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How to Ship from China to Bermuda: Hamilton, the 22.25% Default Rate & the No-De-Minimis Rule
Bermuda has no VAT, and that is the single most misunderstood fact about importing there. New importers hear "no VAT" and read it as "cheap to import". It is almost the opposite. Bermuda levies no value added tax, no income tax and no capital gains tax — which means customs duty is the government's revenue, accounting for roughly a fifth of government income. The border charge is high precisely because nothing is collected behind it.
The second thing to internalise is the rate. Published references consistently cite 22.25 percent as the most common ad valorem rate, applied to the declared value of the goods. On top of that sits wharfage at 1.25 percent on most goods imported by air or sea cargo. Food is lower, a short list of essentials is zero, and a few categories are much higher. But if you are shipping general merchandise, assume the default rather than hoping for an exception.
The third is the one that actually costs people money: there is no de minimis. Bermuda is described as operating no duty-free threshold, which means duty is charged on imports regardless of value. There is no small-parcel escape hatch. Every consignment is entered, valued and assessed — which makes accurate value declaration, not clever routing, the skill that matters on this lane.
At a glance
Territory: British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic, population in the region of 64,000 · Taxes: no VAT, no income tax, no capital gains tax; customs duty is the main revenue source · Common duty rate: 22.25% ad valorem, with product-specific rates above and below · Wharfage: 1.25% of value on most air and sea cargo · De minimis: none · Declaration: Bermuda Customs Declaration lodged with the Hamilton Long Room · Ports of entry: Hamilton, St George, L.F. Wade International Airport, Dockyard · Currency: Bermuda dollar, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar
How your cargo moves: China to Bermuda
Eight steps from your supplier's door to yours. The last four are the ones shaped by local rules.
- Pickup from your supplierWe collect the goods anywhere in China and bring them to our consolidation point.
- Export clearanceChina customs declaration filed and released before the goods move to the port.
- Loading and departureContainer loaded, sealed and handed to the carrier at the Chinese port.
- Main carriageOcean, air or rail movement booked on the route agreed for your cargo.
- Arrival at the gatewayDischarge at the port or airport of entry, recorded on the carrier's manifest.
- Import clearanceCustoms declaration filed locally, with duty and tax assessed on the declared value.
- Customs releaseGoods released into free circulation once duty and tax are settled.
- Final deliveryOnward movement to your delivery address, warehouse or nominated depot.
Duty rates, VAT rates and clearance times move, and the figure that applies to your goods is the one set for your commodity code on the day of clearance. We check the current position against your code before your goods sail and confirm it to you in writing — ask for that check when you request a quote.
Why Bermuda has no VAT, and why duty is high instead
The structure is worth understanding because it explains everything else on the page. A government has to raise money somehow. Most countries spread the load across a consumption tax collected at the till and a tariff collected at the border. Bermuda collects almost nothing at the till — there is no VAT, no income tax and no capital gains tax — so the load sits almost entirely at the border.
Two consequences follow directly. First, the duty rate is high by design, because it is carrying the whole fiscal burden. Second, there is no threshold below which the government declines to bother. In a country with a VAT, low-value imports are often waved through because the administrative cost exceeds the revenue. In Bermuda, the administrative cost is the point and the revenue is the government. That is why the de minimis is effectively zero.
How to use this. Build the landed-cost model backwards. Take the invoice value, add freight and insurance, apply the duty rate for the HS code, add wharfage, and present that number to your buyer before they commit. A Bermuda buyer who discovers the duty figure after the goods sail will remember it; one who is told up front will simply build it into their retail price.
The 22.25% default rate and the wharfage added on top
Duty in Bermuda is assessed on an ad valorem basis, and the territory has adopted the World Trade Organization's GATT valuation rules for valuing imported goods. The tariff is built on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System. The rates below are the ones most consistently cited in published references — treat them as orientation, not as a quotation.
| Category | Rate most commonly cited | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| General merchandise — clothing, footwear, furniture, appliances, phones | 22.25% | This is the default assumption for ordinary goods. Zonos, for example, cites an average duty of around 22.5% applied on CIF value |
| Many food items | 5% – 15% | Food is deliberately lower. Confirm the specific code rather than assuming the band |
| Medicines, corrective spectacles, reading materials | 0% | A short, explicit zero-rate list. Worth checking whether your product genuinely sits on it |
| Electronics and household goods not for personal use | 25% | The distinction is personal use versus goods left in Bermuda for business |
| Batteries and vehicle parts | 33.5% | Consistently cited at the higher band |
| Wharfage, on top of duty | 1.25% | Charged on most goods imported by air or sea cargo. Not charged on accompanied personal goods or postal imports |
Note the interaction. Wharfage is additional to duty, not part of it. A consignment assessed at the default rate therefore carries roughly 23.5 percent in combined charges before any broker's fee, storage or handling. That is the number to put in front of a buyer, and it is the reason a Bermuda quotation that ignores duty is not a quotation at all.
