A US company that I know of has some questions on customs duties. I hope I can get some answers here.

This company recently set up a subsidiary in Shanghai that mainly does R&D. They will need to ship some PC's and laptops with all the configurations over here. They heard that they may get some allowance for customs because they have an office here. Is it true? And how do other technology companies bring in equipment from overseas? What is the best way to ship?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.