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The popular customs duty calculator was developed in cooperation with university students and with the customer in mind

Publication date 26.1.2019 8.00
Press release

Today is International Customs Day. For 2019, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) has chosen the theme “SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel and Transport”. In this theme, WCO for example stresses the utilisation of technology, of which the new customs duty calculator is a good example. Shopping products online from abroad has become more common, which is why Customs wants to help and assist customers.

For a few months now, it has been possible to calculate an estimate of the amount of customs duties and value added tax to be paid for online purchases delivered from outside the EU with the help of the customs duty calculator on the Finnish Customs website. Based on the information you enter, the calculator tells you how the country of delivery is a factor in import taxes. The calculator also gives you advice on how to get information from the postal service or other freight carrier about where your parcel is and how to pick it up. The calculator contains useful tips, and gives a checklist for online shoppers.

The new customs duty calculator has received good feedback. The development of the calculator was started in cooperation with IT students from the University of Eastern Finland. This cooperation is part of the strategies of Finnish Customs for creating new ways of providing customer service and finding out what the customers need. The Finnish-language development version of the customs duty calculator was introduced in summer 2018. The users were asked to give feedback about the calculator, and it was further developed based on this feedback during the autumn. For example, some new frequently ordered products were added. Now the calculator is available also in Swedish and English. The use of the customs duty calculator has tripled during the autumn. Presently, there are roughly 65 000 page loads a month.

The new customs duty calculator is of excellent help for online shoppers. It is also easy to clear products ordered online through Customs in the online Import Declaration Service. You can watch an instructional video on the Youtube channel of Finnish Customs (available in Finnish and Swedish only) on how to clear a postal parcel.

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