Under de minimis you are able to import shipments with a customs value below the equivalent of $800 void of any taxes, but that’s been scrapped completely since 2025. Even if I’ve purchased the following from Japan directly then importing that, does that alone avoid sales tax since it’s from another country outside the US:
- Zelda Switch 2 (日本語・国内専用): ¥62,980
- Zelda Pro Controller w/ Stand: ¥12,980
- Ocarina of Time Remake: ¥7,755
- HW Age of Imprisonment: ¥7,573
- Switch 2 Glass Screen Protector: ¥1,099
The total customs value of everything is ¥92,387 ($584) which is still below $800. Since the same stuff in the US would cost over $867.79 including sales tax. I would technically save $283.79 by importing rather than buying those from Game Stop, but de minimis is gone: would I still have to pay tax despite being from abroad?
De minimis is gone as of August 29, 2025. It does not exist. You pay for everything. I hope you or your loved ones didn’t vote for Trump.
If you don’t pay Sales tax at checkout, you are probably liable for Use tax at the same rate. See California for one example, but check your own to be sure.
You are supposed to report any item you buy and “use” in the state.
Tariffs.
I understand that you are inconvenienced by this chance in policy. Why do you do the research though, answer your own questions, and then come here to ask them anyway? Are you lacking the confidence in your own research or do you wish to show off what a knowledgeable cosmopolitan gamer you are?
Are they going to ship you a 国内専用 (inside country exclusive use) switch? IIRC you also need a Japanese nintendo account. I don’t remember if that also requires a Japanese credit card (a lot of Japanese companies do, or at least used to). The switch 2 price difference is also because of this; the domestic exclusive is only in Japanese as well. I’m not sure if that overrides games with a choice, but the UI and such is Japanese.
I have a JP Nintendo account and payment method (on the eShop you can use gift cards & only reads JP CC). You use forwarders to acquire it at your own expense (shipping and customs value).
Unless the seller purposely fluffs the export paperwork like a lot of Chinese vendors do, that sounds like a whole load of import tax coming your way. That said, you already acknowledged the murder of de minimis and the existence of import tax, so I’m not sure why you’re even asking. Don’t trust the links you found or hoping some shady individual in here will teach you the ancient technique for tax dodging?
Local Sales tax, no you wouldn’t pay it. You would pay import taxes as you rightly guessed. You may be paying sales taxes on the purcashing country depending if they advertise with taxes included.
The part you are missing is warranty. Your device purchased outside your country may not be honoured by the local support offerings.
I don’t know if the Switch has region locking so buying local games may be a crapshoot.
The Japanese version is only region locked in the sense of not being able to change the language & region nor being able to sign in using a foreign Nintendo account (it has to be a JP one). Cartridges from abroad (US, UK) do work but will automatically translate the UI into Japanese (if its supported).
I think it depends on your state? My state says online purchases pay sales tax regardless of where the order is coming from. I imported something from Germany and the retailer automatically added my state’s tax.
AfaIk, this only works within EU. It already doesn’t if you import from EEA into the EU.
