I have sent a present of some shoes to a friend in Montana and delivery is being held up because there is apparently 'tax' to be paid on this gift to Aramex by the recipient before they can deliver and I do not know how much.

I have sent presents to people in the US before and never come across this problem. Should a gift from one private individual to another be taxed?

Any input much appreciated and as it is a present I would rather he not pay anything to receive it.

Thanks

SC

It seems to be a crap shoot, in either direction. I have been levied VAT before now on stuff that was sent to me from the US. I think some carriers (maybe FedEx?) seem to be worse than others..

Import duties can be levied on anything mailed into the US. There is no exemption for "gifts".

That said it is clearly impractical for every parcel mailed into the US to be inspected and tax levied, so, as Dunroving said, it is a crap shoot as to whether any one parcel is taxes or not, though the system appears, not surprisingly, to be skewed towards taxing higher value items.

The last present I sent to the US (January) contained Cadbury's chcolate, Yorkshire Gold loose-leaf tea, and two Top Gear books.

It was taxed 100% (i.e., the box arrived completely empty).

Two top gear books ? That's ironic given how one of the presenters alleged actions have dominated the UK news today !

Maybe the books were seized under some section of the Patriot Act (protecting young US minds from the seditious ramblings of wild middle-aged men)

I am not sure about "seditious", but I could see concern about Americans learning what a sense of humour is.

BTW "USA PATRIOT Act" is an acronym/ abbreviation.

The tea probably made its way into Boston Harbor.

Receipt of a gift could still result in some recipients feeling obligated to pay some State use tax.

.... The same way that people pay "state use tax" in their annual state tax return on out-of-state internet purchases.

I thought there was an exemption for gifts if you mark the package as a gift on the customs form. Else why bother with that checkbox on the form?

This looks promising:
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...tions-on-gifts

Did you mail it yourself at the post office? Did you mark it as a gift on your customs form? Did you fill out a customs form? You might have been levied the tax if you ordered it online and had the store send it directly to your friend. They are not going to have marked it as a gift. Or the shoes might have cost more than $100.

I have never ever been levied tax on a present to the USA when sent as a gift using the appropriate customs form. I've sent plenty of presents over the years both ways with no tax consequences. I don't think I'm just lucky.