Landed cost calculator (EU import)

The order of calculation

Each step feeds the next, which is why adding the percentages together gives the wrong answer.

customs value = goods + freight to border + insurance
duty          = customs value × duty rate
VAT base      = customs value + duty + clearance fees
import VAT    = VAT base × destination VAT rate
landed cost   = goods + freight + insurance + fees + duty + VAT

The customs value is normally the CIF value — cost, insurance and freight to the point of entry into the EU. Freight inside the EU after clearance is a cost to you, but it is not part of the customs value, so it does not attract duty.

Working out the customs value: what goes in and what does not

The customs value is the base the duty is charged on, so every figure below it depends on that one number. The calculator above derives it from what you enter; checking it by hand takes the rules behind it.

What counts is the transaction value: the price actually paid for the goods, plus the costs of getting them to the point where they enter the EU. In practice that is the CIF value.

Customs value = goods price + freight to the EU border + insurance + ancillary transport costs

Included are, among others, transport and insurance up to the border, packing, commissions other than buying commission, and royalties you pay as a condition of the sale.

Not included are transport after entry into the EU where it is shown separately, the import charges themselves, assembly or maintenance after import, and discounts actually granted.

Two of these cost money in practice. Expensive freight raises the customs value and with it the duty — the freight invoice is part of the base, not a side item. And customs converts foreign currency at an official monthly rate, not at your bank’s: when rates move, the value you declare differs from the one in your books.

Worked example

A pallet of ceramic tableware from outside the EU, delivered to Germany:

• Goods: €10,000 · freight to border: €1,200 · insurance: €60
• Customs value = 10,000 + 1,200 + 60 = €11,260
• Duty at 12% = €1,351.20
• VAT base = 11,260 + 1,351.20 + 150 clearance fees = €12,761.20
• Import VAT at 19% = €2,424.63
• Total landed cost = €15,185.83

If you can reclaim the import VAT, your cost basis for pricing is €12,761.20 — about 27.6% above the invoice price, not the 51.9% the gross figure suggests. Across 500 units that is €25.52 per piece.

Why the per-unit figure excludes recoverable VAT

If you are VAT-registered and entitled to deduct, the import VAT you pay at the border comes back on your return. Building it into your unit cost would inflate every downstream calculation — margin, break-even, minimum selling price — and make perfectly viable products look unsellable.

Untick the box if you cannot reclaim: importing as a private individual, or operating under an exemption scheme that blocks input VAT deduction. The per-unit figure then includes the VAT, because in that case it genuinely is a cost.

Either way the total landed cost is what leaves your bank account at clearance, so plan cash for the gross figure even when you price against the net one.

What this calculator does not cover

It handles the standard duty-plus-VAT path. Several things sit outside it and can change the answer substantially:

• Anti-dumping duties. Applied on top of normal duty for specific goods from specific countries — bicycles, steel fasteners, ceramics and solar panels from China are long-running examples. Rates can exceed 60%.
• Excise duty on alcohol, tobacco and energy products.
• CBAM, the carbon border levy, which now applies to imports of steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen and electricity.
• Reduced VAT rates. The calculator uses the destination country’s standard rate; some goods are imported at a reduced rate. The reduced rates in force are in the table of EU VAT rates.
• Currency. Customs converts using an official monthly exchange rate, not the rate your bank gave you.

Frequently asked questions

Related tools