Have an iPhone or iPad and plan to take it to the mainland? Prepare to be taxed.
Customs officials across the border have been ordered to step up a crackdown on the smuggling of Apple devices, and people carrying iPhones or iPads are being slapped with an import duty even if they can prove they are for personal use.
Taking large quantities of electronic goods into the mainland has always been banned or subjected to heavy taxation. But the latest crackdown has extended the tax to individual users.
In recent weeks, many people have reported being stopped at border checkpoints by mainland customs officers for carrying iPhones or iPads. Some said they had to pay customs duty even though they were carrying just one device at the time and had evidence to prove it was not for resale.
A Shenzhen customs official, who refused to be named, confirmed yesterday that bringing just one iPhone or iPad into the mainland would incur tax. 'It's a common misconception that you can get a tax exemption if the device you are carrying is for self-use,' she said. 'In fact, iPhones and iPads are among the 20 products that are excluded from tax exemption. You need to make a declaration and pay the tax even if you are bringing in only one [device].'
In most cases, the iPhones and iPads being taxed are in boxes and unused. But an American-Chinese man said he was charged duty by mainland customs officials at the Lowu border recently for an iPad he had been using for months.