There is no de minimis, so value declaration matters more
This is where experience on other lanes actively misleads people. In most markets, a small consignment is cheap partly because it falls under a threshold. In Bermuda it does not. Every consignment is entered and assessed regardless of value, which changes the risk profile in a specific way.
The temptation, and why it is wrong
When duty is charged on everything at a high rate, the temptation to understate the invoice value is obvious. Do not. Bermuda applies GATT valuation rules, officers are experienced, and a valuation query on a no-threshold regime is a dispute about every line rather than about one shipment. The downside of under-declaration is not a bigger bill; it is a held consignment and a flagged importer.
What to do instead
Declare accurately and completely, including freight and insurance where they form part of the value, and then look for relief legitimately — the duty reliefs are listed in the fifth, sixth and seventh Schedules to the Bermuda Customs Tariff. Some sectors qualify for relief, and some materials used in local manufacturing do. Ask the broker to check the Schedules against your product.
The Bermuda Customs Declaration and the CAPS identifier
The mechanics are specific and worth knowing before the goods sail, because they involve parties and registrations on the island rather than in China.
Decide who declares
If you are using a cargo consolidation service provided by a freight forwarder, you may be able to use that forwarder's customs clearance service. Otherwise the importer must make a Bermuda Customs Declaration and lodge it with the Hamilton Long Room. Government guidance suggests engaging a customs clearing agent if you have not completed one before.
Register for a CAPS ID if relief is being claimed
Government guidance is explicit: you must register for a CAPS ID number before you can claim a duty relief, whether importing by post, by courier, or by air or sea cargo. Most reliefs are listed in the fifth, sixth and seventh Schedules to the Customs Tariff. Do this early — it gates the relief, not the entry.
Complete the BCD to the published guidelines
The Bermuda Customs Declaration has its own published guidelines. Complete it in accordance with them rather than by analogy with another country's form. The instructions are specific about how reliefs are claimed and how values are stated.
Lodge it with the Hamilton Long Room
For goods imported by air or sea cargo, the BCD is lodged with the Hamilton Long Room. Goods imported by post and by courier follow different paths — the Post Office prepares a short form, and the courier makes the declaration on your behalf.
Convert foreign-currency invoices at the right rate
Where goods are invoiced in a foreign currency, you must use the appropriate weekly exchange rate to calculate the Bermuda dollar value. This is prescribed, not optional, and it means the rate applied may not be the one on your invoice date.
Pay and obtain the release note
Once the customs release note is issued, the goods can be collected. For postal imports, the release note is presented to the Post Office to obtain delivery, and a five dollar processing fee is charged on delivery of all dutiable postal packets.
Invoicing in a foreign currency and the weekly exchange rate
This detail is small, mechanical and a reliable source of friction, so it is worth stating plainly. Government guidance says that where you declare goods invoiced in a foreign currency, you must use the appropriate weekly exchange rate to calculate the Bermuda dollar value. The Bermuda dollar is pegged one to one with the US dollar, which removes the currency risk for USD invoices but not the administrative step.
For a Chinese exporter, the practical instruction is simple: issue the invoice in a single currency, state it clearly, and make sure the value is unambiguous. If the buyer needs a Bermuda dollar figure for the declaration, they will apply the published rate. Do not convert it yourself on the invoice, because a converted figure that differs from the assessed one creates an inconsistency that has to be explained.
Ports of entry: Hamilton, St. George, Dockyard and the airport
Customs officers are located at four official ports: Hamilton, St. George, L.F. Wade International Airport and Dockyard. The Customs Department's main office is in Hamilton, where officers process declarations for arriving air and ocean freight and control the movement of passengers and cargo.
Bermuda is a small island with a mature import system, and the port infrastructure reflects that: this is not a lane where the physical discharge is the hard part. The hard part is the assessment. Budget your attention accordingly — get the classification, the value and the relief question right, and the discharge will look after itself.
One routing note. Bermuda sits in the North Atlantic roughly a thousand kilometres from the US east coast, and cargo from China is normally routed through a hub on the US east coast or in Europe rather than sailing direct. Ask which hub a quotation uses and what the connecting service is, because on a thin transatlantic route the connection decides the arrival date.
