The Hong Kong-Mainland iPhone Border Tax

iPhones in China have been plagued by sell outs, scalpers, and censored apps. Just when it seems like it can’t get any worse reports are circulating that Chinese customs are levying duties on iPhones brought into the mainland via the Hong Kong border crossings.

The Shanghaiist reports that Chinese customs have been relentlessly searching bags and levying tax on iPhones and iPads. The price of bringing an iPhone or iPad into China is 20 percent of the retail cost in Hong Kong. The crackdown seems to only affect Hong Kong to mainland travel and does not affect people coming in from other international points.

One would imagine this tax would apply only to brand new, unopened iPhones, but an article from the National Business Daily quotes a man who claims he was charged a levy on an iPad that was several months old and clearly used.

“I showed them the documents and photos I stored in the iPad but they wouldn't listen. In the end I had to pay 1,000 yuan [HK$1,165] before I could leave.”

The Shanghaiist crunched the numbers and found that a taxed Hong Kong iPhone will ultimately cost RMB 131 more than a mainland one.

We wonder where all that money levied at the border is ending up? In the Guangdong Border Guard Benevolence Fund perhaps?

Meanwhile, here in Beijing Apple’s battle with iPhone scalpers has reached new levels. According to this report posted today: “Apple has tripled security in [their] store, stationing a security guard every 3m on the bottom floor. And there aren’t even any iPhones on that floor – they’re kept upstairs, where customers have to have a reservation and be escorted individually by an employee to pick theirs up.”