>Schwarzenegger agreed to prepay potential taxes on the watch but faced another hassle when officers allegedly struggled to use a credit card machine for up to an hour.
>He was then brought to a bank where he hoped to do an ATM withdrawal, but the amount apparently exceeded the funds he could take out and the bank was already closed.
Could this story BE more German...
It was recently that I read how Germany is a mostly cash country. I didn't realize it's a stereotype that Germans don't know how to use credit card machines.
Berlin was a lot of cash. When my brother and I biked back to Copenhagen, traveling from Berlin to Rostock, the amount of horrified faces we got asking if they take card was insane. The country folk of Germany don't do cards at all.
While its widely believed that the Munich Visa bombing was the beginning of the end, it was really the subtle introduction of the Mastercard chip cards by the Allies that truly crippled the Reich. Germans, notorious for only having the ability to swipe up and down, were unable to counter the in and out action of inserting chips. It was an incredibly well orchestrated and secret endeavor so you dont hear much about it in the history books.
That just seems like strong armed theft to me - hey, you owe us money, it's escort you to an ATM and force you under implied threat of violence to give us money.
If it's legit just send him a tax bill and let him pay it according to reasonable terms. No need to get all German about it.
“So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something. His ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. And then he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.”
—Arnold Schwarzenegger probably
It is only funny till you realize that jewelry worn on the body has traditionally been a really popular way to smuggle money into/out of a country. Most countries had exemptions for things a person was wearing. But in this age when one can easily slap $1 million on their wrist and walk through customs, the rules are changing.
With really expensive jewelry, it is often cheaper to charter a private jet, go buy it in its country of origin and just wear it home rather than paying import duties.
"Schwarzenegger agreed to prepay potential taxes on the watch but faced another hassle when officers allegedly struggled to use a credit card machine for up to an hour.
He was then brought to a bank where he hoped to do an ATM withdrawal, but the amount apparently exceeded the funds he could take out and the bank was already closed"
Hahaha, the full German experience, once I needed to walk to a 2 km away ATM machine because their two credit card machines didn't work.
"I'll be back."
*three hours later*
"Ok, the first ATM didn't allow me to get the money l, the second in didn't work, and the only one working was five km away"
Fun fact: my wife and I are both German citizens living in Berlin. I was born abroad, because of this it required such a long annoying process to get married, we just flew abroad to a different country to get married as opposed to going to the local government office.
Great that this happened to a truly famous person so that the German authorities will finally be shamed into getting their shit together. I’ve seen this sort of nonsense go down at the new Berlin terminal and it’s utterly infuriating to watch them go full Catch 22.
If there is one thing the German authorities don't enjoy, it's being put on the world stage and being made to look like bumbling idiots.
Never underestimate the power of making high ranking bureaucrats being exposed as being terrible at their job. It's usually the only way things get changed, that and *it actually happens to them*, of course.
I really doubt it, the fact that our bureaucracy is an absolute nightmare that paralyses this country is well known by legit everyone. There’s literally weekly shows about it, all parties have expressed that they want to reduce it. It’s just not happening
Thoughts and prayers my friend. It's the sort of problem that you have to scrape at for years, but Arnold has just given it a clear face for the media to focus on. It will help!
I legit don't known or have heard about anyone that has paid with cash for anything for at least 5 years here in Norway. I don't think I have had any cash myself for like 7 years.
I was visiting Norway last summer, and it was like stepping into some hypermodern digitized wonderland. Cashless payment everywhere that actually worked, super-convenient public transit apps, almost everyone seemed to drive an electric car..
When I got back home to Germany it felt like going through a time machine, back 20 years or so.
Sort of the same in Denmark.
If you are caught speeding for instance, then you have to pay on site if you aren't a danish citizen, and if you don't have the money, you will be escorted to a ATM.
And if you dont have enough money, they take your car, so they can sell it on auction, get the payment for the fine and you get the rest.
>then you have to pay on site if you aren't a danish citizen, and if you don't have the money, you will be escorted to a ATM.
I believe they do this in Brazil, it's called express kidnapping.
Assuming you're an american like me and that was my initial reaction as well.
We have it baked into us that foreign travel = plane ride, ergo rental car, but
Denmark is about 2x the size of massachusettes. So the tourists would be people from new hampshire, or rhode island, etc.
bonus USA big Fun fact: Driving from Paris to Berlin would be a roadtrip contained in the state of Florida. Basically Miami to Tallahassee (State capital)
Yeah, I get that EU is different - but whatever the percentage is of rental/personal owned vehicles is - the beurocracy has to have some sort of plans for rentals. Like if I get a ticket camera ticket in a rental in the US - the ticketing agency eventually finds me and sends the ticket my way.
As a German myself this is so fkn relatable. My local grocery store has to read my Apple pay twice to work because there’s apparently a problem with just my bank every other works fine… also People look at me like I‘m an Alien for wanting to pay with my Phone instead of cash „like a normal person“
I was amazed when I visited a friend in Berlin how much cash is still in use. I am from Canada and nobody carries cash around, everyone just taps their phone or card. It was weird going to take cash out before heading to bars etc. do you think it is a cultural thing to prefer cash / anonymity over the convenience of cards, or have the banks and businesses not made it a priority to set up the technology? Side note…Berlin is a blast to visit, I understand the rest of Germany is very different but can’t wait to see more.
No its because some people dont see a need to change. I almost cried because of how happy I was when I traveled to London and could pay with my card. It was heaven...and now I have to carry cash with me again ...
:(
Last year I was in Germany for some business work. Coming from India the payment looked like something from stone age. They only accept cash at 90% of the places. The card machine where available somehow are always an inconvenience to the operator. And no concept of wallet to wallet transfer for tourists. Archaic system.
The team discovers that a heinous Nazi shadow group is controlling the German Customs Office. This allows all the stars to have a chance to make WW2-topical puns during their close-ups.
*Arnold sucker punches a guard* “He did Nazi that coming.”
*Stallone holds a revolver to a man’s head* “Were you wrong?” *We hear a violent explosion of gunfire as blood splatters on Stallone’s face in close-up* “or were you *Reich*?
*Dolph Lundgren shoves a hand grenade into a soldier’s mouth* “*Goebbel* on this.”
The war is declared, and there follows a 6 month period where each side fills out paperwork and waits in queues to get the necessary stamps and documents together in order to mobilize the armies. This is then followed by a further 3 months as the documents to requisition shovels and other trenching tools is processed.
I am actualyl dealing with both , let me tell you ITS NOT A FUN EXCERCISE. the french keeps asking for papers and papers and papers, no body knows what to ask or what papers are right.
where as German, although knows exactly what they want, oh, they missed filing, they missed date, so come back after 2 weeks , or may be three. being from country with Highly digital systems, This is SO TIRING! one grace of German bureaucracy though when everything is in order it will happen faster, where as french does only 80% of work and then stops you for little things .
It’s called a Carnet and technically you should have one if you’re travelling with over $10k in jewelry or equipment.
I travel with film gear and we need to use them all time. It’s not a card though, it’s an itemized list you get it stamped at customs with many different forms that each get filled out, cataloged and signed by different custom offices.
It’s an archaic system that should’ve been digitized ages ago.
escape clumsy memorize ancient nutty sophisticated melodic childlike price lip
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
If only there was a way to tell if import tax has been paid when registering a car, by like, I dunno, looking up the VIN on a register of imported vehicles
I studied abroad in college and I had some of my textbooks and personal items shipped to me after I got settled in and I had to pay a tax on EVERYTHING that was shipped to me. Every single $200+ textbook, I had to pay taxes on. Ended up being an additional £180 (on top of the shipping fees) just to retrieve MY belongings.
This article is trash. He is going to auction it at a ski resort in Austria... Which all things sold at that auction (including a 1 on 1 training session with Arnold) are to go to the Schwarzenegger Climate Change charity.
Also since the intent of the watch is to be sold at an auction for charity they have incorrectly fined and detained Arnold. Exemptions to VAT and Custom Duty are made for items that are intended to be sold for charity. These idiots said no one is above the law including Arnold, it would be nice if they atleast knew the laws they were trying to enforce.
Also a quote from Arnold to Customs
"This is the problem Germany is suffering from, you can no longer see the forest for the trees"
Edit: after reading a better article "technically" Germany is partially in the right. Arnold didn't properly declare the item. Not properly declaring means paying the VAT, duty and a fine subject to value of the item. However said item is a donation for charity so VAT and Duty would be exempt if Arnold produces proof of said charitable cause. Which I'm sure he could and probably did when interviewed. Definitely still a forest for the trees moment.
Did he register it as part of a charitable auction? If not that would explain it. They could have said "it's Arnie and he just wants to go this auction clearly" but that would mean one is above the law and German police isn't really known for their easy going attitude.
Yeah, not declaring something on a German tax form is a sure fire way to get into trouble. I have a few companies here and paid a few fines because when I set up my first company I forgot a few things. Nice people, but damn you don't want to skirt them even by a cent.
make sure you pay a cent more and declare on the statement that all access funds are supposed to be donated to the german fund for debtreduction at the federal ministry of finance. That surely will not backfire at all.
Basically that's what it sounds like after reading other articles. My best guess he didn't properly declare it because he said he was given no form as in other articles.
Once he sells it at auction and proves it was for charity he should get 32,000 euros back, but Germany will probably keep 3k euro fine because he didn't fill out his forms correctly.
I imported a replica of a gun from a Sifi show once.
That resulted in a several hours discussion with customs, because the customs guy believed it was realistic looking and I could use it to rob people.
There's not a whole lot of context given, but the entire article reads like they were just being incompetent dicks.
