Know what is tax and what is a service fee before you commit to a purchase or quote a customer. A clear landed-cost estimate separates the amounts, flags what is still unverified and gives you records to support the declared value.
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What is the difference between import taxes and service charges?
Import taxes and levies are government assessments. Service charges are amounts a courier, clearing agent or other provider quotes for its work or handling. Freight and insurance are separate cost lines too. Keep each category visible instead of blending everything into one unexplained total.
- Purchase value: use the supplier invoice or sales agreement as a starting record.
- Freight and insurance: record the amounts and details available for the shipment.
- Estimated import taxes and levies: mark these provisional until the product classification and current rules have been checked.
- Provider charges: request an itemized quote and note what each service charge covers, plus any exclusions or assumptions.
How do you build a landed-cost estimate step by step?
- Describe the product precisely, including its material, use, quantity and country of origin. A vague description can make it harder to check classification.
- Check the likely tariff classification and current official tariff and legislation for the product and import date. Do not copy a rate from an old blog, saved spreadsheet or unrelated example.
- Collect the purchase, freight and insurance details, then list estimated taxes and provider service charges on separate lines.
- Label every figure verified, provisional or unknown. Ask the courier or clearing agent for an itemized estimate that identifies what is included and which assumptions still need checking.
- Keep the estimate as an estimate: the final customs assessment may differ, so do not present an unverified figure as a guaranteed landed cost.
What records can support a declared value?
Keep the supplier invoice, order or sales agreement, payment evidence, and freight and insurance records together. Ask your supplier for consistent descriptions, quantities, values and origin details across the documents. Clear records make it easier to explain how you arrived at the declared value if it is questioned.
Worked example: how to read a landed-cost estimate
Imagine you are reviewing an estimate for a product bought for resale. Keep the purchase value, freight and insurance, estimated import taxes, and quoted provider charges on separate lines. Mark the tax line provisional until the classification and current tariff have been checked; mark any service charge provisional until you know what it includes. The result is a useful planning estimate, not a promised final assessment.
Where do landed-cost estimates go wrong?
- Treating a courier or agent service charge as if it were an import tax—or hiding both in one total.
- Applying one headline tax rate to every product without checking classification.
- Reusing an old online rate or spreadsheet without checking the rules for the product and import date.
- Quoting a customer before separating verified amounts from assumptions.
- Keeping an invoice but not the related order, payment and freight records that help explain the declared value.
Whether you are comparing supplier costs around Eastleigh or Gikomba, or preparing stock figures for Industrial Area, use the same discipline: describe the product clearly, keep your records together and label every unverified figure.
What should you do before you buy or quote?
Get an itemized estimate, check current official tariff information for the product, and save the records behind your declared value. When you are ready to plan delivery, Moveka—Kenya’s largest courier and one of Kenya’s most deeply connected courier networks—shows the options and prices that apply on the Send page.
Make your next step with the applicable delivery options and prices in view. Start your parcel on the Send page.
