A crate of free clothes

I belong to a charitable organization (the Knights of Columbus) in Virginia.

My father-in-law is a Knight in the DR. Visiting recently, we got to talking about clothing drives the K of C has done here in Virginia in the past: people at local churches donate clothing, which we clean, sort, and get distributed to needy families.

My FIL mentioned that in the past, the K of C in the DR had been the recipient of such clothing donations. They provided the sorting/cleaning/repair labor and either donated or sold at a greatly reduced price the clothes in needy areas. These days, according to him, there is a law/executive order that would impose such expensive duties on such an undertaking that it's just not worth doing.

Is there really such an onerous tariff on what is essentially a charitable donation -- we (Virginia) would pay for shipping a trailer-sized crate full of clothes to the DR. What sort of duties and tariffs would be levied?

(I realize this may not be a simple question; if you can point me in a direction, I can research...)

- Rick

Re: Hi Bricker!

Pib said:

Nice to see you here.

If this organization is incorporated and has a record of charitable work I don't see any problem in them requesting an exemption (exoneraci?n) from Customs. The process takes about 2 weeks and if approved (by the Director of Customs) the clothes can be imported free of taxes (only if they will be donated).

If they have done this kind of work in the past they probably have a customs broker, otherwise I strongly suggest they get a reputable broker to handle both the exemption request and customs clearance.

Hmmm, did that answer your question?

Click to expand...

In a sense... but, alas, you've also raised more questions! Isn't that always the way?

I don't know if the Knights in the DR are incorporated, but a i doubt it. In the US, we are a 501(c)(7) unincorporated association, and have tax-free status. In the US, typically local Knights groups (called "councils") form a separate corporation only when they wish to own their own meeting hall. As an unicorporated association whose membership may be suspended or removed by the national organization, councils cannot effectively acquire title to real estate, and so form corporations to do so. (More than you asked, I know, but as long as I'm typing...)

In any event, I am virtually certain that no local K of C council in the DR is incorporated, or has an associated corporation. But the K of C in general certainly has an international reputation for charitable works, and has over the years funded a number of projects for the Church in the DR.

Is that sufficient, do you think? And if so, can you recommend a good resource for locating a reputable broker to handle customs clearance, bearing in mind that we're doing this to ultimately donate clothes, and so the brotjer should not plan to retire based on what we'd be paying!

- Rick