Received a bpost payment request in Belgium? Choose the right action before its deadline, prepare a specific recalculation or prepaid-VAT enquiry, and track the next instruction.
Check the payment date on your bpost import request before choosing a response. If the declared value is wrong, bpost provides a dispute form above the payment button. Its guidance says the existing payment deadline is cancelled when bpost receives that request. An email to the seller does not have the same effect.
If you already paid VAT, the problem may instead be missing electronic prepayment information. That calls for a different decision. The routes below concern an ordinary personal purchase from China arriving in Belgium. Policy and fees checked: 8 November 2026.
Choose your route before the payment date
A wrong value: request a recalculation through bpost
Open My bpost or official Track & Trace yourself and enter the parcel barcode. If the Belgian reference differs from the Chinese tracking number, ask the sender or forwarding provider to match them. bpost's unfamiliar-barcode guidance helps you check that the request belongs to your shipment.
For an amount based on the wrong value, use the dispute form above the payment button, as described in bpost's recalculation instructions. Keep the confirmation. Once it receives the request, bpost cancels the existing deadline, reviews the case and communicates the result and any new payment request or deadline. Do not treat a question sent elsewhere as confirmation that this has happened.
VAT paid at checkout: identify the missing hand-off
Find the receipt that expressly identifies VAT or import charges and ask the seller or platform to connect it to this parcel. A freight payment or purchasing-agent deposit does not establish VAT prepayment.
bpost explains that customs must receive correct electronic prepayment data before import; writing “VAT paid” on the parcel is insufficient. Its stated choices are refusal followed by a seller refund request, or payment for delivery followed by a claim to the seller for incorrectly collected charges. Check the seller's terms before choosing. Neither a refund nor cancellation of every fee is guaranteed, and this enquiry does not automatically activate bpost's recalculation procedure.
The request agrees with your records: pay through the verified channel
Use the payment instructions in the official parcel record and keep the receipt. If the notice asks for missing documents or a product permit, answer that request separately; paying does not establish that the goods may legally enter Belgium.
Put one specific discrepancy into your request
Prepare the payment notice, the paid order or invoice, payment proof and any separately billed freight. For a Taobao purchase sent through a China warehouse, distinguish the product payment, China domestic delivery, international freight and expressly itemised import taxes. Match the records to the goods in this parcel, not another order still in China.
You can use these notes to prepare a clear explanation. They are not a reproduction of bpost's form:
- Parcel/reference: copy the number shown in the verified notice.
- Disputed line: copy its label and amount.
- What appears wrong: name the value, currency, quantity or repeated payment.
- Supporting record: identify the invoice or receipt and the relevant entry.
- Requested action: ask for the particular calculation or payment to be checked.
Keep original documents readable. A current product listing may show another variant or price; use the transaction actually paid. If YDA Express handled the purchase or forwarding, ask for the available purchase, warehouse and shipping records needed to explain the mismatch. We can help assemble records and communicate with the seller; bpost and the competent authority decide assessment and repayment. We cannot guarantee a correction, refund, final HS classification, permit or clearance.
For commercial stock, use an importer-specific review rather than a personal-purchase assumption. The Belgian supplier-document checklist covers that separate task. For a future multi-order shipping decision, use the Belgium consolidation worksheet; it cannot resolve a payment notice already issued.
Use this fee reference where a number is unclear
Compare each line separately. Belgium's finance authority lists a standard VAT rate of 21%, with reduced or zero rates for specified goods.
| Charge | Relevant check |
|---|---|
| Import VAT | Rate and taxable amount; check what was prepaid. |
| Customs duty | Goods, declaration items and applicable tariff treatment. |
| EU handling fee | Separate €2 fee per qualifying customs item from 1 November 2026. |
| bpost administration | Where applicable, €21.50 for non-exempt consignments up to €150; €40 above €150. |
The postal charges and their conditions are set out in bpost's current cost explanation. Do not add a fee twice because it appears in both a calculation and the final total.
Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Article 2 introduced temporary €3 duty from 1 July 2026 for qualifying goods in consignments with an intrinsic value not exceeding €150, under IOSS or the legally defined postal-consignment treatment. IOSS concerns checkout VAT on eligible purchases; it does not settle every import charge. Other goods need their own tariff treatment. The separate €2 EU handling fee can also affect qualifying distance sales above €150.
The Commission's definitions exclude separately stated transport and insurance from intrinsic value for the threshold. A customs item is not automatically one carton or one physical object: classification and description affect grouping. Ask for the declaration breakdown if the count is disputed.
Import VAT can include more than the goods price. Commission guidance includes customs value, relevant duties and specified additional costs, subject to its conditions. Check that freight has not already been included elsewhere.
For a hypothetical import after 1 November 2026, assume one qualifying customs item, no prepaid import charges, ordinary goods at 21% VAT and no special duties:
- Goods €43.50 + freight €10 + duty €3 + EU fee €2 + applicable bpost administration €21.50 = an €80 VAT base.
- VAT is €16.80. The import payment is €43.30; goods, freight and import charges together are €96.80.
This is a checking example, not a quotation or assessment. Do not retain its €3 duty for a consignment above €150. Classification, rates, declaration, exchange rates and prepayment arrangements can change the result. Medicines, food, plants, excise goods and other restricted products need separate checks. For later orders, check eligibility before buying, the actual goods and packaging at the warehouse, and current Belgian rules and route conditions before dispatch.
After submitting, follow the next dated instruction
Keep a short follow-up record: what you submitted, which official channel received it, the confirmation, the reply and the next deadline. For a recalculation, check that bpost has received the request and read its decision before acting on a new payment notice. If no confirmation appears, contact bpost with the parcel reference; do not assume the old date has stopped applying.
For a seller repayment request, keep the checkout tax receipt and any later bpost receipt together. Ask which amount is being reviewed and retain the written answer. Avoid starting a second, inconsistent explanation while the first is pending. The useful outcome is a documented next action for this parcel: a confirmed review, a payment due date, or a clearly identified seller claim.
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