Under de minimis you are able to import shipments with a customs value below the equivalent of $800 void of any taxes, but that’s been scrapped completely since 2025. Even if I’ve purchased the following from Japan directly then importing that, does that alone avoid sales tax since it’s from another country outside the US:
- Zelda Switch 2 (日本語・国内専用): ¥62,980
- Zelda Pro Controller w/ Stand: ¥12,980
- Ocarina of Time Remake: ¥7,755
- HW Age of Imprisonment: ¥7,573
- Switch 2 Glass Screen Protector: ¥1,099
The total customs value of everything is ¥92,387 ($584) which is still below $800. Since the same stuff in the US would cost over $867.79 including sales tax. I would technically save $283.79 by importing rather than buying those from Game Stop, but de minimis is gone: would I still have to pay tax despite being from abroad?
Local Sales tax, no you wouldn’t pay it. You would pay import taxes as you rightly guessed. You may be paying sales taxes on the purcashing country depending if they advertise with taxes included.
The part you are missing is warranty. Your device purchased outside your country may not be honoured by the local support offerings.
I don’t know if the Switch has region locking so buying local games may be a crapshoot.
The Japanese version is only region locked in the sense of not being able to change the language & region nor being able to sign in using a foreign Nintendo account (it has to be a JP one). Cartridges from abroad (US, UK) do work but will automatically translate the UI into Japanese (if its supported).