Comment on RoadTest Terms & Conditions: Tax Liability

I read some comments early this week regarding "personal" tax liability as a result of a RoadTest part they received. (As far as customs and/or duties of the shipments we send to RoadTesters, element14 should be paying those taxes. If a RoadTester is being charged for these, please notify me and I will get you a reimbursement.)

I think there are two things I wanted to comment on with regard to personal tax liability:

1. The RoadTest "Terms and Conditions" says the following:

Winners are responsible for all applicable taxes, duties or other charges payable in relation to any prize.

If you are a new RoadTester, you should read the T&Cs and get familiar with them.

2. In the U.S., if you receive a RoadTest product that is valued over $600, the company is required to issue you a 1099 form (Independent Contractor). This is considered personal income.

In hindsight, I guess I could have added a reminder to the RoadTesters who received products valued in excess of $600 as a courtesy. In the future, I will. Most of our RoadTest products are valued less than $100 so this issue doesn't come up very often. I apologize for any inconvenience this has posed.

Randall Scasny

RoadTest Program Manager

Top Replies

fvan over 8 years ago in reply to jlangbridge

I've had similar things happen here in Belgium, though for review units sent via normal post.

The package is then held in customs and I get a letter asking me for the invoice, so they can calculate the duty/tax etc ...
I then mail the supplier for a $0 invoice that I can then send to customs. The package then gets released, no duty/taxes required.

On other occasions though, the supplier wouldn't send an invoice or respond to my query. I then tell customs I refuse the package, and they send it back.
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hlipka over 8 years ago in reply to jlangbridge

AFAIK its not about how the item is declared. For taxes and customs fees its doesn't really matter whether its a gift, a sample or sold. What matters who is declared as being responsible for paying it. E14 sends their road test items as "DDP - delivery and duty paid" (this is called 'IncoTerms'). This means they are responsible for all this stuff. When its declared otherwise, you are responsible for it, and the UPS or FedEx come to you with the invoice.
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awneil over 8 years ago in reply to hlipka

Hendrik Lipka wrote:

AFAIK its not about how the item is declared.
I don't think that's correct - but, then, I am not a tax/customs/excise specialist.

AIUI, it is important for stuff to be properly declared & documented along the lines of "sample only - no commercial value"

Obviously, you can't just use the words - you do have to abide by the rules behind them!

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-372-importing-commercial-samples-free-of-duty-and-vat/notice-372-impor…
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michaelwylie over 8 years ago in reply to rscasny

I've been thinking about past RoadTest and Design Competitions. Is it possible that e14 was paying the sales tax on the items and then legally gifting the products? I know the 'prize' clause has always been there, just wondering how it was circumvented in the past.
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