Vehicles are the most punishing line in the tariff
If you are shipping anything on wheels, stop and check the band before you quote. Published references are consistent and stark: passenger vehicles are cited at seventy-five percent on the first ten thousand dollars of value, and one hundred and fifty percent on the value above that. Vehicles with ten or more seats and hybrid vehicles are cited at 33.5 percent; goods vehicles at 33.5 percent; motorcycles at 33.5 percent.
Those are not typos, and they are not accidental. Bermuda is a small island with limited road space and uses the tariff deliberately to constrain vehicle numbers. The effect is that vehicle import is a specialist activity with its own economics, and a general freight quotation will not be meaningful for it. Confirm the current bands with a Bermuda broker, in writing, before the goods are booked.
Restricted goods and the permits that gate them
Bermuda's restricted list is driven partly by biosecurity and partly by policy, and the permit requirement attaches to the importer rather than to the shipment. That means the permit has to exist before the goods move, and it cannot be created retrospectively by the freight forwarder.
| Category | Position | Who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| Live animals and plants | Import permit required | Department of Environment and Natural Resources |
| Fruits and vegetables | Import permit required | Ministry of Agriculture |
| Dairy products, including raw, pasteurised and manufactured milk | Prohibited unless prior approval obtained | Ministry of Agriculture |
| Firearms and ammunition | Generally prohibited; licence required where permitted | Competent authority |
| Medications | Restricted for personal use | Competent authority |
| Controlled drugs, obscene material, fireworks, counterfeit goods, ferrets, several named dog breeds | Prohibited outright | — |
| Cash and negotiable instruments above BDA 10,000 | Must be declared | Customs |
The packaging trap. A consignment of ordinary merchandise can still trip the biosecurity rules through its packaging: wooden pallets and crates must comply with ISPM 15, and any plant material, seed content or soil contamination will attract scrutiny. Check the pallets before the container is sealed, not after it lands.
What a Bermuda clearance costs in time, not just money
The money is easy to model — duty plus wharfage plus the broker's fee. The time is what surprises people, and it is usually spent in one of three places.
- Classification disputes. On a tariff with bands this wide, the difference between two codes is real money. Supply a precise description and a defensible HS code rather than leaving it to the officer.
- Value queries. On a no-threshold regime every line is assessable, so an inconsistent invoice attracts questions across the whole entry rather than on one item.
- Missing registrations. A relief claimed without a CAPS ID, or a permit not obtained for a restricted line, stops the consignment until it is resolved.
All three are addressable in China, before the goods sail, at the cost of an email. None of them are addressable by the freight forwarder after arrival.
Questions a Bermuda importer should answer before ordering
- What is the duty rate for this HS code? Get it from a Bermuda broker. Do not assume the 22.25% default is right, or that it is wrong.
- Is wharfage included in the landed-cost figure? It is 1.25% on top of duty.
- Is any relief available under the fifth, sixth or seventh Schedule? If so, is the CAPS ID registered?
- Who lodges the BCD with the Hamilton Long Room? Name the agent.
- What currency is the invoice in, and is the value unambiguous? The weekly rate will be applied to it.
- Does any line need a permit? Especially anything plant-derived, animal-derived, or dairy.
- Is the wooden packaging ISPM 15 marked? Check before sealing.
- Which hub does the cargo route through? Compare routings, not just prices.
Why importers use Goodhope on this lane
Six things that are different about working with us on China to Bermuda shipments.
Five shipments to Bermuda
Five shipments bought in China and delivered into Bermuda, told end to end — where the order came from, how it moved, where it nearly went wrong, and how it finished. Client names are withheld at their request; the situations and the handling are what we deal with on this lane.
No de minimis · small parcel · Shenzhen to Bermuda
The purchase. A buyer assumed a small consignment would pass without duty, as it would in many markets.
The move. Shipped and cleared with the assessment applied in full.
Where it nearly went wrong. There is no de minimis threshold here. Every commercial consignment is assessed, which makes an accurate declared value more important than usual rather than less.
How it finished. We told him before he shipped, so the duty was in his price rather than a surprise at collection.
Default rate · 22.25% plus wharfage · Ningbo to Hamilton
The purchase. A buyer priced his landed cost using a rate he had seen for another Atlantic territory.
The move. Rate and wharfage confirmed before he quoted his customer, then the shipment moved and cleared.
Where it nearly went wrong. The default duty rate here is high, and wharfage sits on top of it. Duty is the island's main revenue source rather than a side effect of policy, so the numbers are not negotiable at the counter.
How it finished. Confirmed in writing before quoting. His margin survived contact with the assessment.