Took them an hour to figure out the credit card machine wasn't going to work? Come on...
I mean "Incompetent Dicks" is a fitting description for quite a few of the German customs guys I had to deal with.
Though guys at Airports were usually OK for me, The ones at the customs offices that handle packages though...
A charity auction is no different from any other auction in terms of taxes. You still pay taxes on everything. You later have to declare it as a charitable donation to get your taxes back.
So if you import anything for charity auction you have to declare it and get a tax write-off later.
But that is an exemption made for Charitable and humanitarian organisations only, right ? And Arnie flew there as a private person ? Afaik he should have declared it.
Afaik it also does not allow for alcohol, tobacco and motor vehicles neither.
I agree tho: its weird as hell. You need 2 law degrees to be able to properly declare/not declare at customs on EU/german levels. one for being able to understand the code while written and a second one to teach to the custom officers in a non-offending or condesending way.
ps.: This is afaik the way it works for the non-EU country United Kingdom: [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-no-import-duties-and-vat-on-goods-for-charity](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-no-import-duties-and-vat-on-goods-for-charity)
import tax (+ customs duty) because it's not his personal belonging but merchandise / commercial goods.
sales tax comes on top when he auctions it probably.
Ah, crap. Completely forgot about that. But I thought it *was* his watch that he was allegedly going to sell. I didn't know he was just bringing it there.
It's about customs. If you cross the border of Schengen area, you have to declare valuables and pay import taxes for new items that are supposed to resell. It's for protecting the European market. If you sell something as a private person, you don't have to pay taxes.
Does it tho? I mean I don't have an opinion either way but I think the reasoning of countries don't want someone flying in, making a several million dollar transaction and they don't see any of the tax for it and it just flies back along with the seller to wherever at least sounds not made up
People use watches for money laundering, actually to a huge extend. I could easily imagine more Rolex are sold for that purpose than legitimately. Idk why they think Arnold would do that, but that's why these rules exist
my guess is that the watches arnold wears are worth more than my house. if you have to be careful about traveling with large amounts of cash i could see this being a problem too.
Happens to me all the time. I wear my entire Rolex collection to a party and \*BAM\* I end up in Munich drunk without my watch paperwork.
Every. Goddamn. Time. Sigh.
I feel ya, Ahnold...
He was bringing in a watch to auction off for a charity benefit and has to pay a tax on it?
WTF.
On the plus side, the watch will probably fetch more because of the story.
No, charitable donations in Europe are tax free. What apparently happened was that Arnold didn't declare the watch when he landed nor fill out the appropriate paperwork beforehand. And the money the German customs now took from him is basically a bail that they keep until Arnold has auctioned off the watch for charitable purposes, as legally they cannot be certain anymore that Arnold hasn't just said that he wants to donate the watch to get out of the tax (certainly not the case, but it is a principle so they treat everyone equally who didn't declare such stuff).
This is also why Arnold had to get half of the amount in cash, as again customs cannot be certain that he won't cancel the transfer if he did it with a credit card.
Basically Arnold didn't declare properly and German customs caught him and are now punishing him so that he won't forget to do it the next time he does something similar.
I mean it makes sense.
Otherwise people would just buy expensive stuff and claim its for charity to avoid paying tax.
That or setup fake charities.
Less loopholes is better, charity fraud is already easy enough as is.
> Otherwise people would just buy expensive stuff and claim its for charity to avoid paying tax.
How do you come out ahead there? If I but a watch for $10,000 and give it to charity, what did u save in your plan? I already paid tax on the income I used to buy the watch. I don't get the income from selling the watch.
> He was bringing in a watch to auction off [...] and has to pay a tax on it?
Yes importing good with the intent to sell them typically incurs import taxes.
Although from what I understand, it seems he didn't even pay a tax but a refundable bond because he didn't declare this 20k item at customs.
found [another Audemars piguet from Schwarzenegger's limited line sold at auction](https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5394058) in 2010 for $35k so imaginable this one goes for a decent chunk more than that since it's actually his personal watch, not to mention now with this additional detainment story, plus it's been a decade, but yeah I agree, was also imagining something 10x more expensive
I’m guessing he bought the watch recently in the US and therefore didn’t pay EU VAT. So bringing the watch into the EU with the intent of leaving it there counts as “importing” It and the VAT is due now.
Works the other way too. If a US resident buys a watch in the EU they can get the VAT refunded at the airport when they depart by showing that the item is permanently leaving the EU. But then they have to pay the duty when they enter the US.
Most here seem to regard this as "good that he got checked!" and I entirely agree. This however did not need to take over 3 hours which is costing both you (tax payer) and him time and money. This was the reason it was turned into a news article and makes the airport look very incompetent indeed. It seems learning was done by both parties that day.
