FlyerTalk Forums - What do I need to declare at customs?

FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)

- TravelBuzz (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz-176/)

- - What do I need to declare at customs? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/628058-what-do-i-need-declare-customs.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bensyd

Am I the only one here that removes the tags and claims they are not new? Obviously for some things it can't be done wine etc. But for most other things it is possible. :D

I have done that. Also, on some things, I would wrap them up and put some random names on them so I can tell custom that they're gifts for relatives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by letiole

A friend of mine did this and got caught (she was wearing jewelry she had just purchased in Hong Kong, but that she didn't declare). Now not only was she paying on the things she did buy, but customs decided most everything she had with her - including the stuff she brought from home - was newly purchased abroad and subject to duty and fines.

I brought several thousand dollars worth of home appliances for personal use through U.S. Customs, declared them and was not charged any duty. Just because you go over the "limits" doesn't mean you will have exhorbitant or fees or any at all.

How did they know it was new??? I guess I don't usually come back dripping in gold :D but I have often come back well over my duty free allowance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bensyd

How did they know it was new??? I guess I don't usually come back dripping in gold :D but I have often come back well over my duty free allowance.

They're smart to know that no woman, rich or not, would wear 50 gold bracelets while traveling :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by bensyd

How did they know it was new??? I guess I don't usually come back dripping in gold :D but I have often come back well over my duty free allowance.

She made some mistakes, mainly that she didn't have a story ready when the agent started asking about where her jewelry came from. It was mostly jade. Once she was caught in the one lie, they decided everything from her camera to her watch that she already had was newly acquired.

I've actually had the opposite happen! I was on BA flying SVQ-LHR-JFK, with the latter segment on Concorde (this was just before it stopped flying), and I was headed home because my mother was on her deathbed. At Customs at JFK, the agent, in a stern voice, asked me if I had anything to declare. I told him that I did not, and that I had to cut this trip short because I had to go to the hospital to see my mom and he felt the need not only to tell me that "It is better to tell me now about your purchases before I find them on my own" and then proceeded to go through my luggage piece by piece.

There was NOTHING as I hadn't made any purchases and yet he felt the need to keep me there, looking at everything, seemingly to prove a point.

Nothing like this has happend since, and I am not sure what "trigger" besides flying on Concorde (and I don't even know that he specifically knew this) caused him to have such an attitude, or whether it was just a bad day for him!

On a side note, just last week when returning from London the agent didn't like the lack of itemization on my form (I simply listed $600 for clothing) and asked me to itemize it on the form!