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HS Codes / Chapter 85: Electrical machinery and equipment / 850811
850811 Chapter 85 · Electronics

Vacuum cleaners, domestic, up to 1,500 W

Six-digit subheading in Electronics, chapter 85 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 6 destination markets.

Anatomy of 850811

Chapter
85
Electrical machinery and equipment
Heading
85.08
Product group
Subheading
85.08.11
Specific product

You will declare against a longer local code that begins 850811: ten digits in the United States and the United Kingdom, eight in the European Union, and the first six the same everywhere. Which trailing digits apply is what the 6 rates below differ on.

What this code covers

HS code 850811 covers vacuum cleaners, domestic, up to 1,500 W under Chapter 85 (electrical machinery and equipment). Across the 6 destinations priced here the duty runs from 0% to 8%, and Canada is the dearest. Australia and United States charge no duty at all on this code, so the same shipment lands at very different cost depending on where it goes. Destination tax is charged on top, on the customs value plus any duty, and runs from 0% to 23% across these markets, highest in Portugal, with none at the border in United States. All 6 rates below have been read from the tariff schedule of the market that charges them.

Import duty by country

MFN duty rate · 6 countries
Country Duty VAT Notes
🇦🇺Australia 0% 10% Zero duty. 10% GST.
🇨🇦Canada 8% 5% 8% duty + 5% GST.
🇩🇪Germany 2.2% 19% EU 2.2% duty + 19% VAT.
🇵🇹Portugal 2.2% 23% EU 2.2% duty + 23% IVA.
🇬🇧United Kingdom 2% 20% 2% duty + 20% VAT.
🇺🇸United States 0% 0% Duty free on household vacuum cleaners. No federal VAT.

Rates shown are MFN (Most Favoured Nation), the default for WTO members. Preferential FTA rates may be lower with valid proof of origin. Section 301 / anti-dumping surcharges on Chinese-origin goods are not included.

What that costs: 850811 into Canada

An illustrative consignment of 850811 invoiced at CAD 2,000.00, priced in CAD because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.

Goods value on the invoice CAD 2,000.00
International freight CAD 120.00
Cargo insurance CAD 30.00
Value the duty is charged on, FOB basis CAD 2,000.00
Duty at 8% CAD 160.00
Canada tax at 5%, charged on the value plus the duty CAD 108.00
Total, before commercial charges CAD 2,418.00

And if the consignment were small

Canada relieves customs duties and taxes on consignments at or under CAD 20. The 850811 shipment above is over that, so its duty is charged in full. The same code invoiced at exactly CAD 20 with no freight would be charged CAD 0.00 of duty and CAD 0.00 of tax, a total of CAD 20.00. The rate on the 850811 row has not changed; only the charge is relieved.

Selling rather than buying? CAD 2,418.00 is what your buyer in Canada pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Canada sets out who collects it and what your invoice has to say.

An illustration, not a quotation: broker fees, handling and any trade remedy on the origin sit outside it. Price 850811 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.

How these rates were verified

Rates last verified 30 August 2026

Every figure in the table above was read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it, on the date shown. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator.

🇦🇺AU
Australian Border Force Schedule 3 working tariff, general rate for 8508.11.00, read from abf.gov.au.
🇨🇦CA
CBSA Customs Tariff 2026, MFN rate for 8508.11.00, read from cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.
🇩🇪DE
EU Access2Markets, third country duty for CN 8508110000 and the German VAT rate, read from trade.ec.europa.eu.
🇬🇧GB
UK Trade Tariff, third country duty for commodity 8508110000, read from trade-tariff.service.gov.uk.
🇵🇹PT
EU Access2Markets, third country duty for CN 8508110000 and the Portuguese IVA rate, read from trade.ec.europa.eu.
🇺🇸US
USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule, general rate for HTS 8508.11.00.00, read from hts.usitc.gov.

Re-check first: The subheading is capped at 1,500 W and a 20 litre receptacle. A larger machine is 8508.19, where the Canadian rate drops to 7.5% and the other five are unchanged.

What falls under 850811

  • Vacuum cleaners with a self contained electric motor, of a power not exceeding 1,500 W
  • Domestic uprights, cylinders, cordless sticks and robot vacuums within that power limit

What's specifically excluded

These look similar but belong under a different code:

  • 850819: Vacuum cleaners with self contained motor above 1,500 W
  • 850860: Other vacuum cleaners, including industrial units without a self contained motor
  • 850870: Parts of vacuum cleaners

Commonly confused with

850819: Vacuum cleaner above the power limit
Subheading 8508.11 carries two conditions and both must hold: a self contained electric motor and a rated power of 1,500 W or less. A wet and dry workshop vacuum rated at 1,600 W leaves this code entirely even though it is otherwise the same kind of machine.

850940: Domestic food mixers
Both are electro mechanical domestic appliances with self contained motors, but vacuum cleaners have their own heading at 8508 and are excluded from 8509. A combined carpet washer that sprays and extracts is still a vacuum cleaner rather than a domestic appliance of 8509.

Classification & cost note

This subheading is unusual in Chapter 85 for turning on a numeric threshold rather than a function, and the threshold is rated input power in watts as marked on the appliance, not suction power in air watts or in pascals. Marketing material almost always quotes the suction figure, because that is the number consumers compare, so the figure printed most prominently on the box is not the figure the tariff asks for. Read the rating plate. A second and increasingly common problem is the cordless stick vacuum sold with a charging dock and spare battery: presented together for retail sale the set is classified by the essential character, which is the vacuum cleaner, but a spare battery shipped separately is a battery and takes its own code, and importers who ship consumables in the same container often miss that split.

Typical products: Cordless stick vacuums · Robot vacuum cleaners · Domestic cylinder vacuums under 1,500 W · Handheld car vacuums with rechargeable packs

What the notes to section XVI say

Chapter 85 sits in section XVI, machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment; parts thereof, sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles, where a section note governs every chapter in the section and applies before the heading notes below; the 6 reaching chapter 85 name no heading this site holds a code under, and they are quoted whole on the chapter 85 page, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/16 on 2026-09-08.

What the nomenclature says about heading 8508

850811 is a subheading of 8508, vacuum cleaners , and it is the only code this site holds under that heading.

No numbered note to chapter 85 takes heading 8508 as its subject, which is what the published notes say rather than a gap on this page: the heading is defined by its own wording above and by the note to the chapter, quoted in full on the chapter 85 page.

Read from the notes to chapter 85 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/85, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/8508, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 85 page. These notes are part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so the rule is the same whichever destination a shipment is going to, and it decides classification and never a rate.

Questions about 850811

Which power figure decides the code, suction or input?

Rated input power in watts, as shown on the appliance rating plate. Suction expressed in air watts or in pascals is a performance measure and has no bearing on classification, though it is usually the figure the packaging emphasises.

How is a cordless vacuum sold with a spare battery classified?

Put up together for retail sale, the set takes the essential character of the vacuum cleaner. Batteries shipped loose or as separate stock are classified on their own as accumulators, so mixed consignments need the two lines separated.

Related codes in Chapter 85

Calculate duty for HS 850811

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In this chapter

Chapter 85: Electrical machinery and equipment

View all chapter 85 codes →