<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Witold:
What irks me the most is that the US is supposed to be this free trade model, supporter, and promoter, but they sack you with "duties" on practically anything and everything you may want to bring in. </font>
There is no duty to be paid on cash of any amount that's imported or exported. There's just a requirement to declare any amount that's more than $10,000.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">As for me, I don't declare anything. Part of it is principle, and part of it is that I don't want to pay "duties". I haven't been given any extra attention in the past, but I know I'm risking getting my purchases confiscated. (I don't think they can do anything if you tell them it was a gift, not a purchase)</font>
Actually, it doesn't matter if it was gift to you or not, or if you plan to give it as a gift to someone else. As long as it was aquired aboard and you're importing it to the US, it's subject to duties. As far as merchandise is concerned, I don't think they can confiscate it for failure to declare. They can assess the proper duty, along with a civil and/or criminal penalty for failing to make an accurate delcaration.
As for currency, they can confiscate the entire amount if you have more than $10,000 and fail to declare it when entering or leaving the country.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">FWAAA wrote:
but what authority allows Customs to search outgoing citizens at airports?</font>
31CFR103.56(c)(1) grants Customs the authority to investigate violations of the reporting requirement. They may not have blanket authority to search you for anything like they do upon entering the country, but they have specifically been granted the authority to enforce the Treasury Dept's regs regarding reporting export of more than $10,000.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Can Customs similarly visit my home randomly and count my money? After all, I may be leaving the country in the near future.</font>
You know this to be an extreme exaggeration. Unlike some countries, you can have any amount of money in your home or on your person. Actually, you can import and export any amount as well, as long as you declare it if it's more than $10,000. There is a similar reporting requirement anytime a business or bank receives more than $10,000 in cash per transaction (again, no tax or duty, just a requirement to report).
Separate from the mandatory reporting requirements, you *may* be subject to civil asset forfeiture if you have "too much" cash without a good reason (anywhere). I think the whole civil asset forfeiture system is out of control and should be reformed. There have been many cases (too many) of innocent people having their money seized because somebody thought it was "too much" to have. But this is a separate issue from the reporting requirements for importing and exporting currency. Unlike the civil asset forfeiture, you can have your money seized if you import or export more than $10,000 and fail to report it. Unlike civil asset forfeiture, there's no establishing after the fact that you had a good reason to have that much moeny - the failure to report it upon import/export in of itself is a violation.
[This message has been edited by Steve M (edited Dec 01, 2003).]