How much customs do I pay on a parcel from outside the EU?

On an online order up to €150 you pay €3 duty per kind of goods, from 1 November 2026 a €2 handling fee per kind of goods, and import VAT of 19% or 7%. Above €150 normal duty applies, about 12% on clothes, plus the fee and VAT. The carrier usually adds its own fee, which is €7.50 at Deutsche Post.

Is a gift from family in another country free of customs?

Up to €45 per parcel, yes, if it goes from one private person to another, you pay nothing for it, and it is for your own use. From €45 to €700 a flat 17.5% covers duty and tax.

How long does the Zollamt keep my parcel?

9 days for parcels and 7 for letters, which include small packets up to 2 kg. The time counts from the day Deutsche Post hands it to customs, so it can start before your notice arrives. After that it goes back to the sender.

Do I have to go to the Zollamt in person?

Not always. You can email the office on your notice and ask for Postabfertigung von zu Hause, or declare goods up to €150 online with the customs portal's IPK form. You can also go in person or refuse the parcel.

Where is the customs office in Berlin for parcels?

Your notice names the office. Berlin's two inland offices are Zollamt Marzahn at Hellersdorfer Weg 35 and Zollamt Dreilinden at Potsdamer Chaussee 62. Marzahn opens until 18:00 on Thursdays.

What should I bring to the Zollamt?

The Deutsche Post notice, printed proof of the price with postage such as the invoice or a PayPal receipt, and your ID. For an online order over €150 you also need an Internet-Zollanmeldung.

Parcel Customs in Berlin: What You Pay and How to Get It Out

Q: Is a text saying I owe customs fees real?

Treat it as fake. German customs says it never sends tax notices or payment demands by phone, email, SMS, social media or messenger. Check the tracking number on the carrier's own site.

Yusuf Ucuz

Oct 31

7 min read

The notice is short and German. Your parcel from home is at the Zollamt, and the clock on it started before the letter reached your box in Neukölln. Maybe it holds your mum's Christmas biscuits, maybe a jacket from a shop in Manchester. Either way, you now have about a week to sort out something nobody ever explained to you.

Parcel customs in Berlin got more expensive this year, and it changes again on 1 November 2026. I read through the current German customs pages and the new EU rules so you can see what a parcel will cost before you order, and what to do if one ends up in Marzahn.

A yellow DHL delivery van parked on Roelckestraße in Berlin on a winter day, with snow along the kerb

A DHL van on Roelckestraße. If customs is happy with the paperwork, this is where you pay.

What changed for parcels from outside the EU

This post is about parcels from countries outside the EU: the UK, the US, Turkey, Switzerland, China. A parcel from France or Poland normally needs no customs step at all.

For years, online orders under €150 paid import VAT but no duty. That ended this year:

Since 1 July 2026: the €150 duty relief is gone. Online orders up to €150 pay a flat €3 per kind of goods. The regulation runs this flat rate until 1 July 2028.
From 1 November 2026: a new EU handling fee adds €2 per kind of goods on online orders at any value. Customs says it is not refundable.
Import VAT stays: 19%, or 7% on goods such as books and most food. The EU's VAT guidance puts both the €3 and the €2 inside the amount that VAT is charged on.

"Per kind of goods" is the part that catches people. Customs counts lines on the declaration. In its own example, four pairs of socks are one kind, while socks, a soft toy and a charging cable are three. That is €9 of duty and €6 of fees before any tax.

Parcel customs in Berlin: what you pay at each value

The cost does not grow in a smooth way. It jumps at two lines, so I drew the whole thing. Type in your parcel's value, say what it is, and the tool shows the extra cost and what makes it up. You can also keep it open on its own page as the Parcel Customs Cost Line.

Three examples from that line, all with Deutsche Post:

A €22 order with two kinds of goods: €6 duty, €4 fee, €6.08 VAT and a €7.50 carrier fee. That is €23.58 extra, more than the order itself.
A €150 order against a €151 one, clothes: the extra goes from €47.90 to €62.51, because normal duty of about 12% replaces the flat €3.
A €45 gift against a €46 one: nothing, then about €15.55 with the carrier fee.

The carrier fee is separate from what customs charges. The Verbraucherzentrale puts Deutsche Post's at €7.50, and every carrier sets its own, so a courier can cost more.

A Deutsche Post rider on a yellow cargo bike crossing a junction in Berlin

Most parcels from abroad still reach you this way. The rider collects any charges at the door.

A gift from home: the €45 line

A real gift from a private person has its own rules, and they are kinder. A parcel counts as a gift when all of this is true: it goes from one private person to another, you pay nothing for it, it is for your own use, and it arrives occasionally. Up to €45 it is free of duty and tax.

The rules that matter when your family packs the box:

€45 is per parcel, even with gifts for three people inside.
Postage stays out of the €45 if the form shows it on its own line. If the sender writes one total, postage can count.
From €45 to €700 there is a flat 17.5%, which covers duty and tax together. Here postage counts in the value.
Small items can help. If the box holds separate items, the charge falls only on the part above €45. One €70 pair of shoes is taxed on the full €70.
Under €5 is not collected. So a gift worth just over the limit made of small items can still arrive free.

Ask whoever is sending the parcel to write the contents out honestly, item by item, and to mark it as a gift. Customs works from the electronic data the foreign post office passes on. If "gift" goes missing there, you can be charged even though the box says otherwise. Coffee, alcohol and tobacco have their own limits inside the €45, such as 500 g of coffee or 50 cigarettes.

Food is the risk in a family parcel. Food for private use is allowed in principle, but customs names extra restrictions for meat, game, milk products and eggs, and these rules cover parcels too. My advice: biscuits and tea, yes. Grandma's sausage should wait for your next trip.

