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USA Customs $400 limit
We are 2 adults and 3 children.
When re-entering the USA do we have a $400 limit without paying taxes or a $2000 limit (5 x $400)? Are you sure? |
I think it is $800 per person, or $4000 for your family
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The long story:
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/...eforeyougo.pdf The short story: Technically, there are no limits on how much loot you can bring back into the United States from a trip abroad, but the customs authority does put limits on how much you can bring back for free. This restriction is mainly for taxation purposes: to separate tourists with souvenirs from importers with profit motives. What and how much you can bring into the United States is controlled by the U.S. Customs office, which basically views you as a small-time importer/exporter. Importers have to pay a governmental duty (tax) on any foreign-made item they bring into the country. However, the customs office realizes that the majority of travelers are merely bringing home items as souvenirs or gifts or for their personal use, and magnanimously allow you to bring in up to $800 worth of souvenirs and a few drops of that Italian wine for free. Note that this has absolutely nothing to do with the Duty Free Shop at the airport. The "duty," or tax, you are avoiding by shopping at these stores is the local tax on the item (like state sales tax in the United States), not any import duty that may be assessed by the U.S. customs office. All of this is explained on the VAT Refund page. Well, I Do Declare! Getting Through Customs In a development so shocking I checked it twice to be sure there wasn't an error, the federal government has actually made it easier to bring your stuff home. As of summer 2003, they doubled the cash value on goods US citizens allowed to take home without paying tax from $400 to $800 per person—so long as you've been out of the country for at least 48 hours and haven't used the exemption in the's past 30 days (rules designed to foil any small import/export sideline an airline crew member might try to get going). |
Note that they usually don't collect duty, anyway.
Two years ago I came in by myslef from India with $1,000 worth of stuff (jewelry and linens are great buys there) and they didn't charge me a dime. Same for our last trip to Scotland, where my husband and I brought in 4 bottles of whiskey- double the limit. In both cases, everything was declared in the paperwork- they just glanced at us and waved us through. |
Last year we bought a fur stole in YQB and declared it, along with our other souvenirs and DF cigarettes to Customs at EWR. They thanked us and waved us through, didn't ask to see receipts much less charge us duty.
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I've had similar experiences - I also know some people who didn't declare small excesses, were caught and paid substantial fines.
In my case, I was once returning from Munich - had a number of bottles of wine. I declared the # of bottles and got on the long line. The agent asked me what the total was in liters - I said I had no idea and proceeded to start reading each label to add it up. He rolled his eyes, said, "never mind," and that was that. |
i think it's just an honesty test to see if you may have other more important things to hide...
i've seen people come back with 4 luggages of new clothing for sale and wrote $100 value. i think any small amounts over $800 would be insignificant due to the time and paperwork involved in looking up HTS codes and filing customs paper. |
Originally Posted by Athena53
Note that they usually don't collect duty, anyway.
Two years ago I came in by myslef from India with $1,000 worth of stuff (jewelry and linens are great buys there) and they didn't charge me a dime. Same for our last trip to Scotland, where my husband and I brought in 4 bottles of whiskey- double the limit. In both cases, everything was declared in the paperwork- they just glanced at us and waved us through. |
Reminds me of returning home from Japan a number of years ago when "Pac-man" had just become popular in America. I'd bought a small handheld Pac-man-like game and wrote it down on my form.
The agent asked me what I was bringing in, without reading my form, so I mentioned the game. He said, "That's not allowed." I pulled the game out of my bag to hand over and he looked across the room avoiding me and said, "I don't see anything. I don't see that." So I put the game away and continued on my way. But I felt guilty every time I played afterwards. |
Originally Posted by Owlchick
Reminds me of returning home from Japan a number of years ago when "Pac-man" had just become popular in America. I'd bought a small handheld Pac-man-like game and wrote it down on my form.
The agent asked me what I was bringing in, without reading my form, so I mentioned the game. He said, "That's not allowed." I pulled the game out of my bag to hand over and he looked across the room avoiding me and said, "I don't see anything. I don't see that." So I put the game away and continued on my way. But I felt guilty every time I played afterwards. LAX |
Originally Posted by LAX
Why not? I thought small electronic items are allowed to enter the US.
LAX |
Originally Posted by Loren Pechtel
Note that he said "pac-man *LIKE*" (emphasis added). In other words, a IP violation.
LAX |
Unless you are bringing in something illegal, declare it all.
As long as it doesn't look like you're bringing enough stuff to begin/stock a business, or that the value of your goods isn't astronomical, they will almost certainly wave you through. If you fail to declare goods and are caught, not only will you likely be fined, but you'll also likely be flagged for a trip to the Red line for the forseeable future. Leave the smuggling to the professionals. ;) |
Originally Posted by LAX
Oh! I see. However, why didn't you tell them it's a "new" game designed by the Japanese? I would have said it looks nothing like "Pac-man" to me if they were going to take it away from me!
LAX These days my impression is they allow *ONE* such ripoff item of a type. |
Different Story in Canada
From experience and what others have told me, it seems that Canada Customs are more concerned about residents & citzens paying duty rather than bringing in fruits, meats, counterbands (YVR is especially notorious). Believe me, if they see something of potential duty, they will be all over it. I can't recall how many stories I've heard passenger getting busted and fined in YVR for filling out the error amount on their declarations.
On the other hand U.S. customs tend to focus more on fruits, meats, weapons, and counterbands than they are on residents paying duty. On most cases when passengers are selected for secondary inspection, those are the items they are on the lookout for. Going back to the OP's question, the duty free allowance for residents have been increased from $400 to $800 three years ago as someone has already mentioned. |
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