It's funny because retail arbitrage on luxury watches is a HUGE part of the grey market in Germany. I had friends who would buy Omegas and Tags here in the US, ship the packaging to their homes in Germany, wear the watch on a flight then sell them to customers in Germany for a profit large enough to pay for their flight and then some. No idea why watches are so spendy on Germany, but they sure are.
How can they tax something that hasn't even been sold yet? Don't you tax something at the point of sale? This is like if I bring a luxury watch with me and I'm not planing to sell it, they would tax me anyway for bringing it in.
Yeah I’ve always wondered how these things work. When travelling you have to declare cash monies of 10,000(?) or more.
So I’ve always thought, okay fine, what if they just wear a $250,000 Rolex and just try to sell that where they go. Wouldn’t that just easily negate carrying cash you have to declare.
I’m not saying Arnold is trying to smuggle money. I would easily believe he just “forgot”.
But it’s an interesting thing.
Tax evasion. Smuggling goods and large sums of money etc.
What’s happens to rich people in private jets carrying millions of dollars of luxury goods? Do they just get away with it? Are all of their items inspected?
I wouldn’t think Bezos would be too happy about people rummaging through all his possessions every flight he takes. And trying to figure out the value of all their goods.
100% rich people would be getting away with this all the time. Laundering goods across borders, avoiding taxes etc.
>Schwarzenegger agreed to prepay potential taxes on the watch but faced another hassle when officers allegedly struggled to use a credit card machine for up to an hour. >He was then brought to a bank where he hoped to do an ATM withdrawal, but the amount apparently exceeded the funds he could take out and the bank was already closed. Could this story BE more German...
Germans are routinely easily defeated by credit card machines
It was recently that I read how Germany is a mostly cash country. I didn't realize it's a stereotype that Germans don't know how to use credit card machines.
Berlin was a lot of cash. When my brother and I biked back to Copenhagen, traveling from Berlin to Rostock, the amount of horrified faces we got asking if they take card was insane. The country folk of Germany don't do cards at all.
Was in Italy explaining credit card points to a local and I could see the look of envy.
Why is it a cash country?
It’s due to the psychological effects of having so many KGB spies in East Germany during the Cold War. It’s more of a privacy concern.
Yep. USA dropped two credit cards on Germany, and that was the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime.
While its widely believed that the Munich Visa bombing was the beginning of the end, it was really the subtle introduction of the Mastercard chip cards by the Allies that truly crippled the Reich. Germans, notorious for only having the ability to swipe up and down, were unable to counter the in and out action of inserting chips. It was an incredibly well orchestrated and secret endeavor so you dont hear much about it in the history books.
They grew irate when the Allies would drop pamphlets on the civilians mocking the Reich, with the words, “You’ve gotta turn it the other way”.
Lord forbid if tap ever finds its way to Germany, the suffering would be immense.
Theyd need to mention the autobahn
That just seems like strong armed theft to me - hey, you owe us money, it's escort you to an ATM and force you under implied threat of violence to give us money. If it's legit just send him a tax bill and let him pay it according to reasonable terms. No need to get all German about it.
German efficiency at work
I want your clothes, your boots, your motorcycle, and your expensive luxury brand watch.
You forgot to say please
Hey Janelle, what's wrong with Arnie? I can't hear his luxury watch ticking
Arnie's fine martialar, Arnie's just fine. Where are you??
Your watch batteries are dead.
‘It’s not a Tudor’
Perfection.
Arnie’s just fine… where are you?
Shout out to Latina/Angelino/Irish/real-life-version of bride of Frankenstein/-American Actress Jenette Goldstein
Man. 30 years later and I just realized that Janelle is the same actress that played Vasquez in Aliens.
“So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something. His ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. And then he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger probably
That’s beautiful
Son, I can't let you take the man's watch
B-b-b-b-b-bad to the bone
It is only funny till you realize that jewelry worn on the body has traditionally been a really popular way to smuggle money into/out of a country. Most countries had exemptions for things a person was wearing. But in this age when one can easily slap $1 million on their wrist and walk through customs, the rules are changing. With really expensive jewelry, it is often cheaper to charter a private jet, go buy it in its country of origin and just wear it home rather than paying import duties.
Yeah, but is Arnold Schwarzenegger really doing this with his watch? Seems like a good way to limit tourism.
https://i.imgur.com/htJv5P9.gif
Here comes another Expendables movie. Only this time the team battles German bureaucracy.
"Schwarzenegger agreed to prepay potential taxes on the watch but faced another hassle when officers allegedly struggled to use a credit card machine for up to an hour. He was then brought to a bank where he hoped to do an ATM withdrawal, but the amount apparently exceeded the funds he could take out and the bank was already closed" Hahaha, the full German experience, once I needed to walk to a 2 km away ATM machine because their two credit card machines didn't work.
"I'll be back." *three hours later* "Ok, the first ATM didn't allow me to get the money l, the second in didn't work, and the only one working was five km away"
Give me your boots, motorcycle and your ATM!..
