from Amazon or other shopping websites.

The online store will dispatch your product to the freight forwarders address and it will take around 2-3 days to reach their warehouse. Once the product arrives at their warehouse, they notify you via email, and some freight forwarders also upload a photo of the product as proof.

Note:Please ensure all your shipments include your Unique Suite Number/ Member ID. That unique number is used to identify the owner of packages when they arrive at their warehouse.

Step 3. Create Shipment Request

After getting an email confirmation, you can view the list of all products/packages in my account section.

Here you can request to ship packages separately or together. To create a ship request, select the product then enter your shipping address[the original address where you want to receive the laptop in India], select the shipping method[UPS, DHL, etc.].

I would also recommend you add shipping insurance to get a refund or compensation in case of receiving damaged products. I am saying this because most of you wont able to handle the shock when you will see your laptop box in a condition like the below image.

The above picture was taken inside the UPS office. Luckily the laptop wasnt damaged but I expect better service from the UPS.

Advance Customs Duty

At the time of creating a shipment request, they will also give you the option to pay customs duty in advance. If you choose to PREPAY the duties and taxes, you have to pay customs duty along with shipping & handling charges.

I would recommend you to choose Pay Later because the freight forwarder companys calculation is always on the higher side. They can charge 70% 80% of invoice value as advance customs duty.

If you will select pay later, the local customs department will invoice you separately upon delivery. The collection method depends on the destination country.

Step 4. Shipment & Tracking

Once they receive your ship request, They ship your package from the USA to India[or your country] via your preferred shipping method within 24 hours. In some cases, high-value merchandise and shipments may require additional paperwork to comply with US government regulations. This may result in additional shipment processing time.

Then the courier partner[UPS, DHL, etc.] will deliver your laptop to India[or your country] within 3-15 business days. Delivery time may vary depending on the selected shipping method and they will also provide you Real-Time Tracking on your package.

I selected UPS Express Saver [1-3 business days] but they took almost 12 days to deliver my laptop.

Step 5. Customs Duty Payment

Courier partner[UPS, DHL, etc.] will take care of the customs process on behalf of you but they will add extra charges for that. Once the laptop reaches India, their customs clearance team will contact you to know your AADHAAR Card Number.

After the customs process, they will deliver your product to your doorstep. As I mentioned in the 3rd step, If you will select pay later they will give you cash on delivery option for customs duty. Some courier companies also offer online payment options for customs duty.

How Much Customs Duty Should You Expect To Pay For Importing a Laptop?

At that time, I paid 41% customs duty for my Laptop but its not clear how much duty they will charge you for importing a laptop.

For example, I also imported two laptops from china using Express Mail Service[EMS also know as Speed Post in India], and both the times I received the laptop without paying customs duty.

Another example, I have read some answers on Quora and some people are saying they paid only 18% IGST for importing a laptop in India using UPS.

Recently, A user commented on this blog that he imported his Mi Notebook Laptop worth 48,000 from China and he paid just 6,000 customs duty for that Laptop. You can see his comment in the below screenshot or you can also visit the article page to check his comment.

Another user also commented in this article that They could have charged only 28% import duty but since they assumed that $651.89 is excluding the freight charge, they added the freight charge again which is around Rs.9000 and the item value crossed Rs.50000, so they charged 41% which resulted in you paying around Rs.9000 extra.

Recently, A user asked me what will be the customs duty on a laptop worth $2400 and I replied customs duty should be around $500 $1000 and she wasnt happy with my reply. And after a few days, her reply shocked me. Read the highlighted reply in the image below She received a laptop worth $2400 without customs duty. Can you believe this?

And after a few days, again she replied that she also received a camera without customs duty. This is unbelievable.

Another user also commented in this article[scroll down to read his comment] that he imported a laptop worth $400 and the customs department charged him $400 duty. This is just insane!

In the above examples, you can clearly see that you cannot calculate the expected customs duty because the Indian customs department is very irresponsible. Sometimes, they release parcel without charging the duty and sometimes charges double duty.

I also noticed one thing is whenever I use UPS, the Customs department charges me high import duty and whenever I use other couriers like DHL, FedEx, Aramex, the customs department charges me less import duty.

For example, In the year 2019, I imported smartphone parts worth 11,000/- rupees using Aramex courier and after the customs clearance, the import duty bill was less than 400/- rupees, which is less than 4% of the invoice amount. I dont know why this happens but its true at least in my case. Currently, I dont have that bill, If I will find it, I will upload it in this article.

