Bureaucracy: The Continuing Saga

So our car is sitting in some undisclosed location, biding its time while waiting for Wijo to get an endless list of paperwork to the moving company, so it can forward the endless list of paperwork to customs, so the car (not to mention the rest of our worldly goods) can clear customs without costing us precious body parts and we can drive to someplace no one's ever heard of to pick it up. The email I received from the moving company went thusly:

After arrival into the Netherlands, your goods need to be cleared through Dutch customs, before they can be delivered. In order to clear your belongings through Dutch customs without paying taxes and duties, we will need to apply for an exemption with them.

For application for exemption, we need the following documents from you:

1.  residing certificate from the Population Register of the Municipality, showing that you have come from abroad and taken up residence in the Netherlands.

2. (a certificate of registration will not be accepted!).

3.  completed application form for exemption* (Please note that we need to receive original signed application)

4. copy rental/purchase contract of your current & new residence and/or statement from your employer that you are living / will be living in a company residence or at a temporarily address

5. statement of employer or copy of your work agreement (you can leave out private & confidential information)

6. copy of your passport (photo page)

7. copy of the inventory (this will be produced by the removal company)

*Click here to download the Dutch Customs Import Permit Application form. A translation of this form can be found here. Please note that customs requires you to fill out the Dutch customs form, not the translation form !

We look forward receiving the above mentioned documents. Please feel free to contact us should questions arise.


After sending the requested documents, Wijo received the following email:

Thank you for your e-mail and documents which we received in good order.

It is no problem to get the import permit under your name, however in that case we need the proof that you are married.

We now only need the following documents:

-3.   -completed application form for exemption* (Please note that we need to receive original signed application)

4.   -copy rental/purchase contract of residence in the USA;

    -copy of your passport and copy of your marriage certificate;

5.  -copy of the purchase invoice of the car;

    -copy of car title;

    -copy of the car insurance of the last six months.

-

Words fail me.


p.s. There was one box, containing a printer and a few other items, that we mailed to ourselves rather than sending with the movers. When the delivery guy came to the door with it, he informed us that 102.72 in customs tax were due. The whole thing was a mistake, because you're not supposed to be charged any customs taxes at all on used personal items that you mail to yourself for your own continued personal and are not importing in a nefarious attempt to sell for your own personal profit. When I asked how the tax on approximately $400 worth of used personal items could possibly be that high, the answer was that only some of it was duty on the items; the rest was duty on the postage. Who the hell ever heard of taxing postage? When you pay postage you are not paying for goods, you are paying for a service. S-E-R-V-I-C-E! How can the Dutch government get away with taxing a service, the cost of which was paid to an American company in the United States? If you understand how this makes sense, please fill me in; I am baffled.