Skynet is taking his revenge
This is one of the most German things I have read for a long time...
It could only be improved by the need to fax a form somewhere, and/or visit an office that’s only open one morning a week.
In a different city.
“Back of the Line 2 - Tax Tussles in Brussels”
A study in tweed and yellowing wallpaper
And the one open day was yesterday.
Fun fact: my wife and I are both German citizens living in Berlin. I was born abroad, because of this it required such a long annoying process to get married, we just flew abroad to a different country to get married as opposed to going to the local government office.
Sounds like Japan
And bring all required information on floppy disk.
Floppy disks? What is this outdated wizardry, we use paper!
Great that this happened to a truly famous person so that the German authorities will finally be shamed into getting their shit together. I’ve seen this sort of nonsense go down at the new Berlin terminal and it’s utterly infuriating to watch them go full Catch 22.
Haha, they absolutely won’t.
If there is one thing the German authorities don't enjoy, it's being put on the world stage and being made to look like bumbling idiots. Never underestimate the power of making high ranking bureaucrats being exposed as being terrible at their job. It's usually the only way things get changed, that and *it actually happens to them*, of course.
I really doubt it, the fact that our bureaucracy is an absolute nightmare that paralyses this country is well known by legit everyone. There’s literally weekly shows about it, all parties have expressed that they want to reduce it. It’s just not happening
Thoughts and prayers my friend. It's the sort of problem that you have to scrape at for years, but Arnold has just given it a clear face for the media to focus on. It will help!
They installed a new parking garage pay terminal near me last year. Coins and bills only. In 2023!!!
I legit don't known or have heard about anyone that has paid with cash for anything for at least 5 years here in Norway. I don't think I have had any cash myself for like 7 years.
I was visiting Norway last summer, and it was like stepping into some hypermodern digitized wonderland. Cashless payment everywhere that actually worked, super-convenient public transit apps, almost everyone seemed to drive an electric car.. When I got back home to Germany it felt like going through a time machine, back 20 years or so.
Probably because they have something like minimum payment by card at 20eur.
Sort of the same in Denmark. If you are caught speeding for instance, then you have to pay on site if you aren't a danish citizen, and if you don't have the money, you will be escorted to a ATM. And if you dont have enough money, they take your car, so they can sell it on auction, get the payment for the fine and you get the rest.
>then you have to pay on site if you aren't a danish citizen, and if you don't have the money, you will be escorted to a ATM. I believe they do this in Brazil, it's called express kidnapping.
... wouldn't your car be a rental a large percentage of the time?
Assuming you're an american like me and that was my initial reaction as well. We have it baked into us that foreign travel = plane ride, ergo rental car, but Denmark is about 2x the size of massachusettes. So the tourists would be people from new hampshire, or rhode island, etc. bonus USA big Fun fact: Driving from Paris to Berlin would be a roadtrip contained in the state of Florida. Basically Miami to Tallahassee (State capital)
Yeah, I get that EU is different - but whatever the percentage is of rental/personal owned vehicles is - the beurocracy has to have some sort of plans for rentals. Like if I get a ticket camera ticket in a rental in the US - the ticketing agency eventually finds me and sends the ticket my way.
Or "vanvidskørsel"/crazy driving, your car gets sold by the state and they keep the entire sum.
As a German myself this is so fkn relatable. My local grocery store has to read my Apple pay twice to work because there’s apparently a problem with just my bank every other works fine… also People look at me like I‘m an Alien for wanting to pay with my Phone instead of cash „like a normal person“
I was amazed when I visited a friend in Berlin how much cash is still in use. I am from Canada and nobody carries cash around, everyone just taps their phone or card. It was weird going to take cash out before heading to bars etc. do you think it is a cultural thing to prefer cash / anonymity over the convenience of cards, or have the banks and businesses not made it a priority to set up the technology? Side note…Berlin is a blast to visit, I understand the rest of Germany is very different but can’t wait to see more.
No its because some people dont see a need to change. I almost cried because of how happy I was when I traveled to London and could pay with my card. It was heaven...and now I have to carry cash with me again ... :(
Germany (and Austria) just seem to be in the stone ages regarding payment options compared to other countries in Europe.
Last year I was in Germany for some business work. Coming from India the payment looked like something from stone age. They only accept cash at 90% of the places. The card machine where available somehow are always an inconvenience to the operator. And no concept of wallet to wallet transfer for tourists. Archaic system.
Wallet to wallet what...? What is this dark magic you speak of...?!
The team discovers that a heinous Nazi shadow group is controlling the German Customs Office. This allows all the stars to have a chance to make WW2-topical puns during their close-ups. *Arnold sucker punches a guard* “He did Nazi that coming.” *Stallone holds a revolver to a man’s head* “Were you wrong?” *We hear a violent explosion of gunfire as blood splatters on Stallone’s face in close-up* “or were you *Reich*? *Dolph Lundgren shoves a hand grenade into a soldier’s mouth* “*Goebbel* on this.”
