Tariff
A tariff is a tax a government charges on imported goods, expressed as a rate on the value or quantity and set by the product's classification.
Last reviewed 16 July 2026.
A tariff is a tax on imports (occasionally exports), used both to raise revenue and to protect domestic industry. Most tariffs are ad valorem — a percentage of the goods' value — though some are specific, charged per unit of weight or quantity, and some combine the two.
In the UK, the applicable tariffs are published in the UK Global Tariff, indexed by commodity code. The rate you pay depends on the classification of the goods and their origin, since trade agreements and preference schemes can override the standard tariff with a lower one.
'Tariff' is often used loosely as a synonym for import duty, but strictly it refers to the schedule of rates, while the duty is the actual charge you pay on a given consignment.
How it affects your landed cost
The tariff rate on your commodity code sets the duty portion of your landed cost, and because most tariffs are a percentage of value, they scale with the size of your order. Reading the correct tariff line — and any preference that overrides it — is what turns a rough guess into an accurate landed-cost figure, which our calculator produces from the rate that applies to your goods.
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