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I'm going from the UK to Israel soon for a visit. I'm taking my laptop with me, but also want to take a laptop that a sibling living in Israel is ordering to arrive here. Will this be an issue with customs?

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  • It would be helpful if you could come back and comment on SIMEL's answer as to whether you had to pay VAT on the delivery charges you paid to get it delivered to you.
    – Martin Bonner supports Monica
    Dec 18, 2018 at 16:54
  • Ok. I'm possibly not going to take the second one so I wont find out. Also, now that I think of it, I think the laptop is going to have free delivery so there wouldnt be any possibility of added value from the delivery charges.
    – Rachel W
    Dec 18, 2018 at 18:17

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You don't need to pay customs tax on the laptop as Israel doesn't have customs on laptops, but you will need to pay VAT on it, which is 17% of the total cost of the item, if its value is greater than 75$ US.

As you don't plan on leaving your own laptop in Israel you are not importing it and shouldn't pay anything for it. However, I don't know what is the process for it and you would probably need to declare it to the customs officer and ask them of the proper procedure.

Take note that when importing items to Israel through the post or a delivery service, the total value of the item includes any postage and delivery fees, not only for VAT but also for customs tax. While I don't think it should, it might be that the delivery fees in your country will be added to the value of the item if they appear on the receipt which will be used to prove the items' value.

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  • so if you have a receipt to prove the value of the laptop and it has the delivery fees, you will pay 17% on them too Surely this only applies to delivery fees to Israel in the case that you are importing by courier? In this case the fees would be zero.
    – MJeffryes
    Dec 18, 2018 at 14:57
  • @MJeffryes, when you import items that do have customs tax, you pay the tax on the value of the item and the value of the delivery, even though, the delivery service is not of the same category. I couldn't find any information about delivery by yourself so I changed the wording to indicate that it might be paid on the delivery as well.
    – SIMEL
    Dec 18, 2018 at 15:14
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    Yes I'm aware this is the case if the goods are being couriered into the country, but I don't think it would apply when bringing them in on your person. I don't think the cost of delivery when the goods were bought (outside Israel) is relevant to the calculation of VAT.
    – MJeffryes
    Dec 18, 2018 at 15:44
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    @MJeffryes, I edited the statement to be as "weak" as possible, but I think that this information should still stay as a possible outcome until we can find any concrete proof either way.
    – SIMEL
    Dec 18, 2018 at 16:01
  • @MJeffryes I disagree. I suspect the view of Israeli customs is that they want 17% of what was paid in order to obtain the laptop. They don't care how that figure is divided between "goods" and "delivery charges"; they just care about the total.
    – Martin Bonner supports Monica
    Dec 18, 2018 at 16:56

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