Importing goods to resell
Clearing customs feels like the finish line. It is closer to the starting line for everything that follows.
You found a supplier abroad, placed an order, and the shipment is on its way. There is a broker, a set of charges, and a release date.
Most first-time importers focus entirely on getting the goods out. Then the goods arrive and a second set of questions begins, and nobody prepared them for it.
Two different systems, one shipment
Bringing goods into the country and selling them here are governed by different sets of rules and different offices.
The border side deals with the importation itself: classification of the goods, the duties and charges due on entry, and the clearance process. That is where a broker earns their fee.
The domestic side deals with what happens after: you now own stock, you will sell it, and those sales are business income with all the ordinary obligations attached.
The mistake is treating the first as the whole story. Paying everything due at the border does not settle anything about your sales here.
Your landed cost is not the invoice price
For your own decisions and your records, the cost of imported stock is not what the supplier billed you.
It includes the charges paid on entry, freight, insurance, broker fees, storage while it sat, and local delivery. Together these turn an attractive supplier price into a real one, and it is common for first-time importers to discover their margin is much thinner than the quotation suggested.
Two consequences. Price your goods from the real landed cost, not the invoice. And keep every document from the process, because those costs only count as costs if you can support them.
Documents are the whole game
Importing generates more paperwork than almost any other small-business activity, and every piece of it matters later: the supplier invoice, shipping documents, the entry paperwork, proof of what was paid on entry, and the broker's billing.
Two reasons to file them properly on arrival rather than in a drawer. They support your cost of goods, and they are the trail connecting a shipment in your name to the stock you sold. Imports are visible by nature, so a business that imports and then reports sales inconsistent with what it imported has an obvious mismatch.
The same visibility applies to the personal shortcut some sellers try: bringing goods in as personal items to avoid the commercial process. It is a short-term saving that creates an inconsistency between what you brought in and what you are selling, and it leaves no usable documents for your costs.
Before your first shipment
Know what you are importing and whether it needs anything beyond ordinary clearance. Some goods require permits or clearances from other agencies, and finding out while the container sits is expensive.
Get a broker you can talk to, and ask for a full estimate of charges before shipping, not after.
Have your business registration in order before the goods arrive. Importing into a business that does not properly exist yet complicates both ends.
Budget for the cash gap. Money goes out for the supplier, the freight, and the charges on entry, all before a single item is sold. First-time importers regularly run out of working capital at exactly this point.
Plan how you will document sales from the moment stock lands, not after the first busy week.
Bringing in goods to resell and unsure what happens after clearance? Ask AskOnward for a plain answer from the official BIR rules, so the shipment does not arrive ahead of your paperwork.
This article is for general information and is not affiliated with the government. For official forms and the latest rules, see the Bureau of Internal Revenue at bir.gov.ph.