Australia and New Zealand to Taiwan: duty, import rules and ANZTEC

Duty rates and import rules for nine popular items

Import taxes are assessed on the customs value (CIF = goods price + international freight + insurance): customs duty = customs value × rate; business tax = (customs value + customs duty) × 5%. A customs value of NT$2,000 or less is exempt from customs duty and business tax, but alcohol is excluded from that exemption.

Column I is the general rate; Column II is the rate applied to countries that have signed an agreement with Taiwan or are granted preferential treatment — for all nine lines above, the Column II list includes New Zealand and none includes Australia. Tariff classification and the applicable rate are determined by the Customs Administration; click a tariff code to see the full rates and import rules.

ANZTEC: the second column New Zealand has and Australia does not

This is the difference most often overlooked on Australian and New Zealand goods, and the one that can remove the duty on a whole shipment: Taiwan has signed the Taiwan-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Agreement (ANZTEC), while it has no free trade agreement with Australia.

• How to spot it in the tariff schedule: every code in the customs import tariff carries a Column I rate and a Column II rate. The country codes listed in brackets after Column II are the countries it applies to, and NZ stands for New Zealand. For the nine codes on this page, Column II is 0% throughout and every list contains NZ.
• Australia is not on the list: not one of these nine codes shows Australia in its Column II list. Goods originating in Australia therefore pay the Column I general rate, the same figure as the left-hand column of the table above.
• It does not apply automatically: to obtain the ANZTEC rate, the goods must originate in New Zealand, fall within the tariff concession schedule of the agreement and be accompanied, as required, by a New Zealand certificate of origin, with Customs making the final determination. Something sold in a New Zealand shop is not necessarily of New Zealand origin.
• Small personal shipments barely notice it: a customs value of NT$2,000 or less is already exempt from customs duty and business tax, so the ANZTEC preference only shows up on larger amounts above the duty-free threshold, such as a full case of supplement capsules or a complete set of wool bedding.

The Column II list covers several countries that have signed an agreement with Taiwan or are granted preferential treatment; New Zealand is only one of them, and this does not mean every imported good qualifies.

Milk powder: the dividing line between 501 and F01

What most often holds up Australian and New Zealand milk powder is not the duty rate but the import rules — infant formula and other prepared milk powder carry different regulation codes in the tariff schedule.

• Infant formula (including follow-on formula), put up for retail sale: tariff code 1901.10.00.11-3, duty 5%, import rules 501 + F01. The wording of 501 is “a consent document issued by the Ministry of Health and Welfare shall be attached”.
• Other prepared milk powder: tariff code 1901.90.22.00-3, duty 12%, import rules F01 only (import inspection is applied for with the Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, under the Regulations Governing Inspection of Imported Food and Related Products). The rate is higher, but there is one consent document less.
• 501 has no personal-use proviso: within the same set of import rules, 462 and 463 both state expressly that goods for personal use in a quantity not exceeding 5 litres are exempt from the document, and 511 sets out how samples and gifts are handled, whereas the text of 501 says only that a consent document issued by the Ministry of Health and Welfare shall be attached, with no separate exception for personal use.
• Confirm which code the product falls under first: labels such as “1 year and above” or “growing-up milk powder” do not necessarily match the classification in the tariff schedule, and the actual classification is determined by Customs. Checking the code and its import rules with a tariff lookup before you buy is more practical than chasing documents afterwards.

We do not handle applications for Ministry of Health and Welfare consent documents or for import inspection on your behalf. The regulatory wording above is quoted from our database of customs import tariff import rules; in practice the announcements of the International Trade Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and of the Ministry of Health and Welfare govern.

Honey and royal jelly: 35% and MW0 on top of it

Manuka honey is one of the best-known products of New Zealand, but in the Taiwan customs import tariff it runs into two things at once: a high duty rate and the restriction on imports of goods of mainland China origin.