Normally customs duty on a laptop is only 28% in India but as I explained in the above examples they can charge you whatever they want. In my case, I paid 28% IGST and 13% other duties. Check all the import fee separately:

• 10% BCD
• 2% Edu Cess
• 1% HEdu Cess
• 28% IGST

Normally we think that customs duty is applicable to the invoice value but the fact is customs duty is applicable to the access value.

For Example, My invoice value was $534.89 for Dell Inspiron 7579 2 in 1 + $141 shipping charge. Total Invoice Value: $675.89 [I dont know why ShopUSA mentioned $651.89 instead of $675.89]. The customs officer in India has assessed my laptops value as $797.50. So, I paid 41% of the customs duty on $797.50 [the assessed value].

Here you can see the Import/CustomsDuty Receipt For More Detail [The original receipt was 2 page long but I am just showing the required detail].

Total Cost of importing a Laptop from the USA To India: 66,372.16/- [$1014.09]. The cost of the same laptop was 86,000 at that time in India.

• Laptop Price: 34,981.8/- [$534.89]
• Shipping Charge [including Insurance]: 9221.4/- [$141]
• Landing + Warehouse + Disbursement Charge:784.8 [$12]
• Customs Duty: 21,384.16/- [$326.98]

As you can see in the above calculation, Even after paying 41% customs duty + $141 shipping charge, I saved almost 25% money compared to the Indian Price.

Just imagine how much money you will save if you will be able to get your laptop by paying only 28% import duty. Sometimes, saving could be less but still, it will cost you much less than Indias price.

Coupon

I have already explained why MyUS and USGoBuy is a good choice. Now, You can either of the below links to get a discount on the shipping charge.

• MyUS Coupon: Get 20% off your 1st Shipment!
• USGoBuy Coupon: Get $2 Discount Coupon!

Method 2. Import a Laptop Directly

In the first method, I explained to you how you can use freight forwarders to import a laptop[or any product]. But using freight forwarders increases the products costs by 10% because you have to pay shipping charge + freight forwarders charge along with the product cost.

We can import products directly using AmazonGlobal to save some money. AmazonGlobal isnt available for all the products but before paying for the freight forwarder, you should try to find your favorite laptop under the AmazonGlobal section. If you will be able to find a laptop under AmazonGlobal, you will definitely save 10% 15%.

Step 1. Use International Shipping Filter

Lets see how you can use the search filter to find a laptop or any product. When you search for products on Amazon, just apply the International Shipping filter on the left[see screenshot] to see the list of all the eligible products for international shipping.

Amazon ships products internationally with AmazonGlobal. Certain products are eligible for AmazonGlobal service. This means you can buy from Amazon, and have it shipped globally without worrying about third-party shipping service.

Step 2. Check Shipping & Import Fees

Your packages may be subject to the customs fees and import duties of the country to which your order ships. Once you select the product, you can open the product page to see Shipping & Import Fees[see screenshot].

Shipping rates and import fees vary depending on the delivery address for your order. Unlike freight forwarder, here you have to pay Shipping & Import Fees along with the product price.

As you can see in the above image, Estimated Import Fees for a MacBook Pro worth $2948.99 is $1243.51 dollar.

If import fees will be higher than estimated import fees in your country then Amazon wont ask you to pay the extra fee. However, If import fees will be lower than estimated import fees in your country, Amazon will refund you the rest amount.

Step 3. Enter Address & Make Payment

Once you decide which product you want to buy, just click Add to Cart button» Select Shipping Method. Then you can ship to India[or any country] by just adding your local address then make payment using your preferred payment option.

After the order confirmation, Amazon will dispatch your product to your local address with a valid tracking number and Real-Time Tracking on your package. Then courier partner will deliver your product to your country within 3-15 business days. Note: Delivery time may vary depending on the selected shipping method by you.

For Indian Customers:

AmazonGlobals Courier partner will take care of the customs process on behalf of you. However, Your packages will not clear customs without a valid KYC ID Number for the recipient.

The Customs clearance process will be faster if you will add a valid Passport / Aadhaar Card / PAN Card number along with the shipping address. OR Once the laptop reaches India, Their custom clearance team will contact you to know your AADHAAR Card Number. After the customs process, they will deliver your product to your doorstep.

Both methods are good to import a laptop or any product. You can choose one depending on your budget and requirements. If you want to import a laptop, I will recommend the second method. In case you cannot find your laptop under AmazonGlobal, use the first method.

If you still have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section below. You can also subscribe to ShopAbroad YouTube Channel.