China and Hong Kong Lens Taxes

Let say I bought a lens from Hong Kong and bring in to China to use. Anyhow know whether I need to pay tax to China Immigration if I brought in a new lens unit from Hong Kong to China?

If you ditch the box in HK and throw it in your bag you won't have to pay any tax. If you bring it across the border in the box, you will have to pay the tax. If you want the box, you can try to carry it across in a separate bag or you can mail it to your destination. As it is just a box, you shouldn't incur any import cost or duty.


There are places in China that sell lenses for almost the same price as HK. In my opinion if you live in China there isn't much need to go to HK to buy lenses. The price difference is usually less than the cost the of the one way ticket to HK and if there is any problem with the lens they will usually come with at least a 1 year store warranty. The lenses in HK that are usually cheaper are gray market and usually also only come with a one year store warranty.