theworld

From what I understand there is nothing stopping you from bringing in alcohol into Singapore and not pay duty as long as its within the allowance, which from my reading is 1 litre.

In my present situation I'm travelling with my better half, on same flight but different bookings. I intend to check one bag in with two bottles of champagne.

When we get to Singapore can we claim that we have one bottle each and therefore within the duty free allowance, even though it was checked into one bag and we were on separate bookings?

Thanks in advance.

dsgtc0408

Actually, that isn't correct. For many years now, the traditional allowance per traveler has been one litre each of beer, wine and spirits. A few years ago, this allowance was liberalized where you could swap the litre of spirits for an additional litre of wine or beer (not both though).

See http://www.customs.gov.sg/insync/iss...duty_free.html

By all means go ahead; I believe the two bottles of champagne (presumably one litre each) are considered to be wine. I think it's safe to say you're all set since you can bring in these two bottles (plus a litre of beer in addition) and be within the duty free limit for one traveler.

The operative issue isn't the separate bookings part but the traveling together aspect. If hypothetically you packed four bottles of champagne in your checked bag, but you and your significant other were traveling on separate flights, then you would be guilty of champagne smuggling!

theworld

ok, great, thanks. I guess worrying over nothing then.

I guess bubbly will be taken with us then.

jpatokal

Unless your bottles of bubbly are special, you might want to consider buying them at Changi after you land: the selection is reasonable, the prices are generally decent, and you don't need to fret about them breaking along the way.

http://www.dfs.com/en/airport-singap...agne-sparkling

mkjr

bubbles will be a wee bit cheaper in HKG. depending on where you buy it, could be more or less. i would say your general caveat would apply to many countries, however, but I think HKG is cheaper by enough that I think it would make a difference to check it IMO if you are worried about saving a few bucks in a city where booze is ridiculously overpriced, ha, me saying that as a Canadian....i can buy tiger beer cheaper here at times.

MSPeconomist

I tend to just buy something at SIN duty-free on my way into the country. It's not a great selection or great prices, but the prices are better than downtown.

theworld

Thanks all. Just to clarify, this was special bubbly, hence wanting to bring it over, rather than buying from duty free (and also the fact that our flight arrived past midnight and wanting to get to the hotel pronto). Just to confirm no issues at all. Bubbly was brought over and consumed.

crackjack

I expect that, so long as you exit the baggage claim area into the arrivals hall together, shouldn't be a problem: it's dependent on actual entry into Singapore proper, i.e. once you pass the checkpoints, not when you land at Changi. If you exit together, they'd give you the allowance for two persons.

Now if one exited before the other, or exited from a different terminal, then there would be an issue when caught... and they will catch you (via 'random' x-ray screening).

On the other hand, GST for alcohol is really not so bad for wines. It is S$88 per 1L of pure alcohol, but given that champagne is normally ~10-12% alcohol content, that's only ~S$10 per litre. For 'special bubbly', that should be more than worth it!

(And yes, I do this for good wine, sake, even certain spirits which all would end up a whole lot more expensive at Singapore retail!)

Hoyaheel

Quick question on alcohol + customs because I apparently am dense. I've been reading the brochure on customs. I will NOT exceed my duty-free concession (to quote) BUT do I declare it and go through the Green channel or declare and go through the Red channel?? The description in the customs brochure is not helpful because it's not mutually exclusive. It says you can go through Green if you're not carrying declarable goods (describe above) and the Red if you are carrying goods exceeding your GST relief. I think Green, and don't need to declare, but would like to confirm. Thanks!

gilbertaue

Just walk through the green channel.

They may pull you over for scanning. As long as you're within the stipulated allowance, you're fine.

Hoyaheel

Thank you! So no need to write down ("declare") anywhere that I'm within the limits?

[I know, I know - I shouldn't worry this much, but it's the start of a long vacation for us and we'll have been traveling a long time and I don't want to mess up - I never worry about my business travel this much]

HKtraveller

Just make sure you are not coming in on Malaysia airlines. If you come from Malaysia you are not allowed any alcohol. They pulled me out with half a litre of beer (over land that was), and it took about an hour of bureaucracy to end up paying 1.7 S$ of duty.

Hoyaheel

Nope, we fit all the requirements to bring in the liquor at the specified duty free amounts (not coming from Malaysia or on a Malaysia airline, not crew, etc etc)

shuigao

Yes, there is no declaration form or any verbal declaration that you need to make as long as you're within the limits.

Note -- off topic, but while customs tends to be not-so-strict on alcohol, they are very strict on cigarettes. Singapore has no duty free allowance on cigarettes, and bringing in unopened packs (even accidentally) often attracts a relatively high fine in addition to paying duties.

Hoyaheel

Thanks. Fortunately, we don't smoke, so alcohol is the only vice we're carrying in.

What about ambien? I know that's a special drug class in Singapore and permission needs to be obtained before travel - do they really check that?? If it's in a prescription bottle, do we still need to do all the other stuff (application, letter from MD etc)? [we will if necessary but would prefer not to if it's not needed]