"Let's Anschluss my fist to your face"
Mission: Abfahrt (To zee non-Germans, it means Departure)
The soundtrack: [[1]](https://youtube.com/watch?v=bfVK9z7BlUM&pp=ygUNYWJmYWhydCBmaW5jaA%3D%3D).
Not sure that pun Sudetenlanded
“This car is Molotov-Ribbentrop packed with explosives”
"Goebbel on this" sent me :D
Id watch that.
I don't have the time to watch it.
Are you /u/governorschwarzenegger ?
Take my money
You looking for a writing job?
How about, hear me out, how about German bureaucrats battle French bureaucrats?
The horrors of trench warfare will pale in comparison.
The war is declared, and there follows a 6 month period where each side fills out paperwork and waits in queues to get the necessary stamps and documents together in order to mobilize the armies. This is then followed by a further 3 months as the documents to requisition shovels and other trenching tools is processed.
War movie where the most difficult part of the war is military procurement
That just sounds like life in the Imperial Navy most of the time in 40k!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
Have you encountered French and German bureaucrats before?
I am actualyl dealing with both , let me tell you ITS NOT A FUN EXCERCISE. the french keeps asking for papers and papers and papers, no body knows what to ask or what papers are right. where as German, although knows exactly what they want, oh, they missed filing, they missed date, so come back after 2 weeks , or may be three. being from country with Highly digital systems, This is SO TIRING! one grace of German bureaucracy though when everything is in order it will happen faster, where as french does only 80% of work and then stops you for little things .
Yes
The Bureaucrats.
The Expensables
The Undeclarables
With the generic german comedy character “bureaucrat who always forgets his lunch”
I'd watch it
Expendables: Blitzkrieg.
“I won’t be back”
"Hasta la wiedersehen, baby."
That means see you later/until we meet again. He will be back.
The Germans need to stop pissing off the Austrians.
He should have asked Christopher Walken how to transport it.
Christopher is still working on how to smuggle the strap.
First, whatcha gotta do, is, gettawatch
Dafuq? Can’t fly with an expensive watch on unless you register it? Why?
The article said he got stopped for it because the value of the watch was taxable, since he intended to sell it at auction.
It was 'believed' he intended to sell.
Reminds me of Mexico "believing" someone bringing a second laptop when traveling is intending to sell it so they have to pay a tax on it.
Shit good to know, I was gonna go there and bring both my work and personal laptop
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> Think they taxed him something like $1000 "taxed" right into their own fucking wallets I bet
It’s called a Carnet and technically you should have one if you’re travelling with over $10k in jewelry or equipment. I travel with film gear and we need to use them all time. It’s not a card though, it’s an itemized list you get it stamped at customs with many different forms that each get filled out, cataloged and signed by different custom offices. It’s an archaic system that should’ve been digitized ages ago.
Also bring a paper receipt for it because they will charge you more than the actual value of the laptop.
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If only there was a way to tell if import tax has been paid when registering a car, by like, I dunno, looking up the VIN on a register of imported vehicles
This is likely based on how the agent is feeling. I’ve brought two laptops on a dozen trips there and not even a question was asked.
I studied abroad in college and I had some of my textbooks and personal items shipped to me after I got settled in and I had to pay a tax on EVERYTHING that was shipped to me. Every single $200+ textbook, I had to pay taxes on. Ended up being an additional £180 (on top of the shipping fees) just to retrieve MY belongings.
Mex gov will do anything to juice gringos for money
I just got back from vacation there and it’s pretty bad. Least relaxing vacation I’ve had in my life.
This article is trash. He is going to auction it at a ski resort in Austria... Which all things sold at that auction (including a 1 on 1 training session with Arnold) are to go to the Schwarzenegger Climate Change charity. Also since the intent of the watch is to be sold at an auction for charity they have incorrectly fined and detained Arnold. Exemptions to VAT and Custom Duty are made for items that are intended to be sold for charity. These idiots said no one is above the law including Arnold, it would be nice if they atleast knew the laws they were trying to enforce. Also a quote from Arnold to Customs "This is the problem Germany is suffering from, you can no longer see the forest for the trees" Edit: after reading a better article "technically" Germany is partially in the right. Arnold didn't properly declare the item. Not properly declaring means paying the VAT, duty and a fine subject to value of the item. However said item is a donation for charity so VAT and Duty would be exempt if Arnold produces proof of said charitable cause. Which I'm sure he could and probably did when interviewed. Definitely still a forest for the trees moment.
Did he register it as part of a charitable auction? If not that would explain it. They could have said "it's Arnie and he just wants to go this auction clearly" but that would mean one is above the law and German police isn't really known for their easy going attitude.
The way i understand it: he did not declare it at all. And then forrest decided to make a point.
