Landed Cost for Cosmetics in Germany: Duty, VAT and the New Per-Item Charges (2026)

What landed cost includes

Brands tend to know their ex-works price and their retail price, and guess everything in between. Landed cost is the full list:

1. Product cost, ex-works or FOB, in your currency, converted at the rate your bank actually gives you.
2. Freight and insurance to the EU border or to the German warehouse.
3. Customs duty, based on the tariff code and the customs value, which is normally the price paid plus freight and insurance to the EU border.
4. The 2026 per-item charges on low-value consignments, explained below.
5. Import VAT, 19 percent in Germany, calculated on the customs value plus duty plus any other import charges.
6. Carrier fees for customs clearance and advance payment, billed per parcel.
7. Compliance costs that belong to the product even if they are not on the customs invoice: Responsible Person, LUCID packaging licence, German artwork, safety assessment updates.

Only when all seven are on one sheet can you see whether your German retail price leaves a margin.

Customs duty: mostly zero, with exceptions

The EU customs tariff is kind to cosmetics. The common headings carry a 0 percent rate from third countries:

Two things to check before you rely on the zero. First, the exact ten-digit code in the EU tariff database, because a product on the border between headings, for example a cleansing balm or a scented body mist, can land in a dutiable line. Second, the origin. Goods of UK origin can enter the EU duty free under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, but only with a valid statement on origin, and only if the product actually meets the origin rules. A UK brand filled in the UK from imported bulk often does not qualify, which did not matter at 0 percent and matters a lot at 6.5.

The 2026 per-item charges

Until June 2026, a parcel with a value up to 150 euros entered the EU without customs duty. That exemption is gone, and two charges have replaced it.

1 July 2026: flat duty of 3 euros per item

The German customs authority confirmed that from 1 July 2026 low-value consignments pay a flat duty of 3 euros per item, as a transitional measure until 1 July 2028. After that date the normal tariff rates return, which for most cosmetics means 0 percent again. For two years, however, a product that was duty free now pays 3 euros per line, whatever its value.

1 November 2026, expected: EU handling fee of 2 euros per item

The customs reform approved by the Council on 3 September 2026 introduces a handling fee on low-value imports to pay for the extra customs work. The Commission set it at 2 euros per item in September. It applies ten days after publication in the Official Journal, and the working assumption in the industry is 1 November 2026. The fee is meant for direct sales from outside the EU to consumers, not for goods sold from EU stock.

1 October 2026: Austrian parcel tax of 2 euros per parcel

Austria added a national charge of 2 euros per parcel, 2.40 euros including VAT, on mail-order deliveries to Austrian consumers. Only sellers and platforms with more than 100 million euros of Austrian revenue pay it directly. If you sell through a large marketplace, expect it to appear in your fee schedule.

What "per item" means

Per customs line, not per parcel. Each distinct product type in a consignment is one line. A set of three products that is packed, priced and classified as one product under the rules for sets can be one line, but whether your set qualifies is a question for your customs broker, not a marketing decision. How finely goods are split also depends on the declaration your carrier uses. Ask whether they group at six, eight or ten digits of the tariff code, because the answer can double your charges.

What this does to a typical order

Three orders from a UK skincare brand to a customer in Berlin, each with three products, each shipped delivered duty paid, with the seller absorbing the charges. Carrier fees are left out because they vary by contract.

Import VAT at 19 percent comes on top of the order value and the charges, unless you collect it at checkout through IOSS. The pattern is clear: the charges punish small orders with many lines. The levers are your free-shipping threshold, your minimum order value, bundles that qualify as one line, and the decision whether to ship from outside the EU at all.

VAT: three rates, two ways to pay it

Germany charges 19 percent, Austria 20 percent, Switzerland 8.1 percent. For consumer sales from outside the EU you have two options for the VAT.

• IOSS. For consignments with an intrinsic value up to 150 euros you register for the Import One-Stop Shop, charge German VAT at checkout and pay it through one monthly return for the whole EU. The customer sees the full price and no surprise at the door. IOSS covers VAT only. The flat duty and the handling fee are collected on import, and most carriers bill them to the seller under delivered duty paid.
• Standard import. Above 150 euros, or without IOSS, import VAT is paid at the border, by the customer or by you through the carrier. Customers in Germany do not like paying at the door, and a parcel refused at the door is the most expensive parcel of all.

Once you hold stock in Germany, you are VAT registered in Germany, you reclaim the import VAT on the bulk shipment, and sales to consumers in other EU countries run through the One-Stop Shop. That is more administration and far fewer surprises.

The three alternatives to shipping every parcel

Bundling orders that customers have already placed into one shipment to beat the per-item charges is not one of the alternatives. The Commission treats that as artificial splitting or grouping, and the carrier will declare the lines as they are.

From the German retail price to your price

Landed cost is only half of the sheet. The other half is what is left after the German channel has taken its share. An illustration, not a quote, for a serum that sells at 60 euros in a German perfumery:

The margins in the table are assumptions for the example. Real figures depend on the channel, the retailer and your negotiation. Drugstores work with different margins than perfumeries, and department stores sometimes work on consignment. What the table shows is the shape: between VAT, retailer and distributor, more than two thirds of the German shelf price never reaches the brand. A product that works at home with a 40 percent gross margin usually does not survive this waterfall unchanged. Either the price goes up in Germany, or the route gets shorter, or the product is not the one to lead with.

Austria and Switzerland

Austria is in the EU customs union, so everything above applies, with 20 percent VAT and the parcel tax for large sellers. Goods already imported into Germany move to Austria without customs.

Switzerland is a customs border. Switzerland abolished customs duties on industrial goods, including cosmetics, on 1 January 2024, so the duty is zero. What remains is Swiss VAT of 8.1 percent, the carrier's customs handling fee, and the requirement that a responsible person with a Swiss address appears on the label. Small consignments where the VAT would be five francs or less are not charged VAT at all. Swiss retail prices are higher than German ones, and Swiss importers expect the brand to respect that.

The landed cost checklist

• Ten-digit tariff code confirmed for every product, with the duty rate from the EU tariff database
• Origin checked: does the product qualify for preferential origin, and can you issue the statement
• Lines per typical order counted, and the carrier's grouping rule confirmed
• Flat duty of 3 euros and handling fee of 2 euros per line added for every parcel from outside the EU
• IOSS registration decided, or import VAT handling agreed with the carrier
• Free-shipping threshold and minimum order value set where the charges stop hurting
• EU stock, distributor and retailer import compared on one sheet, with the compliance costs included
• German retail price tested against the channel waterfall before the first buyer meeting

Questions brands ask us

Tity Sonko

Founder and Managing Director of SONKO Consulting GmbH in Leverkusen, Germany. Tity works with international prestige beauty brands on their entry into Germany, Austria and Switzerland, from the first compliance check to the first retail order. She writes the weekly newsletter The DACH Prestige Signal.