18% ITBIS to go on all internet purchases

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
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We've all seen this before, they threaten to tax our eBay and Amazon purchases, everyone revolts and it gets repealed.

Well this rumor seems to be gathering more traction. According to the Sosua CPS office, they are convinced that after the election, 18% ITBIS will be charged on all internet purchases via these couriers, eg CPS, EPS, Encargopaq, Vimenpaq etc....

If your purchase is over the $200 threshold it will be subject to customs (gravamen) tax on top.

If is does happen, life will get a lot harder for the average folk living here trying to sustain an adequate standard of living. It will certainly hurt the courier companies.
 

Derfish

Gold
Jan 7, 2016
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Let's say you have an income of $1000 a month and of that somehow usually spend $100 importing stuff, whatever category it is in. Mine are razors, because I cannot find the kind I like here, but $40.00 USD twice a year, but if you import $100. a month it will only raise your cost of living by $18.00 not really making it a lot harder of a life at $18.00 a month!
Der Fish
 

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
3,480
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Actually the ITBIS will be charged on the item price PLUS the cost of the shipping. So it's going to be more than just 18% on top of the purchase price. But yes, if you only spend $100 per month on online purchases, it's not going to hurt too much. Some people spend a lot more than that per month, myself included. My CPS bill alone runs to $300 to $400 per month on average.
 

CristoRey

Welcome To Wonderland
Apr 1, 2014
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Didn?t they just rule against this a year ago?
Sounds like they may be jumping the gun up there at Sosua CPS.
 

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
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Didn?t they just rule against this a year ago?
Sounds like they may be jumping the gun up there at Sosua CPS.

Yes they did. But there was no rule written. The customs people just gave up for a while. They will keep trying until it sticks. There's a lot of brass to be made from us gringos and middle class Doms who don't want to settle for the overpriced crap they sell in the shops in this country.
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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Let's say you have an income of $1000 a month and of that somehow usually spend $100 importing stuff, whatever category it is in. Mine are razors, because I cannot find the kind I like here, but $40.00 USD twice a year, but if you import $100. a month it will only raise your cost of living by $18.00 not really making it a lot harder of a life at $18.00 a month!
Der Fish

Spoken just like a "Dominican politician"......................

Can I borrow $18 from you, I'll pay you back "next" month.
Now I just need to find 11 more people to complete the year.
 

TropicalPaul

Bronze
Sep 3, 2013
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I think the situation is that DR is a signatory to a treaty with various other countries where they all agree to no ITBIS or equivalent for purchases under $200. I seem to remember this was the main reason this was never enforced. And although they keep saying it will be charged, they would upset a lot of other countries if they did charge it, including the US. So this is probably hot air.
 

SKY

Gold
Apr 11, 2004
13,470
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If this does happen it will be the end of the courier companies mentioned earlier. 90% of their business is under $200.
 

london777

Bronze
Dec 22, 2005
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Time to do some purchases that were being delayed ...
Thanks for the warning, Beeza. I have just opened an account with CPS following recommendations here and have been impressed with their operation so far.

I cannot afford, and do not need, to import much, but I will get a year's purchases in before the election, just in case it does happen.

I don't think it is an unreasonable imposition for most folks, but I am on a tight budget. Hard luck for the courier companies, though. I imagine one or two will go to the wall.
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
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What's the use of these baseless rumours. Just a cps employee giving his opinion no one asked for? As long as customs doesn't mention it there is nothing to worry about and once they do, I also believe it won't stick.
 

Derfish

Gold
Jan 7, 2016
4,441
2
0
Actually the ITBIS will be charged on the item price PLUS the cost of the shipping. So it's going to be more than just 18% on top of the purchase price. But yes, if you only spend $100 per month on online purchases, it's not going to hurt too much. Some people spend a lot more than that per month, myself included. My CPS bill alone runs to $300 to $400 per month on average.

If you have that much to spend you are not in the category of just barely scraping by. I spend as much as I do because I get free shipping if I buy more than $30.00 from Walgreens.
 

chic

Silver
Nov 20, 2013
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I think the situation is that DR is a signatory to a treaty with various other countries where they all agree to no ITBIS or equivalent for purchases under $200. I seem to remember this was the main reason this was never enforced. And although they keep saying it will be charged, they would upset a lot of other countries if they did charge it, including the US. So this is probably hot air.

d.r. makes and breaks this kind of treaty all the time.... remember in the 70's-the 90's their were more factories here....in all areas....now closed....jobs in china, viet, laos, camb...anywhere where the place does not break promises...
d.r. had plenty jobs...govt didnt like it i guess so they raised the import duties on cloth coming in and the majority of places paid and packed up with that being their last import and export...
 

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
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What's the use of these baseless rumours. Just a cps employee giving his opinion no one asked for? As long as customs doesn't mention it there is nothing to worry about and once they do, I also believe it won't stick.

More than lust a CPS employee, but the owner of the Sosua franchise. They seem to think it will go ahead. When this all came about last year, most of the couriers such as EPS and CPS shrugged it off. This time they are worried.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
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I dont shop much on internet so its of limited intrest to me.

I just bring all my stuff over with me when I go home/holiday.
Especially stuff like razors, derfish. Pack 5 packs of 30 in your suitcase, they dont weigh anything, and you have half a year's ( or more ) supply.
Even when I do use internet ( amazon, to not name it :) ), it takes AGES to arrive. So i resorted to sending it to my address in europe and bring them over and/ or get friends/family to brimg them over.
Dvd ordered on amazon US. 1 week to get to france. 2.49$ delevery fee.
Dvd for the dr,again amazon and same "seller ", a bit less than 3 weeks and twice the fee. Duuuuuh.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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@malko - I think you do not understand you have to send it to MIAMI and not to DR.

I have Amazon business, all purchases over $49 have free next day shipping.
I now use $100 a pound courier, so it is not that expensive to shop & ship again ... (even the couriers have been hiking rates substantially over the last few years, and same as gasoline and airfares, their fees did not go down with oil going down).
 
Feb 7, 2007
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There is no article or blog post on the Dominican Internet in the past month that would deal with "ITBIS compras internet".
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Dominican Internet - .do websites and websites dealing with the DR, such as listindiario.com, diariolibre.com, etc.

What's so funny about that?

You never heard an expression referring to XYZ's country Internet when referring to content dealing with / referring to that country?