Gift rebate explained

THE Customs and Excise (General) Regulations published in Statutory Instrument 154 of 2001 (as amended) in Section 115 provides for a rebate of duty on a bona-fide gift sent by a person residing outside Zimbabwe to a person or family residing in Zimbabwe.

The rebate covers goods for personal use whose Value for Duty Purposes (VDP) does not exceed $75.

The VDP consists of the value of the item, freight/shipping/postage/ courier’s charges, insurance, packing and any other charges incurred in bringing the goods up to the point of importation into Zimbabwe.

In cases where postage and insurance cannot be ascertained, the postage and insurance shall be deemed to be 15 per cent of the free on board value of the goods to be valued.

Where one is unable to provide evidence of the value of the goods, the Customs legislation provides other ways of determining value.

Where a gift is contained in more than one package and the packages are dispatched at the same time by the same sender to the same addressee, the aggregate of the value of the goods in the packages shall be considered for the purposes of granting the gift rebate.

Conditions for granting the rebate

The rebate shall: ◆ Be granted on unsolicited gifts, implying that any direct purchases such as online purchases do not qualify hence full duty shall be due and payable ◆ Be granted to an individual or

family only once in 30 days ◆ Apply only to goods for personal use and not for commercial purposes ◆ Apply only to properly declared goods. Any false declaration may result in seizure of the goods and penalties being imposed ◆ Not apply to a gift imported by a person in his/her baggage or upon the person meaning that the goods should be unaccompanied ◆ Not apply to alcoholic beverages

of any kind. Please note that if the gift consists of restricted goods, the goods shall only be released after complying with the necessary import permits/licences.

Any prohibited goods will be confis- cated in accordance with Customs laws.

If a gift to a family comes as one package/consignment/parcel containing several packages inside belonging to different individuals, the rebate shall only be granted to the whole package/ consignment/parcel and not to the individual parcels contained therein.

Example of duty calculation on private imports

Disclaimer

This article was compiled by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority for information purposes only. ZIMRA shall not accept responsibility for loss or damage arising from use of material in this article and no liability will attach to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.

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