• Duty of 35%, high for a food product: natural honey (0409.00.00.00-7) and royal jelly (0410.90.91.10-3) both carry a Column I duty of 35%; for goods originating in New Zealand and accompanied by a certificate of origin, Column II is 0%.
• Both require import inspection: the import rules for both include F01, so import inspection must be applied for with the Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, under the Regulations Governing Inspection of Imported Food and Related Products.
• Both carry MW0: goods of mainland China origin not permitted for import: this rule has nothing to do with where the product was made; what it governs is the act of importing from mainland China. HowBridge ships only from its Shenzhen warehouse in China to Taiwan, so honey and royal jelly cannot use our consolidated shipping.

A small quantity for personal use with a customs value of NT$2,000 or less still falls within the duty-free threshold, but exemption and import rules are two different things — being exempt from tax does not exempt the goods from inspection, and MW0 bars import outright.

Why a GST departure refund cannot be claimed on a parcel to Taiwan

Australian GST is 10% and New Zealand GST is 15%, and retail prices in both places usually already include GST. A common misunderstanding is that shipping the goods to Taiwan through a consolidation service lets you claim that amount back — it does not.

• The Australian tourist refund scheme (TRS): what it refunds are goods the traveller personally carries or checks in and takes out of the country on departure, and it sets requirements such as a minimum spend with a single retailer and a limit on the number of days between the purchase date and departure. The detailed conditions and the refund calculation are governed by the announcements of the Australian Border Force.
• Shipping to Taiwan fails the core requirement: goods sent straight to Taiwan through a consolidation service or an online order never involve the act of the traveller taking them out of the country, so they do not meet the TRS conditions and no GST is refunded.
• On the New Zealand side: in the duty and GST guidance on the official New Zealand Customs website there is no record of a traveller departure refund scheme equivalent to the Australian TRS; in any case, a parcel sent to Taiwan equally fails the requirement that the traveller take the goods out of the country.
• Remember this when costing a purchase: overseas shelf prices include GST, and when the goods are shipped to Taiwan that tax-inclusive price is used as the goods price in working out the customs value, on top of which Taiwan customs duty and business tax are levied — the same situation as with Japanese consumption tax or European VAT on online purchases.

Is buying Australian and New Zealand goods on Chinese e-commerce workable

Australian and New Zealand branded supplements, milk powder and wool bedding really are available on Chinese e-commerce sites. Whether they can be shipped to Taiwan through the Shenzhen warehouse, however, is decided by the import rules on the tariff code, not by whether the product is an Australian or New Zealand brand.

• Honey and royal jelly: no. The tariff code carries MW0 (goods of mainland China origin not permitted for import), whatever country is printed on the packaging.
• Wine: no. 2204.21.00.00-5 likewise carries MW0, together with 463 (a tobacco and alcohol importer licence or a consent document from the Ministry of Finance; alcohol for personal use of 5 litres or less is exempt from the document) and W01 (import inspection applied for with the Ministry of Finance under the Regulations Governing Inspection of Imported Alcohol Products).
• Wool quilts: it depends on the documents. 9404.40.00.00-6 carries C02 (some goods under this line are subject to compulsory import inspection announced by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, Ministry of Economic Affairs) and M88 (imports from mainland China must be accompanied by a document filed for reference with the International Trade Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs). M88 is a document aimed specifically at goods coming from mainland China.
• Supplement capsules and milk powder: the rules still apply. The permit document under 511, the Ministry of Health and Welfare consent document under 501 and the import inspection under F01 are not waived just because the parcel is sent from China.
• The counterfeit risk is yours to manage: Australian and New Zealand branded supplements, lanolin products and sheepskin boots are widely faked on cross-border e-commerce platforms. Counterfeit goods may be detained by Customs and trademark owners may assert their rights; the risk and the consequences here rest with the buyer.

The test comes down to one sentence: look at the import rules on the tariff code of the product, not at whether the product is an Australian or New Zealand brand. Use our tariff lookup to check the code and its import rules first, then decide which route to take.

How to buy Australian and New Zealand goods in practice

Frequently asked questions