A business plans to import 100 identical pieces of equipment for resale. The supplier has quoted a price, and a customer has asked for a firm local offer. Before committing, the business needs a number it can defend: the likely cost of getting each item to its warehouse, the cash needed at clearance and the margin left after a realistic selling price.
This Guide sets out a working method using deliberately hypothetical figures. The duty, tax treatment, exchange rate and charges for a real shipment must be checked against its classification, documents and current Guyana Revenue Authority guidance.
Establish what the supplier has actually quoted
Record the item description, quantity, currency, unit price, invoice total, named place of delivery and agreed Incoterm. Ask whether the quotation includes export packing, inland collection, freight and insurance. A term such as FOB, FCA or CIF affects which party arranges and pays for parts of the journey; it does not, by itself, determine the customs treatment in Guyana. The ICC’s official Incoterms checklist is a useful reference when the trade term is unclear.
For the example, assume the supplier’s invoice and covered freight and insurance total US$10,000. Use a planning rate of G$210 per US$1, so the converted amount is G$2.1 million. This is not a statement of today’s exchange rate. The estimate should name the source and date of the rate actually used, and it should be refreshed before payment.
Identify the customs and clearance questions
Before assigning duty or tax, confirm the commodity classification and whether a licence, exemption or origin document applies. The GRA’s import page lists the eSAD process and supporting documents, including invoice, bill of lading or airway bill, TIN and applicable permits. Its commercial-import guidance emphasises correct commodity codes and CIF values.
For a planning model, place the assessed duties and taxes on separate lines. Do not insert a generic percentage copied from another product. If the classification or an exemption is uncertain, mark the amount unconfirmed and obtain a qualified assessment. Cash needed at clearance can differ from the amount ultimately treated as the asset’s cost; for example, recoverable taxes may still have to be paid before recovery. The accountant should make that distinction explicit.
Build a transparent example
Assume the G$2.1 million converted invoice, G$120,000 of port and handling charges, G$60,000 for brokerage and documents, G$90,000 for local delivery, and a provisional G$430,000 allowance for duties and taxes pending classification. The planning cash requirement is G$2.8 million. Across 100 items, that is G$28,000 each before financing, storage, damage, overhead and selling expenses.
Those numbers are a worksheet, not a customs quotation. If a tax component is recoverable, it should appear in the cash forecast but may not belong in the final cost per item. If the goods are capital equipment rather than resale inventory, installation and commissioning require their own assessment. The estimate should show which figures are confirmed quotes, which are provisional and who will verify each one.
Use two totals in the workbook. The first is cash required to clear and deliver the shipment; it helps the manager arrange funds. The second is economic cost for pricing or investment analysis, prepared with accounting advice where tax recovery or capitalisation matters. Keeping both visible prevents a potentially recoverable tax from being mistaken for a permanent cost, while also preventing the business from overlooking the cash it must advance.
Next test a selling price. At G$34,000 per item, gross revenue on 100 items would be G$3.4 million. Compared with the G$2.8 million planning cash requirement, that leaves G$600,000 before all the omitted costs. The figure is not a net profit forecast. It tells the manager whether the proposed price leaves enough room to investigate further.
Test the assumptions that can change the decision
Suppose the exchange rate used at payment is G$220 rather than G$210 per US$1. The converted invoice rises by G$100,000, taking the provisional total to G$2.9 million if all other lines stay unchanged. The estimated amount per item rises to G$29,000. Alternatively, a G$150,000 delay or storage cost would reduce the G$600,000 preliminary spread to G$450,000.
The business should also ask how many items might be damaged or unsold. If only 95 of the 100 items can be sold at the assumed price, sales revenue falls to G$3.23 million while most shipment costs remain. Sensitivity tests do not predict the future; they reveal which assumptions the investment cannot afford to get wrong.
Before sending a customer a firm price, obtain a freight quotation with a validity date and clarify which port, terminal and inland destination it covers. A quote for delivery to a port is not a quote for delivery to a warehouse. Recheck whether the supplier’s packing is adequate for the planned journey and who bears loss if the cargo is damaged. These questions often look minor until a shipment arrives and the business discovers that a cost or risk was left unassigned.
Turn the estimate into a decision record
Keep the supplier quotation, freight and insurance evidence, item specifications, proposed tariff code, permits or origin documents, clearance quotations and exchange-rate assumption together. Add a column showing the owner and date of each unresolved item. A buyer can then decide whether to order, renegotiate, change the selling price or wait for a more reliable customs assessment.
The companion Explainer, Landed Cost Explained: Why an Import Costs More Than the Supplier’s Price, explains the commercial logic behind this worksheet. The practical rule is simple: do not quote a local price from an overseas supplier invoice alone. Quote from a documented landed-cost range, with its uncertainties plainly visible.
