Yet another customs duty question

My friend has already bought it for me..dunno which store. Damn..if only you'd told me earlier. Anyways, since I'm going there, I might check out the shop just in case.

 

There are two outlets for Swee Lee. One is at the bras basah complex and the other one I cannot remember.

 

My Parker came by courier and it was held at the customs. I was only asked to pay 17% of the total value. I got this waived too with some smooth talks. But I dont think it's 40%.

 

Lucky you. Actually, the customs officers hold a lot of discretionary powers too. I guess being convinced that the guitar was not for resale, they asked you to pay only the 15% basic (now reduced to 12.5% in the latest budget) and 2% educational cess, and waived off the MRP based countervailing duty. You are luckier in the sense that she waived off the basic customs too, I guess in her observation she will show it as a low value used piece. Bottomline is, you should actually buy her some flowers. very lucky.
PS: Take my word, it is 37.664%, and if you get a bad assessing officer, you could ed up paying much more.

 

I remember reading a long time ago in some government tariffs and rates pdf that the custom duty was 15% for electric guitars and if i remember correctly 20% for amps. I thought this was right for a while but later found out it was around 40%. I'm assuming that most people dont sell the guitars that they import then why are they charging 40%, you mentioned guitars not for resale only at 15%. Are they assuming that it's being imported for its sale.

 

^^^^^
Yes.