Can my friend deliver a tablet to me from abroad?

[Upphew]

most electronic goods coming from outside EU are taxed, be it mobile or tablet or pc....

Sometimes it depends on your luck too, My brother sent me used iPhone from USA in a box with a birthday message, I had a cheat in my post to collect it from tax office. They asked me to open it in front of them, so, they saw the used phone with birthday card, I end up paying nothing. IDK if it was due to used phone or birthday card, but I beleive I was lucky there not to pay tax for old phone. So, it might depend on the state of goods or occasion, but be prepared to pay around 50 euros in most case.

"2.4 Taxable gifts
If the value of a gift consignment exceeds 45 euro, customs duty is collected on the goods in accordance
with the Community customs tariff and also value added tax. The general value added tax rate is 23
per cent but lower rates are applied e.g. to foodstuffs and books. However, value added tax and excise
duty are always collected, that is, the value and quantity limits on tax-free imports are not applied if
the gift consignment contains cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, pipe tobacco and cigarette tobacco, alcohol
or alcoholic beverages."
http://www.tulli.fi/en/finnish_customs/ ... rs/010.pdf

[Adrian42]

most electronic goods coming from outside EU are taxed, be it mobile or tablet or pc....

Sometimes it depends on your luck too, My brother sent me used iPhone from USA in a box with a birthday message, I had a cheat in my post to collect it from tax office. They asked me to open it in front of them, so, they saw the used phone with birthday card, I end up paying nothing. IDK if it was due to used phone or birthday card, but I beleive I was lucky there not to pay tax for old phone. So, it might depend on the state of goods or occasion, but be prepared to pay around 50 euros in most case.

"2.4 Taxable gifts
If the value of a gift consignment exceeds 45 euro, customs duty is collected on the goods in accordance
with the Community customs tariff and also value added tax. The general value added tax rate is 23
per cent but lower rates are applied e.g. to foodstuffs and books. However, value added tax and excise
duty are always collected, that is, the value and quantity limits on tax-free imports are not applied if
the gift consignment contains cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, pipe tobacco and cigarette tobacco, alcohol
or alcoholic beverages."
http://www.tulli.fi/en/finnish_customs/ ... rs/010.pdf

So is it 50 euros or 23%?

23% plus customs

[riku2]

Can my friend deliver a tablet to me

Do you mean the friend will deliver it in person - ie bring it to you when the friend comes to finland? All the answers so far are about the package coming through the post from a non EU country.
Things imported person are quite different and once given to you the tax authority will find it very hard to know it was not bought in Finland.

There is also no VAT/import duty from parcels sent from other EU countries. For example your friend spends a nice weekend in London and posts the tablet to you from there. You pay nothing.

But you can also check the prices of mail order places in Germany and the UK. It's not automatic that things like tablets will be cheaper in the USA than the UK or Germany and then you avoid the whole import duty problem. There are plenty of americans buying their blu-ray disks from amazon uk.

[Upphew]

Just a question, what happens if I say to the customs that I deny to take the parcel if I have to pay custom ?
will they send the parcel back where it came from ?

It is most likely the VAT that will bite you.

And yeah, it will get sent back. And there are customs' auctions... dunno what they sell there.

[Pursuivant]

Mail gets sent back, usually. Courier parcels usually want money to move. Customs auctions sell seized otherwise legal goods (not alcohol or tobacco though), the importer usually has refused to pay VAT or customs charges for some reason or the other. Say like cars caught driving around pass the tourist limit. Sits in the cage for a time, and is then auctioned off if the owner doesn't pay up.

[Rip]

Is the 45 euros for compensation? Say, if the delivery company has lost my parcel, will it pay me the money that I've written on the parcel?

It may well be the maximum value they are ready pay. What do their terms and conditions say?

[Adrian42]

most electronic goods coming from outside EU are taxed, be it mobile or tablet or pc....

Sometimes it depends on your luck too, My brother sent me used iPhone from USA in a box with a birthday message, I had a cheat in my post to collect it from tax office. They asked me to open it in front of them, so, they saw the used phone with birthday card, I end up paying nothing. IDK if it was due to used phone or birthday card, but I beleive I was lucky there not to pay tax for old phone. So, it might depend on the state of goods or occasion, but be prepared to pay around 50 euros in most case.

"2.4 Taxable gifts
If the value of a gift consignment exceeds 45 euro, customs duty is collected on the goods in accordance
with the Community customs tariff and also value added tax. The general value added tax rate is 23
per cent but lower rates are applied e.g. to foodstuffs and books. However, value added tax and excise
duty are always collected, that is, the value and quantity limits on tax-free imports are not applied if
the gift consignment contains cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, pipe tobacco and cigarette tobacco, alcohol
or alcoholic beverages."
http://www.tulli.fi/en/finnish_customs/ ... rs/010.pdf

Is the 45 euros for compensation? Say, if the delivery company has lost my parcel, will it pay me the money that I've written on the parcel?

What the delivery company pays you if they lose your parcel depends on the contract between the delivery company and you.

This sentence talks about under what circumstances you have to pay customs and VAT to the government when importing something into Finland, and that is a completely unrelated issue.

[Popeye]

Let your friend take it out of its original packing so it changes to a used item. Value for that is much lower. Write on the customs declaration that the value is 40 euros and with a bit of luck you should be fine. I can't imagine finnish customs checking every parcel that comes in, especially if it's sent by a private person and not a shop/company.

And companies/shops are usually quite helpful as well by putting a 15 euro value on my 90 euro shopping (from the USA).

Of course if you weekly start receiving a tablet from a friend on the other side of the pond then customs might start looking into it.

[Rip]

Hard to believe a birthday card would help. If they open it, I think you're out off luck - but quite likely they don't.

[ltlaasjfe]

most electronic goods coming from outside EU are taxed, be it mobile or tablet or pc....

Sometimes it depends on your luck too, My brother sent me used iPhone from USA in a box with a birthday message, I had a cheat in my post to collect it from tax office. They asked me to open it in front of them, so, they saw the used phone with birthday card, I end up paying nothing. IDK if it was due to used phone or birthday card, but I beleive I was lucky there not to pay tax for old phone. So, it might depend on the state of goods or occasion, but be prepared to pay around 50 euros in most case.

Thanks for your share, it help me a lot