Frequently asked questions

Avalara is a global sales-tax and VAT compliance platform. EU customs duty is a secondary product line built on top of their tax suite. Tariff Hub EU is the opposite: EU customs duty is our only focus, with depth on TARIC, EBTI classification, trade-defence overlays, member-state VAT resolution, and EU sourcing comparison. If you already pay Avalara for tax, you can run Tariff Hub EU alongside for customs without double-paying.

Zonos is focused on e-commerce checkout, giving Shopify or BigCommerce stores a landed-cost estimate at the buyer's cart. Tariff Hub EU covers the full EU customs workflow: AI classification from text or image against TARIC + EBTI, per-state VAT, EU preferential agreements, trade-defence overlays, and a sourcing optimiser. If your whole need is a checkout estimate, Zonos fits. If you have a customs team or broker relationships into the EU, we go much deeper.

Descartes is a trade-content data provider. They sell tariff data that you then build your own tools on top of. Tariff Hub EU ships the tools: an AI TARIC classifier, an EU landed-cost calculator, an origin sourcing optimiser, an API, and a UI. Data comes from the same primary source (DG TAXUD TARIC), but we expose it as a workflow, not a raw feed.

Flexport is a freight forwarder. Their software exists to run their logistics service, so you can only use Flexport's customs features if you book them as your forwarder. Tariff Hub EU is independent: you keep your existing broker, forwarder, or in-house team, and use us for EU customs-duty intelligence. No bundling requirement.

Importers shipping into the EU with their own customs or trade-compliance operations, customs brokers who want better tools than Excel, 3PLs running EU landed-cost quotes for clients, e-commerce brands scaling beyond the checkout-estimator stage, and platforms that want to embed EU customs-duty intelligence into their own product via API.

Enter your TARIC commodity code (or search by product name), select the country of origin, optionally pick the EU member state of import, and input your customs value. The calculator will instantly show MFN duty, any applicable preferential rate, trade-defence overlays, VAT and the total landed cost in EUR.

TARIC (Tarif Intégré des Communautés Européennes) is the EU's integrated tariff database, maintained by DG TAXUD. It consolidates every measure (MFN rates, preferences, anti-dumping, countervailing, safeguards, quotas) applicable to imports into any of the 27 member states. Tariff Hub EU syncs TARIC directly from the DG TAXUD SOAP endpoint.

European Binding Tariff Information (EBTI) rulings are legally binding HS classification decisions issued by EU member state customs authorities. They are valid for three years and override classifier output when a user holds one. Tariff Hub EU ingests the public EBTI database to improve classifier accuracy and lets users attach their own BTIs to their account.

Any ISO country can be an origin. The sourcing optimiser sweeps the 30 largest EU sourcing partners by default, covering >85 % of EU import value. You can supply a custom origin list via the API.

Our ingestion runs against the DG TAXUD SOAP endpoint on a weekly cadence, plus daily delta refreshes. Changes published in the EU Official Journal are reflected in the calculator within days.

Yes. The calculator automatically identifies applicable EU agreements (CETA, EVFTA, EUJEPA, EUKR, GSP, GSP+, EBA, EEA, EUTCA for the UK, EFTA for Switzerland, the Turkey Customs Union, and others) and applies the preferential rate when origin and product qualify.

Tariff Hub EU is free to start, no card needed. The free tier includes 5 landed-cost calculations and 1 AI HS classification per month. When you outgrow that, upgrade to Starter, Pro, Business, or Enterprise for higher limits, API access, batch upload, CSV export, and the sourcing optimiser. AI classification ships with paid plans.

VAT is applied to (customs value + duty) at the member state's standard rate, ranging from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. If the user picks a specific member state, reduced-rate product rules from the EuVatReducedRule table apply (e.g. food, books, medicines). If no state is selected, the EU-average 21% standard rate is used.

Yes, for alcohol, tobacco and energy products under Council Directives 2020/262, 92/83/EEC, 2011/64/EU and 2003/96/EC. Rates are per-state (harmonised minima, but states can go higher) and depend on the physical unit of the shipment: hectolitres of pure alcohol, thousand cigarettes, thousand litres, megawatt-hours.

CBAM scope (Regulation 2023/956: steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser, electricity, hydrogen) is flagged on affected HS codes. Full financial obligation begins in 2026 for most in-scope products. Tariff Hub EU surfaces CBAM-scope warnings today and will compute the CBAM charge once the definitive verification regime stabilises.

Yes. The engine reads TARIC measure types 695 (anti-dumping) and 551/552/553/554 (countervailing, safeguard) and applies them on top of MFN or preferential rates as appropriate, including producer-specific additional codes where present.

TRQ measures appear as informational rows. The calculator reports the in-quota rate, out-of-quota rate and quota identifier. Real-time quota balances are on the roadmap.

Every rate comes from DG TAXUD TARIC via the official SOAP endpoint. VAT rates come from the EU VAT rate database (DG TAXUD). EBTI rulings come from the public EBTI dump. We never use unverified sources.

Within days of Official Journal publication. For major changes, we often have provisional rates ready within hours, clearly marked as pending final confirmation.