Chunghwa Post is to temporarily stop sending packages to the US starting today, as Washington is set to end its tax exemption on items valued at less than US$800.
Following an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on July 30, the US on Friday is to universally stop the de minimis exemption under which packages worth less than US$800 may enter the US duty-free.
As there is no system in place anywhere in the world to collect tax payments from the sender, Chunghwa Post is to temporarily halt shipments of merchandise to the US, it said in a statement yesterday.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
Letters and other types of paper items would not be affected, it said.
Senders could still use third-party services such as DHL or FedEx to ship packages to the US, the postal service said.
The types of packages affected include anything that has commercial value, such as items purchased on e-commerce sites or gifts to be sent to friends and family.
Most items sent to the US fall under the de minimis rule, and any additional taxes incurred are paid by the recipient, Chunghwa’s deputy head of mail business and operations Lin Li-fu (林立富) said.
However, the change would require taxes to be paid upon arrival in the US, he said, adding that the timeframe is too short to implement the logistics to make this possible.
As there is currently no standard for collecting tax from the sender, it is impossible to make the change fast enough, he said, adding that Chunghwa is evaluating how to reinstate the service.
Although third-party businesses are still offering shipping services, the pricing would change perhaps by the week and might be more expensive, Lin said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS