Usually yes: a brand sending free product across a border is making a business shipment, so the private-gift reliefs (EU €45, UK £39, Switzerland CHF 100, Norway NOK 1,000) do not apply and import VAT is normally due. Check your route below, with official sources.
Pick where the package ships from and to, the value of the goods, and who is sending. The result and the page address update as you type. The default numbers are placeholders, not typical values: replace them with your own.
Covers the EU, UK (Great Britain), Switzerland and Norway as destinations.
Editable placeholder. Use the value you will declare.
Editable placeholder. Used for the VAT estimate.
Brands should keep this on business. The private option shows the gift relief a brand cannot use.
Recalculates as you type. Nothing here is sent anywhere.
Outside Europe to Germany
Customs duty is shown separately below because it depends on your product's tariff code.
Import VATOfficial rule
Likely due: about €14.25 at 19%
All imports into the EU are subject to VAT; the EUR 22 exemption ended on 1 July 2021. Estimate = 19% of goods plus shipping. We assume shipping is in the taxable value; confirm with your carrier.
Sources: Your Europe: VAT rules and rates by EU country; European Commission: guidance on the temporary EUR 3 customs duty (until 1 July 2028)
Customs dutyOur reading: confirm
No longer duty-free: confirm which rate applies
The EUR 150 duty exemption ended on 30 June 2026. The Commission describes a flat EUR 3 per tariff line for distance sales up to EUR 150 until 1 July 2028. A free gift is not a sale, so we cannot confirm from the guidance whether the flat duty or the normal tariff applies to your parcel. Ask your carrier or broker.
Sources: European Commission: guidance on the temporary EUR 3 customs duty (until 1 July 2028); European Commission: EUR 3 customs duty for low-value parcels; Council of the EU: final green light for the new small-parcel duty rules (11 Feb 2026)
Other feesOur reading: confirm
A €2 EU handling fee is reported from 1 Nov 2026
Estonia's tax authority reports a EUR 2 EU handling fee per item line on small parcels from non-EU countries from 1 November 2026, on top of the duty. We could not confirm whether it applies to free gifts. Carriers and postal operators may also add their own clearance fees; these are not government charges and are not modelled.
Sources: Estonian Tax and Customs Board: EU handling fee on parcels from 1 November
Who paysOur reading: confirm
Usually the recipient, unless you prepay
The importer on the paperwork owes the charges. For a parcel addressed to a creator that is normally the creator, collected on delivery. Norway's customs service says that when a shop sends a gift directly, the receiver is charged duties and taxes. Ask your carrier whether it offers delivery-duty-paid shipping so your creator does not get a bill.
Sources: Norwegian Customs (Tolletaten): gifts sent from abroad; GOV.UK: tax and customs for goods sent from abroad
Sending to creators in several countries? Seed collects each creator's own address through one branded link, so you only ship to people who said yes. Install Seed on Shopify
The same four questions come up everywhere: is there a private-gift relief, can a business use it, how is VAT handled, and is there a duty threshold. Every cell below comes from the linked official page. Switch the calculator's sender to see the relief in action.
| Destination | Private-gift relief | Can a brand use it? | VAT | Customs duty | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU (non-EU origin) | Private person to private person, occasional, free of payment, up to €45 per consignment. Alcohol, tobacco and perfume are excluded. | No. German Customs says shipments from or to companies are not gift shipments, even when free. | Applies to every import. The old €22 exemption ended on 1 July 2021. Rate is set by the destination country. | The €150 duty exemption ended on 30 June 2026. A €3 flat duty per tariff line applies to distance sales up to €150 until 1 July 2028. | German Customs (Zoll): gift consignments from non-EU countriesEuropean Commission: guidance on the temporary EUR 3 customs duty (until 1 July 2028)Your Europe: VAT rules and rates by EU country |
| United Kingdom | Private person abroad to private person in the UK, occasional, not paid for by anyone in the UK, up to £39 (excise goods excluded). | No. The relief is for private-to-private gifts only. | 20% standard rate. Import VAT is due on gifts over £39, and on commercial goods of any value. VAT is charged on goods, postage, packing, insurance and any duty. | No customs duty on goods up to £135; above that, duty at the tariff rate. The government plans to remove the £135 relief by March 2029 at the latest. | GOV.UK: duties and import VAT on giftsGOV.UK: tax and customs for goods sent from abroadGOV.UK: how to value goods for import VATGOV.UK: reforming the customs treatment of low value imports (consultation) |
| Switzerland | Private person abroad to private person in Switzerland, up to CHF 100 per shipment, clearly marked as a gift by the sender. Tobacco and alcohol excluded. | No. The gift rule names private persons as senders. BAZG has a separate page on commercial samples with its own conditions; we have not modelled it. | 8.1% standard, 2.6% for items such as food, books and medicines. Tax of CHF 5 or less per assessment is not collected (about CHF 62 of goods at 8.1%). | Zero on industrial goods (HS chapters 25 to 97) since 1 January 2024. Agricultural goods (HS 1 to 24, such as food) are still dutiable, mostly by weight. | Swiss Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG): gift shipments to SwitzerlandBAZG: receiving letters and parcels (CHF 100 gifts, 8.1% and 2.6% VAT, CHF 5 tax floor)BAZG: abolition of industrial tariffs on 1 January 2024BAZG: commercial samples and specimens |
| Norway | Private person abroad to private person in Norway, up to NOK 1,000 per recipient, with gifts marked for each recipient. | No. If an online shop sends a gift directly to the recipient, the parcel is cleared as normal and the receiver pays duty and taxes. | 25% on most goods, 15% on food. The VOEC scheme covers foreign online shops selling goods of NOK 3,000 or less per item. | Customs duty applies only to certain goods; Tolletaten names clothing and food as examples. Most other goods carry none. | Norwegian Customs (Tolletaten): gifts sent from abroadTolletaten: VOEC (online shops selling to Norwegian consumers) |
EU standard VAT rates used by the calculator: Germany 19%, France 20%, Ireland 23%, Netherlands 21%, Spain 21%, Italy 22%, Sweden 25%, Denmark 25%, Austria 20%, Belgium 21%, Poland 23%, from the Your Europe table. Other EU countries: enter the rate yourself.
Every destination we cover has a small relief for gifts between private individuals. Each one names the sender. GOV.UK requires the gift to come from "a private person outside the UK"; Tolletaten requires it to be sent from a private person living abroad; German Customs says that deliveries from or to companies cannot be recognised as gift shipments, even if they are free of charge. A brand is a business, so those reliefs do not describe a PR package, whatever the creator thinks of it.
The sales schemes do not obviously fit either. The EU's IOSS, Norway's VOEC and the UK's point-of-sale VAT all deal with goods that were sold to a consumer. A free package is not a sale, and we found no official page saying those schemes extend to gifts. Treat that as an open question for your carrier or customs broker rather than assuming a scheme applies.
Practical next steps: use the result above to set expectations, ask your carrier for delivery-duty-paid options so creators are not billed, and keep the cost in your budget. The PR package cost calculator has a field for duties, and the gifting ROI calculator shows what the extra cost does to your cost per post. Planning a whole send? Try the gifting budget planner.
Usually yes. A brand sending free product abroad is making a business shipment, and the private-gift reliefs (EU €45, UK £39, Switzerland CHF 100, Norway NOK 1,000) only cover gifts from one private person to another. Import VAT normally applies, though Switzerland skips tax of CHF 5 or less. Confirm with your carrier.
Not for the gift reliefs. German Customs says shipments from or to companies cannot be recognised as gift shipments, even when free of charge, and GOV.UK limits its £39 relief to private senders. Writing "gift" on the box does not change who sent it, so declare it as the commercial shipment it is.
Yes. The EU's €150 duty exemption ended on 30 June 2026. From 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2028 the Commission applies a temporary €3 duty per tariff line to distance sales of up to €150. The guidance does not spell out free gifts, so ask your carrier which rate applies to yours.
Whoever is the importer on the customs declaration, which for a parcel addressed to a creator is normally the creator, charged on delivery. Norway's customs service says the receiver is charged when a shop sends a gift directly. Ask your carrier about delivery-duty-paid shipping so the creator is not billed.
Those schemes are built for sales. Norway's VOEC covers foreign online shops selling goods of NOK 3,000 or less per item, and UK point-of-sale VAT applies to goods sold directly to customers. A free gift is not a sale, and we found no official guidance saying these schemes cover gifts, so ask your customs broker.
This tool uses whatever value you type. For goods with no sale price, how to value them for customs is a question for your carrier or broker, and we found no official guidance specific to free product that we could cite. Whatever you declare must be true and match the paperwork in the box.
Last updated: October 29, 2026
The checker applies the rules in the table above to your inputs. It first checks whether the shipment crosses a customs border at all (EU to EU, or UK to UK, does not). It then tests the private-gift relief (only if you choose a private sender and the value is at or under the relief ceiling). Otherwise it estimates import VAT as the destination's standard rate times (goods value + shipping), and states the duty rule in words, because duty depends on the product's tariff code, and in Switzerland on weight, which we do not have.
What we did not verify: whether shipping is part of the taxable value in the EU, Switzerland and Norway (GOV.UK confirms it for the UK, so we use the same assumption everywhere and say so); whether the €3 EU flat duty or the planned €2 EU handling fee applies to free gifts; whether IOSS or VOEC can be used for gifts; carrier fees; Northern Ireland; EU special territories; rates for EU countries not in the dropdown; and any national rule changes after October 29, 2026. Lines tagged "Our reading: confirm" are our interpretation, not a statement from an authority. Default input values are editable placeholders, not typical values.
This is not customs, tax or legal advice. Rules and thresholds change, and each rule below depends on facts we cannot see. Check the linked official source for your case and ask a qualified professional before you rely on it. Last checked October 29, 2026.
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