US Postal Shippers Beware!

How do they know what's in the box? You don't have to fill out a customs form when shipping from the states....

On the personal level, this is bad news. On the other hand I've always felt that it was unfair that local stores must pay 4 (now 4.5 and likely 5% soon) Gross Receipts tax but if you ship something in via USPS you pay 0%. The automobile dealers get especially hard hit by this (not USPS but shipping new cars in). I can't say I am against a level playing field. Now I do get worried when I hear the chamber talking about 10% taxes to bring things into the territory, that is not a level playing field, that is providing an unfair advantage to the local business who can then jack up prices. The last thing we need right now is higher prices.

My big concern is more how inconvenient it will be to pay the bills. If it was something you could do online I'd be fine with that.

Sean

I would be delighted to pay TWICE the tax I pay, if I got anywhere near my money's worth for it. I will NOT pay a tax to subsidize St. Thomas's voracious appetite, while suffering under NO effective police presence, no road maintenance beyond what I do and pay for myself, no cooperative government services of any kind.

Interesting. Friend I have as assistant postmaster at one of the post offices on St Croix, is unaware of this happening. Although UPS, often does collect excise taxes for items shipped-----I know, just had to pay for a DISH receiver shipped by DISH as a replacement(i.e $5.95, DISH will credit me on my next bill)

Vicanuck did this happen to you? If yes, explain more.

Hope this is just gossip, and would have to assume yes if more details do not follow.

There could be double taxation on shipments from the mainland. Let's say a relative buys you something and there is a state sales tax on the item when it is bought. Then it is shipped to the USVI and then another tax? That doesn't seem fair.

All of the excise / gross receipts tax is a way to disguise sales tax. To compensate the price of an item is increased. However, this is not convenient for business owners that publish catalogues or are in rentals that rely on "in the future" sales and the GR goes up in between.

We don't want the world to think that the USVI has a sales tax, now do we???

Why not call a spade a spade. Drop the GR and Hotel Tax and apply a sales tax or VAT like the rest of the civilized world. Then it would be all out in the open.

The IRB taxing new goods entering the territory comes under Excise tax. Discussions on gross receipts are irrelevant to the OP. Excise is due on all new goods brought in. If you ship anything in using DHL or Fed-Ex, or even VI-Cargo, then this tax is paid when the shipment is cleared in. The only way around it in the past was to ship using USPS - however the person receiving the item is still liable to pay the excise tax on anything new coming into the territory. Most persons ignore the law and never pay it.

If however a friend/relative buys something on the mainland, removing original packaging, and then decides to send it to you, it could be construed as a used personal item and therefore not subject to excise tax. A fine line.

I just received a ton of personal stuff I mailed down when we cleared out our storage left in the states. Even mailed a used set of golf clubs in the bag with a soft cover. Everything arrived (a broken plate or two) and not a word from IRB. I'd be interested if anyone can provide a real example of one of these IRB letters?

is this just business owners or not?

I'd be very interested in knowing what this letter actually says and to whom it's being sent before making any comment.

we got one at work. i dont remember all that was said.

We get them periodically at my job, and have been for years. We consider ourselves lucky that so few packages are investigated. As far as I know we always pay the tax.

According to our postman, there is now a IRB person assigned to Richmond PO who now logs all packages and sends out the letters to collect the taxes.

Louis the Mailman confirms IRB personnel are on-site at Richmond "selecting" which parcel recipients to tax.

Is this unfair taxation?

They send letters with barely any identifying information about the package.
There is no reference number on the letter sent, meaning that months down the line, they can come back and demand payment again since they have no system in place to track anything.

How is it that territorial officials are allowed in a Federal facility?

This HAS to be stopped.

i know that when we received the notice at work, the office/number mentioned in the letter was called. they said to check the boxes for an item(s) that were shipped more than a month ago to see which ones had a green x on them, those were the ones that were to be taxed. So if you dont keep your boxes, how the heck are you supposed to know what to pay. i think also there was no info on what to pay or how to figure out the amount.

How do I even know what to pay them then? Do they send an amount based on an invoice? If there is no invoice included do they hold up the package?

Sean

we called and was told how to calculate the info. I think you times the amount of the item by 5%. take that amount and times it by 4% and you pay the 4% on the total plus 5 %. does that make sense. but i would call the number on the letter you receive to make sure.

They can not open the boxes so they do not know what/how much is in them. The form you get says the date received & senders info (as shown on the mailing label). It has an area for you to input the invoice amt & tax due. They rely on you providing the correct invoice for the correct box. The letters we got were almost 3 weeks old so it's tough to figure that out. Our office has started a tracking sheet to try & keep it straight...just more needless paperwork!

just heard a commercial on the radio tonight about this, seems it should only be for business owners

Yeah, it starts off as business owners only but soon we'll all need custom brokers!

They will see the revenue lost and jump on it. They couldn't have picked a worse time to start this.

Just received this from Chamber of Commerce:

BIR REMINDS BUSINESSES THAT EXCISE TAX IS DUE ON PACKAGES RECEIVED VIA US POSTAL SERVICES

Claudette Watson-Anderson, Director of the Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue, reminds the business community that pursuant to Title 33 of the Virgin Islands Code, section 44, items imported into the territory via the United States Postal Service are subject to excise tax.

“Business owners are expected to file and pay the correct amount of excise tax due within thirty days following the month that the item was imported,” Watson-Anderson stated.

Excise tax return forms are available at all Bureau offices and on the Bureau’s website (www.viirb.com) to make the filing convenient. Taxpayers with questions about the excise taxes should contact Glenford Hodge at (340) 776-3740.

IRB website doesn't show any info on the excise tax for shipping via USPS. I called the IRB office on STX and after being transferred 5 times, no one answered. What is the correct calculation on what $ amount to pay and are there IRB forms to use?

If the IRB cant verify whats in a package, how will they know if the payment sent is correct? Anyone can fabricate an invoice for anything. If there is no tracking number on the Excise Tax form they send, how can they follow up if they dont recieve a payment? Perhaps theyre gonna just HOPE folks send a few dollars, kinda like a charity!

If they ever got it together to try to collect on these, one could just say "I dont know what was in the package or cant remember". What can they do then...nothing. Additionally, I suppose shippers can just have thier packages addressed to them personally rather than use the business name.

Is this really the best IRB could come up with to increase revenue? Why not just tax cigarettes and alcohol like the rest of the civilized world or institute a VAT or Sales Tax?