How STRICT is Japanese Customs for delivering goods?

9 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

   —

   **How STRICT is Japanese Customs for delivering goods?**

   I’m not moving to Japan but have a question regarding customs.

   I want to send 4 Imitation Jewelry gifts to a friend in Tokyo each one packed in a gift bag but all inside 1 packaging. I want to mark it down as “gift” on the customs declaration file for them to avoid paying duty tax(and also cause it actually is a gift), but I’m wondering if the people at Japanese customs might feel like it’s shady having so many boxes in 1 package and think I’m sending commercial goods or something and potentially return the pack back in which case to avoid the hassle I’d just put down “Commercial Goods”. Does anyone have experience? Thanks

   *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*

2. >I’m not moving to Japan

   Then this is not a question for this sub.

3. > I’m not moving to Japan but have a question regarding customs.
   I want to send 4 Imitation Jewelry gifts to a friend in Tokyo each one packed in a gift bag but all inside 1 packaging. I want to mark it down as “gift” on the customs declaration file for them to avoid paying duty tax(and also cause it actually is a gift), but I’m wondering if the people at Japanese customs might feel like it’s shady having so many boxes in 1 package and think I’m sending commercial goods or something and potentially return the pack back in which case to avoid the hassle I’d just put down “Commercial Goods”. Does anyone have experience? Thanks

   Are you describing tax evasion? It’s Customs…

   I don’t know if your friend is a foreigner, but if you didn’t know, the Japanese legal system is *remarkably* serious and very touchy regarding foreigners especially.
   You’ll have to weigh if what you’re doing and the frugal savings is worth risking legal trouble or a month+ in jail for any related foreigners.

   I don’t directly have experience, but I knew a guy who was unknowingly sent a gift from a friend. While the gift wasn’t a big deal from the outgoing country, it was a major deal for this guy. It was only something that was like CBD infused, included with some other wellness items. Their customs considered it a hard drug since it technically has trace THC.
   They raided his house, arrested him, and he sat in jail for about a month (the minimum), while everyone ignored him. By the time he got out, he’d lost his job, his apartment, and anything he didn’t lose was caught up in the legal system.
   It’s extreme, but possible that their customs could even report that you the sender engaged in a crime. It’s not likely, and I’m not saying they will, only that they *could*.

   Being a foreigner often makes any trouble there even worse.

   As for what you’ve described, it sounds risky and could possibly be endangering. I wouldn’t do that, and I don’t recommend nor suggest it. Risking misunderstandings could be serious.

   This is not advice. Use your best judgment on what looks “shady” and definitely *don’t* send that. Send something that looks as typical as what you’re sending, and *pay your damn taxes*.
   Even if you decide to not dodge the taxes, something simply being “shady” has been enough in the past to cause a giant fucking mess of a nightmare for people.

   YMMV

4. I don’t think writing ‘gift’ on the item means it is inherently worthless, and its the worth that is potentially subject to duties. Certainly it being a gift would mean that taxes may not need to be levied (assuming they’re not expensive enough to enter the gift tax threshold).

   So… rather than hoping to exploit some sort of ‘gift’ loophole, which I don’t think exists in the firstplace, just write down an approximate value and hope customs agrees. The threshold for duty exemption is 10,000yen. https://www.customs.go.jp/english/c-answer_e/imtsukan/1006_e.htm

5. Non-mod commentary:

   Aside from the “It’s illegal” argument, failing to declare the goods properly and misrepresenting their value is a dumb idea in general. The insured value of any package is based on its *declared* value. So if your package goes missing, or is damaged, the carrier is going to say “too bad, so sad” if you try to make a claim.

6. Mark as a gift, put down a reasonable value for the items, and Customs will invoice the recipient for import duty which will need to be paid on delivery. Anything else will result in trouble for the recipient. If you want to pay the import duties, use a delivery company like FedEx where you can specify who pays.

   Calling it a gift doesn’t change the value of the item that is being imported.

   Even cash gifts here have a tax paid by the recipient after a threshold – even between married couples.

7. I don’t know where you’re sending it from and what the rules are, but here in Japan, trying to send something to the US, you can’t just put “gift” anymore. I had to list specifically what was inside

8. It depends on what imitation are you referring to. If the gift has a brand on it (ex. Tiffany’s) and is declared much less than what it’s “worth” then that will raise a lot of eyebrows, customs in Japan IS strict and have the rights to confiscate counterfeit goods unless provided sufficient documentation of its authenticity.

9. I have never heard of imitation gifts that had any real value. I assume that you do not mean counterfeit goods. It is entirely possible that customs will open and search the package, but I cannot imagine that they would care about how the items are arranged. Also, we’re talking about four, not 400 here.