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hi all. as some of you know i am currently in europe. i had an experience at the amsterdam airport customs. a nightmare to be precise.
i was wearing 2 watches (on different hands) as i had no pouch or boxes for travel. one is a PAM sub that i wear daily and a datejust (A series) that i will be wearing for my girlfriend's graduation ceremony (cant wear a PAM sub with a suit).
everything was smooth until i reached amsterdam customs. i already cleared the scanners and have arrived at the declaration points. an officer approached me to ask if i had anything to declare. being a 22 year-old student, i was cautious and preferred to ask before replying. so i asked "like what do i have to declare?". He said cigarettes and alcohol. i said i had none of those and was asked to have a physical bag check. He noticed my watch and asked if that was a rolex. i said yes, and let the extortion begin.
i was told there and then that i had to pay tax for the rolex. and was quoted 19% tax on value of my watch. i felt that was ridiculous. i was told to wait until their superior arrived. they only came back to me FIVE MINUTES before my flight to helsinki. and gave me 2 options. pay 400€ in taxes now, or fill up a formal report and leave the watch here until i leave EU. i said i choose the latter, as i dont think paying $800 taxes for a datejust was very clever. but i did ask what will happen if i report it and leave it in their vault. they assured me i didn't have to pay anything.
back in the office, they filled up a report, entirely in dutch. and asked me to sign it. after signing it, they told me that even if i leave it in their vault, i still have to pay taxes when collecting it when i leave the EU. i then decided to call the singapore embassy in rotterdam. they adviced me not to do anything before they call me back. the custom officers, however, forced me to procced with the hearing without giving me the option of waiting for a response from my embassy first. i was then told that i would receive a fine, ON TOP OF THE TAX. all of which i was not told beforehand. they also threatened me and pressured me to sign those documents which i had no idea contained what. eg. "if you dont sign this now, we will go to the rolex boutique in this airport and charge you tax based on brand new price.", "sign it now or we will even use full gold price to tax you!", "we can keep you here longer and make you miss all flights out". stuff like that.
finally the singapore embassy called back and told me to lawyer up. i called my mom and she begged me to just pay what they want first and get the hell out of there. to her my safety was most important. i agreed to pay them what they demanded (a final sum of approximately 1k sgd) and made it out of that office after being detained for 5 hours. the officer took me to the airline desk to get a new ticket, WHISPERED SOMETHING IN DUTCH TO THE AIRLINE CLERK, and i was on the next flight out to helsinki. BUT my luggage was on the LAST MIDNIGHT FLIGHT OUT. i reached helsinki at 5 on thursday. i only got my luggage at 12pm on monday.
advice i need from fellow bros are:
1. is my A series DJ taxable? isn't it a personal item and not considered an import?
2. what should i have done instead?
3. what would u bros have done if u were me?
4. what actions should i take now?
lastly, im very grateful to bros wees and triton for giving me advice when i was in distress. might not have helped much but i very much appreciated the support thru this ordeal.
i was wearing 2 watches (on different hands) as i had no pouch or boxes for travel. one is a PAM sub that i wear daily and a datejust (A series) that i will be wearing for my girlfriend's graduation ceremony (cant wear a PAM sub with a suit).
everything was smooth until i reached amsterdam customs. i already cleared the scanners and have arrived at the declaration points. an officer approached me to ask if i had anything to declare. being a 22 year-old student, i was cautious and preferred to ask before replying. so i asked "like what do i have to declare?". He said cigarettes and alcohol. i said i had none of those and was asked to have a physical bag check. He noticed my watch and asked if that was a rolex. i said yes, and let the extortion begin.
i was told there and then that i had to pay tax for the rolex. and was quoted 19% tax on value of my watch. i felt that was ridiculous. i was told to wait until their superior arrived. they only came back to me FIVE MINUTES before my flight to helsinki. and gave me 2 options. pay 400€ in taxes now, or fill up a formal report and leave the watch here until i leave EU. i said i choose the latter, as i dont think paying $800 taxes for a datejust was very clever. but i did ask what will happen if i report it and leave it in their vault. they assured me i didn't have to pay anything.
back in the office, they filled up a report, entirely in dutch. and asked me to sign it. after signing it, they told me that even if i leave it in their vault, i still have to pay taxes when collecting it when i leave the EU. i then decided to call the singapore embassy in rotterdam. they adviced me not to do anything before they call me back. the custom officers, however, forced me to procced with the hearing without giving me the option of waiting for a response from my embassy first. i was then told that i would receive a fine, ON TOP OF THE TAX. all of which i was not told beforehand. they also threatened me and pressured me to sign those documents which i had no idea contained what. eg. "if you dont sign this now, we will go to the rolex boutique in this airport and charge you tax based on brand new price.", "sign it now or we will even use full gold price to tax you!", "we can keep you here longer and make you miss all flights out". stuff like that.
finally the singapore embassy called back and told me to lawyer up. i called my mom and she begged me to just pay what they want first and get the hell out of there. to her my safety was most important. i agreed to pay them what they demanded (a final sum of approximately 1k sgd) and made it out of that office after being detained for 5 hours. the officer took me to the airline desk to get a new ticket, WHISPERED SOMETHING IN DUTCH TO THE AIRLINE CLERK, and i was on the next flight out to helsinki. BUT my luggage was on the LAST MIDNIGHT FLIGHT OUT. i reached helsinki at 5 on thursday. i only got my luggage at 12pm on monday.
advice i need from fellow bros are:
1. is my A series DJ taxable? isn't it a personal item and not considered an import?
2. what should i have done instead?
3. what would u bros have done if u were me?
4. what actions should i take now?
lastly, im very grateful to bros wees and triton for giving me advice when i was in distress. might not have helped much but i very much appreciated the support thru this ordeal.
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