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Are there taxes charged when an item is sent from Belize to the US?

Not at the Belize end...

The do charge differently for items going from Belize to elsewhere.

For example once I was sending local news papers back to Canada and they asked me what I was sending and said that t-shirts would cost more than news papers to send.

Go figure.

I guess their motto is "Always keep them guessing"

so is that for everything that is sent to belize?

i've sent some care packages that way and i hope he's not being charged for what i'm sending...
but sounds interesting...

Everything that comes through a Belize post office is charged duty and taxes on the value of the item and the shipping cost to Belize GST is 10% of the total.

People that receive care packages in the mail usually end up having to pay duty.

I have asked my family not to send us anything unless we ask for it. I hate paying duty for a couple of colouring books and pens, a small purse and costume jewelry that the grandparents package up just to say "I love you."

In large part the duty charged is based on what the package cost to ship, any insurance paid, the amount of value written on the declaration form and then, if the post master is suspicious of the declared value or the item enclosed, the package is opened and the goods are assessed.

If you are charged a lot for a package that hasn't been opened, you can open the package with the post master, show him what is in there, and sometimes he can reassess the value down. ie. If you know you have 2nd hand clothes or a tiny paper gasket etc he may not see any true value in the item and waive charges.

But a large factor in all of this is.....Attitude. If you are nice and gracious you will fare much better than if you whine or get indignant.

And yes, it is absolutely shocking how much it costs to mail a t-shirt.

Quite a few countries' postal services have a "print material" or "book rate" and that is why the newspaper can cost less to send to send than other things.
Few places in our region have reliable postal services, so even if the cost is high we have pretty good service. Just think if we had to do everything by courrier.

Here in PG the postmaster requires all packages to be opened and inspected. Too many people trying to cheat the system and sneak things in.

I have had packages opened too, sometimes it helps cause when they see what is inside as Amanda said it makes the charges less.

I agree on the being nice part too - seen a few freak outs at the post office guys lol

wow! well that's good to know...
might have to reconsider what i'm sending... lol

does anyone know if businesses are charged differently?