You sell into the EU from outside it. The duty, the VAT, who files the declaration — it all moved this year. DutyVault works out the real number, and tells you plainly when it isn't sure.
€3 per item — goods sharing the same tariff classification, description and, where the declaration carries it, origin count as one item.
Open →Duty and import VAT for a whole order. The Union handling fee is not included.
Open →What to charge in your store, and where to put it. Shopify, WooCommerce, or anything else.
Open →Drop a product CSV: today a run stops before any product is classified, so no codes, description checks or readiness score are shown.
Open →Weak product descriptions are why the code comes out wrong. Find them, fix them.
Open →Browse a curated list of common e-commerce codes (HS 2022, 6 digits). An illustrative list: it does not classify your product.
Open →Answer a few questions, get the code. Tops and shirts, footwear and watches.
Open →Not sure of the code? Answer 2–3 questions from your product and land on a defensible code — or an honest "not this tool".
Open →Binding rulings (BTI) the EU has already issued. Search the official database.
Open →Voluntary now, mandatory 1 November 2026. Two identifiers required per line item, a third where a barcode exists.
Open →Check your EORI, VAT and IOSS numbers before customs checks them.
Open →Are you the importer now? Three questions.
Open →Who lodges your EU declaration — and whether you can. Find out who files, and what to ask them.
Open →One monthly VAT return, or a bill at your customer's door. Which applies to you?
Open →Which EU contact does your product need? One or two questions.
Open →CE, REACH, CPNP — what your product type needs on top of duty.
Open →What the EU texts require a seller outside the EU to have in place — and where they leave it to each country.
Open →What else applies to your code. Straight into the official TARIC database.
Open →Your parcel is stuck. Here is why, and how to fix it.
Open →Declaration data built from your Vault — H7 for consumer parcels, H1 route for business imports. Your customs agent files it.
Open →The invoice customs wants. From your Vault, or type it in. Print or PDF.
Open →Postal customs forms CN22 and CN23, filled in and ready to print.
Open →Customer sent it back? The €3 is not refunded automatically — recovery needs a claim and evidence. Find out where you stand.
Open →Export your Vault records as a JSON file. Not the EU Data Hub format.
Open →One customs record per product. Check it, approve it, lock it.
Open →Your score, your deadlines, and what is still missing.
Open →Import from Shopify or WooCommerce. Shopify variants (same Handle) become one record.
Open →Compare the VAT you filed with the parcels you actually sent.
Open →Checks your Vault records on the data DutyVault knows about today.
Open →Keep a list of the codes you ship. Alerts are not live yet — check measures in TARIC.
Open →Union handling fee: €2 per item. What it is, who owes it, and where it comes from.
Open →List your codes for the 1 January 2027 CN update. Comparison is not live yet.
Open →List your codes for HS 2028 (from 1 January 2028). Remapping is not live yet — use the WCO tables.
Open →From 1 July 2026 the EU removed the €150 duty-free threshold. In its place, a flat €3 customs duty applies to consignments valued at €150 or less (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382). It is an interim measure and runs until 1 July 2028. More on the €3 duty →
Neither: it is charged per item — goods sharing the same tariff classification, description and, where the declaration carries it, origin count as one item. For the H7 declaration, Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, version of 5 October 2026 says the duty applies per declaration line irrespective of the quantity (§5.2), and its H7 example declares goods with different descriptions under one HS6 code on one line (§5.2); the guidance is not legally binding. Five identical t-shirts are one line: €3. Three different products are three lines: €9. Getting your descriptions right is what stops the same product landing on two codes and being charged twice. What “per item” means →
No. The €3 applies to B2C distance sales of €150 or less. A shipment to a VAT-registered business follows standard customs duty at each product’s own tariff rate, and import VAT goes through the company’s VAT return rather than IOSS.
IOSS is for B2C distance sales of €150 or less. It lets you charge VAT at checkout and file one monthly return, and it is the route on which the €3 flat duty applies. A courier parcel without IOSS can fall to the full tariff instead. IOSS does not apply to business imports. Do I need IOSS? →
Until 20 September 2027 (Reg (EU) No 952/2013 Art 170(2)–(3)): the declarant must be established in the EU unless an exception applies. The exceptions: (a) persons who lodge a customs declaration for transit or temporary admission; (b) persons, who occasionally lodge a customs declaration, including for end-use or inward processing, provided that the customs authorities consider this to be justified; (c) persons who are established in a country the territory of which is adjacent to the customs territory of the Union, and who present the goods to which the customs declaration refers at a Union border customs office adjacent to that country, provided that the country in which the persons are established grants reciprocal benefits to persons established in the customs territory of the Union.