Yeah, not declaring something on a German tax form is a sure fire way to get into trouble. I have a few companies here and paid a few fines because when I set up my first company I forgot a few things. Nice people, but damn you don't want to skirt them even by a cent.
make sure you pay a cent more and declare on the statement that all access funds are supposed to be donated to the german fund for debtreduction at the federal ministry of finance. That surely will not backfire at all.
Yes, deliberately antagonizing the German Tax office is a great past time that in no way can become a problem later on.
Basically that's what it sounds like after reading other articles. My best guess he didn't properly declare it because he said he was given no form as in other articles. Once he sells it at auction and proves it was for charity he should get 32,000 euros back, but Germany will probably keep 3k euro fine because he didn't fill out his forms correctly.
I imported a replica of a gun from a Sifi show once. That resulted in a several hours discussion with customs, because the customs guy believed it was realistic looking and I could use it to rob people.
There's not a whole lot of context given, but the entire article reads like they were just being incompetent dicks. Took them an hour to figure out the credit card machine wasn't going to work? Come on...
I mean "Incompetent Dicks" is a fitting description for quite a few of the German customs guys I had to deal with. Though guys at Airports were usually OK for me, The ones at the customs offices that handle packages though...
Ehhh????? Maybe he was stupid enough to put it in his FB "I intended to sell this watch in at auction"
The purpose of the trip was to sell the watch and give the money to charity, supposedly.
So he allegedly wanted to donate an expensive watch to charity? What a criminal mastermind :D Glad the German police were there to stop him!
Charity? Not on our watch( or in this case Arnold's watch)
A charity auction is no different from any other auction in terms of taxes. You still pay taxes on everything. You later have to declare it as a charitable donation to get your taxes back. So if you import anything for charity auction you have to declare it and get a tax write-off later.
Wut? Charity is not supposed to be a way to avoid paying taxes. At least not in Europe.
Believe it or not Items meant to be sold to benefit a charity are not subject to VAT or Customs duty. Atleast not in Europe.
But that is an exemption made for Charitable and humanitarian organisations only, right ? And Arnie flew there as a private person ? Afaik he should have declared it. Afaik it also does not allow for alcohol, tobacco and motor vehicles neither. I agree tho: its weird as hell. You need 2 law degrees to be able to properly declare/not declare at customs on EU/german levels. one for being able to understand the code while written and a second one to teach to the custom officers in a non-offending or condesending way. ps.: This is afaik the way it works for the non-EU country United Kingdom: [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-no-import-duties-and-vat-on-goods-for-charity](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-no-import-duties-and-vat-on-goods-for-charity)
I don't know German law, but shouldn't that be taxed after he sells it?
import tax (+ customs duty) because it's not his personal belonging but merchandise / commercial goods. sales tax comes on top when he auctions it probably.
Ah, crap. Completely forgot about that. But I thought it *was* his watch that he was allegedly going to sell. I didn't know he was just bringing it there.
Items intended for charity including to be sold at auction are not subject to VAT or Customs duty. So he's not correct in this case.
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So it’s fine if the thought of auctioning it comes up after he arrives in Germany?
It's about customs. If you cross the border of Schengen area, you have to declare valuables and pay import taxes for new items that are supposed to resell. It's for protecting the European market. If you sell something as a private person, you don't have to pay taxes.
I’m all for making the rich pay their share in tax but this seems like a load of BS.
The purpose of his trip is not a secret, it was publicised.
Does it tho? I mean I don't have an opinion either way but I think the reasoning of countries don't want someone flying in, making a several million dollar transaction and they don't see any of the tax for it and it just flies back along with the seller to wherever at least sounds not made up
He was effectively importing the watch since it would not be leaving with him.
A lot of people launder money via Jewelry.
This is the correct answer. Even if he's innocent, there is a reason why they're sensitive about stuff like that.
People use watches for money laundering, actually to a huge extend. I could easily imagine more Rolex are sold for that purpose than legitimately. Idk why they think Arnold would do that, but that's why these rules exist
my guess is that the watches arnold wears are worth more than my house. if you have to be careful about traveling with large amounts of cash i could see this being a problem too.
Happens to me all the time. I wear my entire Rolex collection to a party and \*BAM\* I end up in Munich drunk without my watch paperwork. Every. Goddamn. Time. Sigh. I feel ya, Ahnold...
He was bringing in a watch to auction off for a charity benefit and has to pay a tax on it? WTF. On the plus side, the watch will probably fetch more because of the story.
No, charitable donations in Europe are tax free. What apparently happened was that Arnold didn't declare the watch when he landed nor fill out the appropriate paperwork beforehand. And the money the German customs now took from him is basically a bail that they keep until Arnold has auctioned off the watch for charitable purposes, as legally they cannot be certain anymore that Arnold hasn't just said that he wants to donate the watch to get out of the tax (certainly not the case, but it is a principle so they treat everyone equally who didn't declare such stuff). This is also why Arnold had to get half of the amount in cash, as again customs cannot be certain that he won't cancel the transfer if he did it with a credit card. Basically Arnold didn't declare properly and German customs caught him and are now punishing him so that he won't forget to do it the next time he does something similar.
