any experience importing a laptop to sri lanka?

[HaeylM]

I am in the market for a laptop and one of my friends volunteered to ship it for me through fedex. I am wondering if anyone has experience importing a personal laptop to sri lanka and clearing it from customs? 

[JayZ]

yes, did it few years back. Make sure to ship it without the box if possible stating that its been used, so you could avoid or reduce the tax. 

In my case, I went to the central mail exchange in Colombo 2 and paid a very little fee ( Less than Rs 1000 as I remember) and got it cleared.

In case if you are using Fedex, they will clear the tax for you and deliver it to your door. 

[kush]

No tax on laptops only PAL which is around 5% of the value

If a friend is sending through Fed EX ask to declare value for customs as $100-200.

They are not much bothered on personal packages especially Computers.

 

[iRage]

6 hours ago, JayZ said:

Make sure to ship it without the box if possible stating that its been used, so you could avoid or reduce the tax. 

What I do is I just open up the box in a rather slightly-not-so-gentle manner so that there are pressure marks on the box, lids slightly folded in the corners, etc...so that it looks like it has been opened and been lying around for a while. 

Fun fact: Japanese keep boxes for EVERYTHING ! Yes..even my wife hordes boxes, but she hordes boxes of fragile and high value items....and they are nicely stored so the boxes look pretty new except that it has those little signs that they have been opened

I would not get rid of the original box for something like a laptop due to the inner packaging that keeps the laptop nice and snug 

[ajm]

Isnt it allowed send lithium batteries by airmail?

[HaeylM]

@iRage @kush @JayZ thanks for the Adv!  the slight opened box trick helped get through easier. They taxed 15% of CIF value through fedex but it was worth it as I saved close to 70K off the local market price of a similar model. 

[iRage]

2 hours ago, HaeylM said:

They taxed 15% of CIF

I am appauled that they charge even 15% of anything for taxes. It should be completely tax free  on everything to do with computers...no questions asked...in order to support the growth of tech in the country and promote tech education.

[kush]

3 hours ago, HaeylM said:

@iRage @kush @JayZ thanks for the Adv!  the slight opened box trick helped get through easier. They taxed 15% of CIF value through fedex but it was worth it as I saved close to 70K off the local market price of a similar model. 

This is absurd. There is no tax for computers in SL. They only charge PAL which is 4 or 5% of CIF

I paid approx Rs. 12K on a Computer valued Rs. 240K (CIF). It came direct with full invoice value declared by the seller.

Double checked to on the duty through a contact in customs who confirmed that duty was correct.

 

[john cooper]

On 7/8/2021 at 9:35 PM, kush said:

This is absurd. There is no tax for computers in SL. They only charge PAL which is 4 or 5% of CIF

I paid approx Rs. 12K on a Computer valued Rs. 240K (CIF). It came direct with full invoice value declared by the seller.

Double checked to on the duty through a contact in customs who confirmed that duty was correct.

 

A few years back I have sent about 20 Desktop PC's that I have had from my old company which I have sent them distributed to schools/ students who can't afford one.

5 of the CPU's taken off by an officer in charge and the balance released. So I think 5 PC's taken as tax 😀