Bitcoin Forum

Since the duty and penalty tax are so high.Will you declare the import amount lower when you import the miner from China?  What if the customs notice it, will there be more trouble?

In my opinion, it's best to leave the authorities off of your trouble radar. Mining margins are already thin, and while the duty fees do take a sizeable amount from your profits, it's a one-time payment and as such it can be offset over several months by amortized mining profits.

Lying to the authorities about the quantity of miners will incur even more penalties on you if they find out the true quantity of miners you're importing. Never try to cheat like that (unless you're sending them to some country with lax inspection and customs duties then you might get away with that, e.g. some african country).

Asking will you do a crime is not likely to get you honest answers.


If I buy from bitmain directly I know I am out 25-35% tax.

I figure it in.

That's right, i guess most may hide the full amount to save some import duties.

Then you guess wrong! More to the point, the buyer has no say in what the value of a shipment is that an exporter declares to Customs. If a manufacturer or exporter cares about staying in business they will NOT 'help' you like that.

No one likes it BUT most of us here DO NOT try to 'hide' the equipment cost and NO reputable manufacturer would ever help you to falsify the value of a shipment. A manufacturer or exporter falsifying declared value is a very good way to have their goods banned from entering a country once they are caught.

As for the recipient the equipment was destined for, yer boned. In cases like that the equipment is seized by Customs.

Thanks for the info, i am not very familiar with thant, i just heard from some shipping agents, maybe they just use their own cargo plane to deliver without doing the customs declaration one by one, kinda confused so far. As you mentioned, it's the best to follow the rule.

If the tax is high for you, then it means you shouldn't import it. Declaring fake amounts will only give you trouble. You'll lose more than the tax money and risk yourself for a jail sentence. Is the risk of getting a penalty worth saving a few bucks illegally? If you are seriously into this, then you will do something similar when you run your miners because they don't run on water. They consume electricity and it is not cheap neither. If you can cheat your taxes, you can steal electricity too? Why stop there?

That is aka, smuggling, which is something most countries frown upon... When anyone/company bring in commercial goods across economic borders whether by commercial carrier or carried on the back of a mule most countries will require it to go through Customs.

If you don't declare the correct amount, and customs open it you'll basically be charged the VAT if applicable, tax, and the admin costs for it to be delivered or worse completely seized, and likely destroyed. So, yeah you should be declaring the correct values on your imports. Factor it in to your mining costs, and profits. If it doesn't benefit you, don't mine.

If they did do this, I'd seriously be considering who I'm buying the miner from, and if it's going to be what you even paid for. That would be some pretty shady stuff, with big consequences for them, i.e not worth the risk. Most sellers, and manufacturers are offered an incentive to declare correct values, because it doesn't bite them in the arse. It's up to the customer whether they want to pay those taxes or not.

Always pay attention to the rule 8)

Thanks, i guess following the rule is the best option.

yes it is.

Risk jail sentence? For under-declaring imported goods? In what country? ::) But still, I understand trouble for refusing to pay fine once caught, blah blah. But not just for under-declaring goods value! Imagine making typo in customs declaration and insta prison lol. This does not happen.

No idea so far, risk exists everywhere :-\ we'd better follow the local rule to avoid more troubles.

If you really want to save on those import fees than try to buy locally. You can choose for example used hardware or sometimes even new with good prices. What would also be possible to contact the manufacturer. If enough people would do it they can set up a workshop in the US or Europe. They ship the unassembled parts there and can declare a low value, because it is just simple parts. The pay import tax on those low values. Then they assemble it and sell it to you directly locally. Now they can say that most of the value comes from the product as a whole thing. Meaning on most of the price they will not pay import taxes.

Any legit seller from China already declares the amount and tariff class in their paperwork. There is nothing for you to change. I doubt there are many who will falsify that value to risk their business. U.S. customs only looks at the value and class to determine the tax. Maybe if you buy in large bulk some sellers will want you to handle all the customs yourself or through a broker depending on the terms.

Falsifying records isn't something you want to mess with. Unless a low value transaction that classifies as an informal import, customs has years they can go back to investigate imports, reclassify, and collect unpaid duties/taxes. FedEx got in trouble with this from one of their brokers misclassifying ASICs some years back and then they were trying to collect the tax off the receivers by sending them threatening letters.

If you want to avoid higher duties/taxes, import single miners or parts at a time at a value that meets informal import. Last I bought any ASICs, that was around $2500. DHL and customs never charged the higher duties/taxes for informal imports but they always did for formal imports over the limit.

Very true