Originally Posted by
drewguy
Ah - okay. Thanks for clarifying that. So if I bring a case of wine I can point to ABV and tell them it's only ~1.1l of alcohol (9l x .125 ABV, plus water and flavor) and they'd tariff me on that?
The problem I'm seeing is that currently a lot of the tariffs are ad valorem - so it would be 15% of the value of the wine. I'm under the impression that an importer of wine basically now pays 15% of the value of the bottles (wholesale cost, not US retail) rather than the relatively small tariff previously imposed on alcohol (or wine alcohol). I suppose the calculation would be the first ~10-11 bottles are under the exemption, and then 15% on those above?
It depends on how the wine you want to import actually gets to the US. There are two different situations for importing alcohol (and most other items): A) importation for personal use that accompanies the passenger, and B (1) importation for resale that accompanies the passenger, or B(2) importation by broker for either personal use or commercial use/resale.
For A) alcohol accompanying the passenger: tariffs do not apply and, again, the duty is primarily calculated on the quantity of actual alcohol (%abv or percent alcohol by volume), not on the overall quantity of liquid in the bottle. It is also not calculated on what the passenger might have paid for the bottle. The first litre of actual alcohol is exempted, and then the rates for amounts of actual alcohol greater than one litre are found here:
Harmonized Tariff Schedule. So, for example, if you were planning to import one 750ml bottle of 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild Puillac for which you paid $9,500 at retail, there would be no fees to pay at all. And if you were planning to bring three of those $9,500 bottles to celebrate, say, a 50th wedding anniversary, then duty would be calculated the amount of actual alcohol by volume (11.8% x 2.25L = .265L of ABV) and the duty would still be zero.
Now, if you were to bring in 20 of those bottles then the duty would not be calculated on cost of bottles but would be calculated on the 1.77 litres of ABV. After the 1 litre personal exemption, duty would be calculated on the .77 litres of ABV above the personal exemption limit. (Of course, this assumes that at 20 bottles the customs officer believes it is for personal use, but that is a different issue).
If, however, your wine is imported under B1 not for personal use or B2 by a broker for personal use, then the rules are different and yes, ad valorem taxes, duty and tariffs might very well apply depending upon all the factors of the specific situation.
Hope that helps.