Import payments

Contact us if you need to change how you pay us.

If you’re a broker, you must email your request to revenue@customs.govt.nz.

Short-payments are cases where you’ve not paid enough. You can tell us voluntarily, or we identify them by audit or other enquiry.

You must pay by direct credit if we give you an assessment notice. If you don’t pay by the due date, we may fine you.

If you fail to pay your duties and other charges when due, there can be additional payments required, known as compensatory interest and late payment penalties. Refer to Compensatory interest and late payment penalties for more information.

If you’re on a deferred payment scheme and voluntarily tell us about a short-payment, we may adjust your client account without sending you a claim.

You must pay by direct credit. We won’t debit the amount from your deferred account. If you don’t pay by the due date, we may fine you.

New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) charge goods levies to recover the costs of managing goods crossing our border.

More information is available at Goods levies.

You may have to pay Customs duties and GST of 15% on anything you import.

There are four factors which decide whether you’ll have to pay Customs duties or not:

• the item’s tariff classification
• whether you can apply for a concession
• where the item was made
• where the item was exported from.

We calculate Customs duties based on the Customs value of your item.

You’ll also need to pay GST – this is calculated on the Customs value, plus Customs duty (if applicable) and your shipping and insurance costs.

Tariff rulings

If you’re not sure which tariff classification applies to your items, you can apply for a Customs tariff ruling. This makes sure you have accurate information about the Customs duty you have to pay, and any concessions that may be available.

In addition to Customs goods levies, you may need to pay a separate levy depending on whether the goods being imported are subject to:

• a synthetic greenhouse gas levy
• a Heavy Engineering Research Levy
• a Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Levy (on alcohol)
• an Accident Compensation Levy on motor spirits (petrol)
• the Energy (Petrol, Engine Fuel, and Gas) Levy on fuels
• anti-dumping and countervailing duties

The Customs & Excise Act 2018 contains provisions designed to reduce errors and omissions on entries. Anyone who makes an entry could be liable for an administrative penalty if it has certain types of errors or omissions.

Administrative penalties are designed to ensure data integrity and encourage compliance, reasonable care, self-assessment and voluntary disclosure of errors.

See Penalties fines and fees for information about all types of penalties and how they apply, including Administrative penalties.

If you receive a penalty notice, you must pay it within 20 working days of the date it was issued.

If you do not agree with an administrative penalty, you can do any of the following within 20 working days after the notice was issued: 

• apply for an administrative review 
• appeal the decision to the Customs Appeal Authority
• seek an extension to the time in which you can seek a review or appeal.

See Reviews and appeals for more information.