Online orders: the check to make before you pay

DHL says most buyers now pay at checkout on orders under €150, and that how this works is up to the shop. So before you pay a shop outside the EU, look for one of these:

"Duties included" or an IOSS note. With IOSS, an EU VAT scheme for sellers, the VAT is in the price you pay and customs should not ask for it again.
Nothing at all. Write to the shop and ask. DHL warns that if the sender's customs data is incomplete, the parcel goes back, and you cannot fix this after it ships.

Above €150 the rules change. You pay normal duty on the goods and the postage, which the Verbraucherzentrale puts at about 12% for clothes and up to 14% for monitors, plus the €2 fee and VAT. My advice for anything over €100: check whether an EU shop sells the same thing. On a blouse from Japan at €200, with €35 postage, the customs example comes to €78.21 in duty and tax, before the new fee.

Why a parcel ends up at the Zollamt

Most parcels never see a customs officer. Deutsche Post normally declares them for you and brings them to your door. A parcel goes to the customs office when the data is missing, incomplete or looks wrong, usually the value or the contents, or when the goods may be restricted.

Then two clocks run, and they catch people out:

Parcels wait 9 days and letters 7, counted from the day Deutsche Post hands them to customs. A "letter" here includes small packets up to 2 kg, so check which one your notice says.
The clock can start before your notice arrives. After that the parcel goes back to the sender.
Storage costs money from day 10: €5, then €0.50 a day, if you ask customs for more time.

The notice tells you which office holds your parcel and until when. Customs sends it to the office responsible for your home address, so use the one printed there.

The large grey block of Zollamt Marzahn on Hellersdorfer Weg in Berlin, with cars parked in front and bare trees

Zollamt Marzahn on Hellersdorfer Weg. It has its own email address for post cases.

How to get your parcel out of customs in Berlin

You have four options. I would try them in this order:

1. Clear it from home. Email the office named on your notice and ask for "Postabfertigung von zu Hause". They send a form, you return it with your papers, you pay, and you send a prepaid DHL parcel label if you want it posted to you. No trip needed. This is the option most people never hear about. 2. Declare it online. The customs portal's IPK form works for goods up to €150, but you need an ELSTER certificate or an electronic ID to register. If you already file a tax return in Berlin through ELSTER, this can be quick. 3. Go in person. Good when you are close, or when the case is messy and you want to talk to someone. 4. Refuse it. The parcel goes back to the sender. Sensible when what is inside is worth less than the trouble.

If you go in person, bring:

the Deutsche Post notice, all pages
printed proof of the price with postage, such as the invoice or a PayPal receipt
your ID (a signed note of authority if someone goes for you)
for an online order over €150, a printed Internet-Zollanmeldung, which you fill in beforehand

The two Berlin offices:

Zollamt Marzahn: Hellersdorfer Weg 35, 12689 Berlin. Monday to Wednesday 07:45 to 16:00, Thursday 10:00 to 18:00, Friday 07:45 to 14:30. Bus X69 to Köthener Straße. Post cases: postabfertigung.za-berlin-marzahn@zoll.bund.de.
Zollamt Dreilinden: Potsdamer Chaussee 62, 14109 Berlin. Monday to Thursday 07:45 to 16:00, Friday 07:45 to 14:30. Bus 118 or 620 to Isoldestraße.

Both are closed on 24, 25, 26 and 31 December and on 1 January. If your parcel lands there in the week before Christmas, those days can eat most of your window, so act the day the notice arrives. Thursday evening in Marzahn is the only slot that works around a normal office day.

Fake customs messages

Parcel season is scam season. Customs warns about texts and emails that claim a parcel is stuck and a small fee is due through a link. It says it never sends tax notices or payment demands by phone, email, SMS, social media or messenger.

Keep this simple. A text with a link and a low amount is fake until proven otherwise. Check the tracking number on the carrier's own site, and delete the message.

If the charge looks wrong

Every charge comes with an Abgabenbescheid, the customs tax notice, which names the office and your deadline to object. If you did not get it, ask Deutsche Post or the courier for it. Deutsche Post cannot change or refund these amounts, so write to the customs office. If you paid the shop at checkout, go to the shop.

Sending something back? You can apply to customs for a refund of import charges, with proof you returned the goods, such as the post office receipt. Keep that slip.

The low customs building on Kufsteiner Straße in Berlin-Schöneberg with flagpoles and a clean pavement in front

The Hauptzollamt site on Kufsteiner Straße in Schöneberg, one of the addresses behind your tax notice.

My move for this Christmas

Tell your family about the €45 line this weekend, before they start packing. One gift value per box, each item listed, postage on its own line, no sausage. For your own orders, read the checkout page for duties before you pay.

A long yellow DHL Packstation built into the wall of the Holzmarktstraße swimming pool building in Berlin

A Packstation on Holzmarktstraße. Once customs is done, a parcel from abroad travels like any other.

If a German notice does land, read the date on it first, then email the office. For parcels that are simply stuck at a shop or a Packstation, my guide to a missed parcel in Berlin and the Berlin Parcel Pickup Clock cover the deadlines. And what is open at Christmas will help with the last week of the year. For what changes in Berlin each week, my weekly newsletter is where I put my short list.

Image credits

Source and licence details for the 4 photographs used in this article.

A yellow DHL delivery van on Roelckestraße in Berlin in winter: Geoprofi Lars, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

A Deutsche Post cargo bike in Berlin: Kora27, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Packstation on Holzmarktstraße in Berlin: Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The customs building on Kufsteiner Straße in Berlin-Schöneberg: Fridolin freudenfett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.