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Comment by Grazester | Hacker News Reader

Are you really going to declare your laptop and tell them you bought it in Switzerland? Avoiding customs with something like this seems effortless

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Do you transport your laptop in it's original packaging?

Not declaring is "Steuerhinterziehung", which is the one crime the state really does care about and which is punished comparatively to second-degree murder in Germany.

You better declare. And if you cross the border with something even remotely newish-ly looking, you better have an invoice for that.

Wait? Is it Switzerland enforcing this? Why should Switzerland care if you buy something there and dont pay taxes for it when you get to Britain? No I don't leave items bought abroad in their originally packaging. That would be counter productive of me if I was trying to avoid being taxed

Bringing anything into my country is taxable also. See that nice outfit in your suitcase? It's taxable. Laptops are very taxable but I just leave it in my backpack since customs would not normally check my "personal bags"(hand bags and small backpacks) coming into my country. If you did not declare it and they find it they levy an additional charge on top of the taxes.

Nope, target country enforces this. Which is a lot worse, because you usually have to live there.

> Bringing anything into my country is taxable also. See that nice outfit in your suitcase? It's taxable

Admitting to TAX EVASION on the net with a somewhat traceable account is probably a bad idea if you are living in a Country that actually operates on tax income (which some countries do not, Brunei comes to mind...)

> If you did not declare it and they find it they levy an additional charge on top of the taxes.

Actually, in the western world, you get put into prison for a few years.

I do live in the "western world" if you term the Americas that. My country isn't going to waste resources to hunt me down to get a couple dollars worth in taxes and they certainly aren't sending me to prison either ;)

> if you term the Americas that

Hardly so. "The Americas" indicate some second-world middle-American Country, which more often than not is in the process of failing (because of - amongst other things - tax Evasion).

> "Steuerhinterziehung", which is the one crime the state really does care about and which is punished comparatively to second-degree murder in Germany

It's quite staggering how different Switzerland works in that regard. It's not even a crime there, i.e. not regulated by criminal law, and the penalty ranges from one fifth to three times the amount you gained.

http://www.steuer-hinterziehung.ch/steuerhinterziehung/geset...

There's always a risk of getting caught doing that though. For example: it's attractive to fly to Switzerland to buy an expensive mechanical watch to avoid VAT and save 20-25%+ on the purchase price. If you get caught however, the fines can be huge. Risk vs reward..

Say, if you buy a laptop from Switzerland and don't unbox it in Switzerland, getting caught might be an issue. If you buy one in Switzerland, unpack it there (maybe log into it for the first time etc.) and then there is virtually no risk of getting caught. I mean, if you didn't declare that and customs find it, is the customs office go through all your credit card purchases or something(assuming that you didn't use cash)?

I know for watches (e.g. you buy one + put it on), customs can ask to supply them with the original purchase invoice or some sort of transaction statement. It's probably easier with a laptop because you can put it in a bag, but nevertheless, it's not completely safe to do.

Interestingly, if you move to Switzerland, for most household items they can demand you prove you've owned it for at least 6 months and that it's not been bought elsewhere and you've avoided paying local VAT on it. So although not the same direct situation, shows that they're pretty hot on cross border purchases, even if you unwrap it and say it's a used good.

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