Exemption decreased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 1,000 for imports following the Budget 2020 – 2021

That’s a measure which makes online shopaholics quite unhappy 😬. This means that all personal purchases above Rs 1,000 will be eligible to VAT charges when clearing customs in Mauritius. Previously, only items above Rs 3, 000 were concerned as there was an exemption of Rs 3, 000.

And as you probably know, when you need to fetch an item at the Central Parcels Office, this also means that you might be required to pay additional charges, read further in the article.

This same government had increased the exemption from Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 in the budget of 2017-2018 and today, we are back to Square -1.

Taking for example, an item costing Rs 10,000:

Year	Item	Exempted	Chargeable	VAT	Total Cost
Prior Budget 2017-2018	10,000	2,000	8,000	1,200	11,200
After Budget 2017-2018	10,000	3,000	7,000	1,050	11,050
After Budget 2020-2021	10,000	1,000	9,000	1,350	11,350

So, the happiness did not last for ever. On top of those prices, don’t forget that when you need to fetch your item at the Central Parcels Office, you might be required to pay other local charges such as

• Postage Fee and
• CSS Fee. Read more in this post ⬅️

Fortunately, they did not review their decision of the Customs Broker Clearance limit from Rs 30,000 back to Rs 10,000. And just for info, this custom clearance limit was initially introduced in October 2012.

Should we blame Covid-19 🦠?

Some people are saying this will encourage people to buy locally. IMHO, this reason is stupid as most items concerned by this measure will be electronic and telecommunication equipment such as mobile phones, tablets, etc.

As you can guess, it is just another easy way for the authorities to make more money. In creole, this is known as “ABC” 🤪

Take care!