Vehicle line · the punishing category · Shanghai to Bermuda
The purchase. A buyer importing a vehicle assumed it would be treated like any other durable good.
The move. Vehicle category identified up front and the exposure explained before he committed.
Where it nearly went wrong. Vehicles are the most punishing line in this tariff. Treating the import as an ordinary shipment produces a bill that bears no relation to the one budgeted.
How it finished. He was told what the category attracts before he bought, and adjusted the plan accordingly.
Currency conversion · weekly rate · Guangzhou to Bermuda
The purchase. A buyer invoiced in one currency and was assessed against another, and could not reconcile the difference.
The move. Conversion basis explained before submission, and the declaration prepared with it in mind.
Where it nearly went wrong. Foreign-currency invoices are converted at a published rate applied on a cycle. The assessed figure moves with that rate whether or not anyone mentioned it.
How it finished. He understood the conversion before submitting, and the assessment matched what he expected.
Permits · restricted lines · Yiwu to Bermuda
The purchase. A buyer shipped a mixed consignment containing lines that need permits, without knowing it.
The move. Permit requirements checked and resolved for the affected lines.
Where it nearly went wrong. Restricted goods are gated by permits issued locally. Whether or not the rest of the consignment is clean, those lines will not be released without them.
How it finished. We now check the permit position before booking on this lane, and his later consignments have been pre-cleared.
Why importers use Goodhope on this lane
Six things that are different about working with us on China to Bermuda shipments.
Get the duty rate and the permit position confirmed before you quote
Tell us what you are shipping, the HS codes if you have them, the packed dimensions and gross weight, the pickup city in China and the delivery address in Bermuda. We will confirm the current routing and which transatlantic hub it uses, tell you plainly which lines need a permit before the goods leave China — particularly anything plant-derived, animal-derived or dairy — check the wooden packaging requirement with you, and quote the freight so that your broker has a clean invoice to assess duty and wharfage against. We do not publish freight rates here; we quote them against your actual cargo, and we will tell you when a question is one for a Bermuda broker rather than for us.
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Frequently asked questions
Does Bermuda charge VAT on imports?
No. Bermuda levies no VAT, no income tax and no capital gains tax. Customs duty is the primary source of government revenue, roughly a fifth of government income, which is why the border charge is high.
What is the standard customs duty rate in Bermuda?
22.25 percent is the rate most consistently cited for general merchandise. Food is often lower at five to fifteen percent; medicines, corrective spectacles and reading materials are cited at zero; electronics and household goods for business use at twenty-five percent; batteries and vehicle parts at 33.5 percent. Confirm your HS code with a Bermuda broker.
What is wharfage?
A charge of 1.25 percent of value on most goods imported by air or sea cargo, levied on top of duty. Accompanied personal goods and postal imports are exempt from it.
Is there a duty-free threshold or de minimis in Bermuda?
No meaningful one. Published references describe Bermuda as operating no de minimis, so duty is charged regardless of value. Traveller allowances and Schedule reliefs exist, but a commercial consignment will be entered and assessed from the first dollar.
What is a Bermuda Customs Declaration and where is it lodged?
The BCD is the form used to declare goods arriving by air or sea cargo. It is completed in line with the published Bermuda Customs Declaration Guidelines and lodged with the Hamilton Long Room. First-time importers are advised to engage a customs clearing agent.
What is a CAPS ID number and do I need one?
It is the identifier Bermuda Customs uses for importers. Government guidance states you must register for one before claiming any duty relief, whether importing by post, courier or cargo. Most reliefs are listed in the fifth, sixth and seventh Schedules to the Customs Tariff.
How is duty calculated when my invoice is in a foreign currency?
You must use the appropriate weekly exchange rate to calculate the Bermuda dollar value. The Bermuda dollar is pegged one to one with the US dollar. Issue the invoice in one clear currency and let the published rate be applied.
Which ports of entry does Bermuda Customs cover?
Hamilton, St George, L.F. Wade International Airport and Dockyard. The main office is in Hamilton, where declarations for arriving air and ocean freight are processed.
How heavily are vehicles taxed on import into Bermuda?
Very heavily. Passenger vehicles are cited at seventy-five percent on the first ten thousand dollars and one hundred and fifty percent above that. Vehicles with ten or more seats, hybrids, goods vehicles and motorcycles are cited at 33.5 percent. Confirm current bands before shipping.
Which goods need permits before they can be imported?
Live animals and plants need a permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; fruits and vegetables from the Ministry of Agriculture. Dairy products are prohibited without prior approval. Firearms need a licence. Controlled drugs, obscene material, fireworks, counterfeit goods, ferrets and several named dog breeds are prohibited.