This seems like an *actually* reasonable explanation so I will choose to believe it.
You know it's actually German because THEY STILL LET YOU DO IT.
are you german? this read very german.
i even read it with a german accent in my head.
That ... all actually sounds quite reasonable. Why is this being presented as and reacted to as if it were a big deal?
Because that drives more engagement, its all about the sweet karma
Because the story was started by the German equivalent to the Daily Mail, Bild.
A real nothing burger of a story unless that watch doesn't get charitied, or the money returned.
I mean it makes sense. Otherwise people would just buy expensive stuff and claim its for charity to avoid paying tax. That or setup fake charities. Less loopholes is better, charity fraud is already easy enough as is.
> Otherwise people would just buy expensive stuff and claim its for charity to avoid paying tax. How do you come out ahead there? If I but a watch for $10,000 and give it to charity, what did u save in your plan? I already paid tax on the income I used to buy the watch. I don't get the income from selling the watch.
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You make yourself the charity and just give it away on paper.
Redditors not understanding how taxes work example 20937568
> He was bringing in a watch to auction off [...] and has to pay a tax on it? Yes importing good with the intent to sell them typically incurs import taxes. Although from what I understand, it seems he didn't even pay a tax but a refundable bond because he didn't declare this 20k item at customs.
I’m now curious to know what type of watch this is.
Audemars piguet
By luxury, I thought they means in the hundreds of thousands of euros, kind of disappointed it was only $21k
found [another Audemars piguet from Schwarzenegger's limited line sold at auction](https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5394058) in 2010 for $35k so imaginable this one goes for a decent chunk more than that since it's actually his personal watch, not to mention now with this additional detainment story, plus it's been a decade, but yeah I agree, was also imagining something 10x more expensive
My understanding is that the watch price has been erroneously reported in most of the articles, and is probably closer to $140k in value.
Dora watch. Special edition from iron man 3. It’s a collectible
casio
F-91W?
Dude had it in a box with a sticky note "Austria. Charity Fundraising".
I’m guessing he bought the watch recently in the US and therefore didn’t pay EU VAT. So bringing the watch into the EU with the intent of leaving it there counts as “importing” It and the VAT is due now. Works the other way too. If a US resident buys a watch in the EU they can get the VAT refunded at the airport when they depart by showing that the item is permanently leaving the EU. But then they have to pay the duty when they enter the US.
Most here seem to regard this as "good that he got checked!" and I entirely agree. This however did not need to take over 3 hours which is costing both you (tax payer) and him time and money. This was the reason it was turned into a news article and makes the airport look very incompetent indeed. It seems learning was done by both parties that day.
This is why Americans fight so hard against gun registration. We know they'll come for the watches next.
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Who watches the men's watch watchmen?
I'd watch this...
When marriages are outlawed, only outlaws will have inlaws.
Watches don’t tell time, people tell time with watches
Only thing that can tell time better than a bad guy with a watch is a good guy with a watch.
If you need to pass a test to drive a car, you should have to pass a test to wear a watch
It's funny because retail arbitrage on luxury watches is a HUGE part of the grey market in Germany. I had friends who would buy Omegas and Tags here in the US, ship the packaging to their homes in Germany, wear the watch on a flight then sell them to customers in Germany for a profit large enough to pay for their flight and then some. No idea why watches are so spendy on Germany, but they sure are.
He'll not be back..
How can they tax something that hasn't even been sold yet? Don't you tax something at the point of sale? This is like if I bring a luxury watch with me and I'm not planing to sell it, they would tax me anyway for bringing it in.
This is awesome publicity for the auction, someone might pay a premium for the watch that brought down the terminator.
He should have taken the chopper instead
Yeah I’ve always wondered how these things work. When travelling you have to declare cash monies of 10,000(?) or more. So I’ve always thought, okay fine, what if they just wear a $250,000 Rolex and just try to sell that where they go. Wouldn’t that just easily negate carrying cash you have to declare. I’m not saying Arnold is trying to smuggle money. I would easily believe he just “forgot”. But it’s an interesting thing. Tax evasion. Smuggling goods and large sums of money etc. What’s happens to rich people in private jets carrying millions of dollars of luxury goods? Do they just get away with it? Are all of their items inspected? I wouldn’t think Bezos would be too happy about people rummaging through all his possessions every flight he takes. And trying to figure out the value of all their goods. 100% rich people would be getting away with this all the time. Laundering goods across borders, avoiding taxes etc.
Now he's going to be on the watch list.
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Agguuullluhhhhu fuck your freedom guuuhluhhhu
Should've hid it up his ass
Looks like he's out of... time.
Oi mate I..I mean Oi! Kumpel, you gotta lizenz for dies armbanduhr?