After extensive discussions with the specialist at Federal Express, here is what I learned as to what is and is not exempt from duty, regardless of what art dealers may represent to a buyer. FedEx is processing the claim for a fee of $75, with an expected six month delay. I filed a dispute with Customs and Border Protection to contest the duty charges. The only way that our revenue department was aware of the transaction is because of the notification they received from U.S. They are not alone virtually every state attempts to collect both sales and use tax, although most people rarely declare or pay use tax on items they buy out of state, either in person or on the Internet (unless there is an agreement between states to collect the tax at the point of sale). They wanted another 6% use tax of the value of all purchases because they believe that everyone should buy everything from merchants within our state. Two months later I received another notice, this time from the Department of Revenue for my state. What I learned: this can be the rule, and that art objects may be exempt from duty but often it is not the case and depends on several factors. I contacted FedEx and told them I had always understood that imported works of art were duty-free, and there had to be an error in processing. Customs, I owed the United States almost $600 for import duty notwithstanding the representations by the highly-reputable dealer in Italy. The first surprise came in the mail a few weeks later from the FedEx Import Section.
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