The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Just curious....
I see beautiful Breitlings being offered on this forum for friendly prices. Very tempting.
However, most of them are outside of the european community and get taxed heavily when imported, let's say to germany, belgium or holland.
They even tax the shipping costs ! Pure theft if you ask me and the approx 30% additional costs take prices just above any interesting level.
Does anyone have experience in how you can buy/sell without paying the full tax or no tax at all ? (i know... collecting them yourself would be an option

Thanks !

ask seller if they're willing to ship (fedex / dhl are best in this case sending to NL) if they're willing to put a fraction of the actual costs on the shipping docs , and hopefully they will agree. If not you'll have to pay the 30%

just be prepared to supply 'proof of purchase' (ie paypal , bank statement etc) that shows the (low) amount you've paid

alternatively you can write to your government telling them that the Sales tax/ MwST / VAt/ BTW is ridiculously high at 19% and will they consider lowering it

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

Just to be clear........

In most jurisdictions if a seller knowingly declares a lower value for tax / duty purposes they are committing a criminal act. If they buyer asks the seller to declare a lower value then the buyer is also committing a crime. Taking the watch across a border personally and not declaring it is also illegal in most jurisdictions.

What you do is up to you, but let's understand the situation. Perhaps not something to discuss at length in a public format!

Especially considering the distinction between "tax evasion", often used as the name of a crime, and "tax avoidance", which does not carry a criminal connotation.

I'm not familiar with the law in the jurisdictions mentioned, but when people discuss something illegal, and one of them follows through on it, there's the possibility it may qualify as a criminal conspiracy. I'd be very careful, even though it may be such a small case it wouldn't be worth the authorities' time to handle it criminally.

I agree. Evasion is the wrong choice of words. Simple reason: i'm not native english and this is what google translate came up with.

I knew the "different value" and "it's a gift" trick
The intent is not to evade the taxes of 19% VAT, simply because that would be useless.. of sorts. If i buy in the european community i will also pay the 19%. Already included.
I was simply looking for a way to make buying outside the european community worth wile. Prices are good but more importantly the number of watches/Breitlings for sale are more.
AND some brands are pratically not available in europe. Wakman, Elgin and Waltham (make great marriage watches) Bulova, Bucherer (i love those) for instance.

If you buy parts or defective watches, or partial watches would the VAT than be charged ?

That depends on the sales tax (and import duty) rules of your jurisdiction.

from exprience , you will have to pay VAT on defective watches

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard