Import Duty Calculator Germany

The arithmetic

Germany applies EU customs rules, so duty is assessed on the CIF value at the Common Customs Tariff rate for the TARIC code. Einfuhrumsatzsteuer, German import VAT. Is then charged at 19% on the CIF value plus duty, with a reduced 7% rate for certain categories such as books and foodstuffs.

Declarations are filed through ATLAS, the German customs IT system, and an EORI number is required to file at all.

How that looks in practice

Goods €16,600, freight €2,215, insurance €88, CIF €18,903. Duty at 6.5%: €1,228.70.

Einfuhrumsatzsteuer at 19% on €20,131.70: €3,825.02. Total at the border €5,053.72.

For a German-registered business the €3,825.02 is recoverable through the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung, leaving €1,228.70 of genuine cost, 7.4% of the goods value.

Where this breaks down

Recovery of Einfuhrumsatzsteuer requires German VAT registration. A foreign business importing into Germany without one cannot reclaim it, which converts 19% from a timing difference into a real cost, the single most expensive mistake in German import planning.

The reduced 7% rate applies by product category and the boundaries are specific. Assuming the standard rate where the reduced one applies overstates the cash requirement; assuming the reduced rate where it does not produces an underpayment that customs will correct.

Where to go from here

Obtain an EORI number and, if importing regularly, a German VAT registration before the first shipment. Both take time and neither can be arranged while goods sit at a port accruing storage.

Then consider the Aufschubkonto, a deferment account, which lets duty and import VAT settle monthly against a guarantee rather than at each clearance. It is standard practice for regular importers and it removes both the per-entry payment and the broker's disbursement fee.

Why Germany is a common EU entry point

Germany's ports and its position in the European logistics network make it the default entry for a large share of goods bound for the wider EU, and once goods are in free circulation there they move freely across the union.

The practical advantages are infrastructure and predictability: well-established customs procedures, extensive bonded warehousing, and a dense forwarder and broker market that keeps clearance costs competitive.

The counterweight is the 19% VAT rate, which is mid-range for the EU, several member states are lower. For a business that recovers the VAT, that difference is cash flow only and the logistics advantages dominate. For one that cannot recover it, the rate matters directly, and the entry point deserves a calculation rather than a default. That distinction, recoverable or not, determines almost every EU entry decision, and it is worth resolving before anything else.

One further practical point: German customs correspondence, decisions and appeals are conducted in German, and the deadlines for challenging an assessment are short. A business without German-language capability needs a broker or an agent who can act on notices quickly rather than translating them after the window has closed.

The Einfuhrabgabenbescheid, the import duty assessment; is the document that matters, and it is also the evidence required to reclaim the import VAT. Losing it or failing to obtain a copy from a broker who cleared in their own name is a common reason recovery fails.

Keeping the assessments filed against each shipment, alongside the commercial invoice and the transport document, is what makes both the VAT recovery and any later audit straightforward.