US duty question
 

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I've searched and can't find anything specific to US Customs.

I have never brought in over my duty free amount of alcohol, but I'm currently in Japan, and well, love sake. I want to bring more than 1 bottle, but I only have $40 left (and credit cards, which I don't want to rely on).

The CBP website is absolutely terrible at even suggesting how much duty is due. Does anyone have any idea? If it's over $40, do they just confiscate the extra, or am I in real trouble?

I'll be going into DFW, if that matters.

Unless you are bringing in cases of sake, they probably will not bother with levying any duty. It's more trouble for them than it is worth. Just list sake on your customs form (don't list the number of bottles) and the value and you should be ok. At least that has been my experience (with rum and vodka).

If you declare it, chances are you won't be charged with any duty. If you are, it's something small like $0.01 per % of alcohol per liter (don't remember the exact numbers but that's the order of magnitude). So a liter of vodka would be $0.40.

Be aware though, if your state has restrictions on the amount of alcohol one can carry/import, that will be more important than anything the fed laws say about it. I don't know how vigorously the feds enforce state laws, but it probably varies from airport to airport.

That's what I never understood. The form doesn't even *ask* for number of bottles, just value, so how do they even know who to stop? I have friends who brought in dozens of bottles of cheap wine that way...total value $60 or something. <shakes head>

I feel better though, since I'm really only talking what will fit in my carryon. Thanks!

Duty is theoretically 2-3 dollars per bottle of liquor. In practice it is almost never collected because customs officers have discretion on collecting small amounts of duty (amounts that do not make financial sense to collect). On the back of your customs declartion just say "5 bottles wine" or however much you have in the itemization section. Chances are no one will care.

When you import alcohol into the country, there are actually three types of taxes that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are supposed to collect:

1. Duty. For the first $1,000 of alcohol that you import in excess of your allowance, CBP levies duty at the rate of 3%. Generally speaking, most travelers who exceed this allowance wouldn't owe enough to make this money worth collecting, so they get waived through.

http://customs.gov/xp/cgov/travel/va...aying_duty.xml


2. IRS Excise Tax. While duty is assessed based upon the dollar value of the alcohol you're importing, the IRS excise tax is based upon the volume of alcohol content of what you're importing in excess of your allowance. This tax is $0.05 per can/bottle of beer, up to $0.31 for a standard bottle of wine, $0.62 for a standard bottle of champagne, and $2.14 for a 750 mL bottle of 80 proof liquor. As you can see from the numbers, you would need to import several bottles of liquor for the tax to add up to an amount worth the time/effort to collect.

The only time I've ever had to pay this tax was when my brother and I, while we were in college, drove back to the USA from Canada and stocked up on 8-10 bottles of vodka and a couple bottles of wine from the border duty-free. We declared the alcohol at the booth and were told to park and go inside to the cashier in the secondary search area. We showed him our receipt, he rang it up on the cash register, and we had to pay $20-some-odd for the vodka. He didn't bother ringing up the wine.

More info:
http://www.ttb.gov/tax_audit/atftaxes.shtml


3. State Taxes. In theory, CBP officers are supposed to enforce alcohol import regulations of the state in which your port of entry is located, if that state has regulations that are stricter than the federal regs. In practice, it seems to be a hit or miss proposition, depending on which officer processes you. Utah and Texas are two states that come to mind that fall into this category.

Texas, it appears, has strict limits on the amount of alcohol you can bring into the state (which varies for Texas residents and non-residents) and requires payment of tax and an administrative fee for each bottle, even if it's within your federal exemption (currently $0.75 total per bottle of wine). I've never entered the country at DFW, so I don't know what the process for collecting this tax is there, but it's something you should keep in mind, since that's your port of entry.

http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/faq/pers...mportation.asp
http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/poe/tax_rates.asp

Keep in mind that you will not be able to board the aircraft back to the US with anything larger than 100ml containers of liquid unless it's purchased past the security checkpoint at the airport. So unless you're buying tiny airline-size bottles of sake in town, you'll have to pack them in your checked bags.

I'm relieved to know it's not much of a tax. And since I travel with a carryon only, I'm very limited, maybe 3 bottles that I buy at the airport. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get hit for $100 for doing it. Texas residents are allowed 3 gallons of wine (which I think customs will assume it is) and there's no way I'd be over that.

This is a ridiculous question from a frequent flyer, but it's just not something I've ever considered doing. Thanks again!

Texas is very big on that at the Mexican border. They have little booths as you walk out of the CBP area where they ask you about booze and charge for the tax stamp.

I have never seen this in scores of Int'l trips at IAH, and one via DFW.


Ciao,
FH

You mention that you are taking this sake in your carryon. If you are connecting in the US after you go through customs, you will not be allowed through security with those bottles of sake. I'm not sure how this is handled in ATL where you have to go through security after customs to exit the airport.

When visiting friends in the US I usually bring a box with 12 bottles of wine of my friend's family's winery. I only was sent once to customs when I mentioned at immigration the no. of bottles.
Waiting in line for the customs inspection in PHL i was adressed by a customs officer what i have to declare, I told him about the wine. He completely bypassed me of the customs procedure as he mentionend, the few cents are not worth all the hassle and effort of the control.

Usually I'm telling the immigration officers I'm havin wine as a gift with me and look out for some customs people in the luggage area, telling them I have a box full of wine. In this case I've never been sent to inspection.

I just flew into Phl today with a few bottles over the limit. They asked if I had anything to declare, I said we were 3 liters of wine over, they asked about meats, fruits, vegetables, I said no, no, no, answered the rest of their questions, and they said thank you, go ahead.

They didn't seem to care about it at all, they just asked twice how much and that was that.

As to how do they know what you have, that's not the issue. In most cases, they don't, unless you happen to enter at a place that is scanning bags or you get picked for a screening based on other reasons (which they seemed to get a few people for today). Most times they won't know, but if they do for whatever reason open your bags and you didn't declare it, I'm betting it will be a much different situation.

How about cigarettes?
 

Thinking about bring more than 1 carton of the cigarettes.
Now US allowance is 200 cigarettes, which is usually one carton.
I am thinking about bringing 2 cartons. My arriving airport will be ORD.
Is there any know how much duty I should pay? Or custom will get me go if I claim it?

Thanks