From 21 September 2027 (Reg (EU) 2026/2108 Art 85(3)–(4)): the declarant must be established in the EU unless an exception applies. The exceptions: (a) persons that lodge a customs declaration for transit or temporary admission; (b) persons that occasionally lodge a customs declaration, including for end-use or inward processing, provided that the customs authorities consider this to be justified; (c) persons that are established in a country the territory of which is adjacent to the customs territory of the Union and who present the goods to which the customs declaration refers at a Union border customs office adjacent to that country, provided that the country in which the persons are established grants reciprocal benefits to persons established in the customs territory of the Union; (d) importers for distance sales involved in the distance sale of goods which are to be imported in the customs territory of the Union under the IOSS scheme, provided that they appoint an indirect representative.
How these provisions fit together in practice is for the implementing rules; ask your customs adviser.
Until 30 June 2028, the declaration for goods sold in distance sales is lodged by one of the following (Reg (EU) 2026/2108 Art 85(2), applicable since 20 September 2026): (a) the person permitted to make use of the IOSS scheme or its indirect representative; (b) the person permitted to make use of the special arrangement laid down in Title XII, Chapter 7, of Directive 2006/112/EC or its indirect representative; (c) in cases other than those referred to in points (a) and (b), the indirect representative of the importer; (d) in cases other than those referred to in points (a), (b) and (c), any other person that is able to provide all of the information which is required for the application of the provisions governing the customs procedure for which the goods are declared. An EU business importing for its own use can be the declarant, or can appoint an agent under direct representation, filing in the business’s name. Who files for you →
Each code comes with the reasoning behind it, a confidence level, and the codes that were considered and ruled out. When the description does not contain enough to decide — for example “t-shirt” without the fibre — it says so rather than picking one. It abstains instead of guessing.
No. This prepares data and documents. Your licensed customs agent files them. We are not a customs representative and we lodge nothing with any authority.
Product identifiers become mandatory in customs data — three identifiers per line, not just a barcode. Union handling fee: €2 per item (delegated act C(2026)6694, which the guidance describes as under scrutiny). Under Reg (EU) 2026/2108 Art 287(4) the fee applies from 10 days after the entry into force of that delegated act. The guidance (version of 5 October 2026) says the fee is therefore expected to apply from 1 November 2026, that from then declarants include TARIC document code Y126, that declaring it triggers the fee, that it also applies to distance sales above €150, and that it is not limited in time. Product identifiers →
From 1 July 2028 the €3 flat duty ends, unless extended, and standard tariff rates by product code return, regardless of value. Under the new Union Customs Code (Reg (EU) 2026/2108) the importer for distance sales — the seller, or the platform facilitating the sale (Art 5(13)–(14)) — must provide the customs data before release and ensure payment of the duties (Art 27(2)). The Code names it the person responsible for the customs debt (recital 77), with transitional rules on who is the debtor (Art 183(5)). The definition and these duties apply from the Code’s general application date, 12 months after entry into force (Art 287(2): 21 September 2027). From 1 July 2028 the data goes into the EU Customs Data Hub (Arts 74 and 287(5)), and under Directive (EU) 2025/1539 the supplier or platform is liable for import VAT on distance sales. The importer for distance sales →
Not automatically. Once goods are released into free circulation, the €3 is not given back by default. Recovery may be possible through Returned Goods Relief or duty drawback, but it requires evidence and a claim — and at €3 per line the administrative cost often exceeds the duty. Worth confirming the process with your customs broker if you handle high return volumes. Duty on returns →
The tools run in your browser. Your product text stays on your device unless you explicitly send it — for example when running a catalogue audit.
No. This is informational. It is sourced to the actual regulations and links to the official databases, but it is not legal or customs advice, and it does not replace a licensed customs representative. The compliance guide →
A compliance tool that guesses confidently is worse than none. Every free tool here was audited for one thing: does it tell you the truth when it isn't sure, instead of a comforting wrong answer.
The customs codes come from reasoning you can see, checked against the actual regulations — never invented to fill a blank.
Start with one product. It's free, it runs in your browser, and it'll tell you plainly if your situation is one it can't answer.
Check a product →