US customs fees on overage
 

Does anyone know the US custom fees for leather goods and clothing coming into ORD from Europe exceeding the $800 waiver fee per person, or
a website with this info

The definitive answer can be found in the BCP brochure "Know Before You Go". See if you can find that on the web.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/va...aying_duty.xml
Here, it looks like the first $800 is free, the second $1000 is a flat 3 percent, and above that "Various rates". It looks like the 'various rates' can be incredibly complicated:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/tra...etermining.xml

If it is only slightly over the $800, say only a few hundred over, the CBP examining you might decide that it is not worth the time and hassle just to collect a few dollars in duty.

I once brought in some gifts with a total value over the personal exemption, and when I declared as such to the CBP officer and asked where to go to pay the duty, he said: "It's not worth 20 minutes of my time doing paperwork to collect about 4 dollars from you. Have a good day."

The U.S. import duty laws are more intended to be applied to commercial importers bringing in extremely large quantities / high values destined for resale in the United States. When someone is bringing in $5 million worth of foreign merchandise to be sold domestically, Uncle Sam understandably wants to take a healthy cut for the government.

That said, please keep in mind that it is VERY important to declare all merchandise that you are bringing into the USA of foreign source(s). Not to do so could risk heavy fines (far more than you would owe in duty for personal goods) and, perhaps even worse, flags on your CBP record that could make future entries to the country very inconvenient for a lengthy time in the future.

ESpen36, that happened to me. I had some silver worth 1500 and they ended up waiving the charge.

Absolutely. Declare everything.

The very few times that we have gone over our allowance, we have made a thorough list of our purchases for CBP. This is when the CBP officers can get very helpful and work with you to pay either no duty or the very minimum that they can get you (they have done both with us in the past).

I'm a Licensed US Customs Broker and this is what I do for a living
 

Seems to me you are bringing jackets, coats, etc. Duty rate is 6%. This is the onlne version of the tariff book. "http://hts.usitc.gov/"
Leather clothing falls under chapter 4203. Hopefully this is what you are bringing.

Take care.

This is not airline-specific, so will relocate to the appropriate Forum. /Moderator

Your $800 duty exemption is only if you have been out of the country 48 hours or longer, and you have not been abroad within one month (in which case your duty exemption is only $200). You are entitled a $1,600 exemption if you are returning directly or indirectly from a U S Insular Possession (e.g. Guam, USVI, American Samoa.) And many items purchased in countries covered by the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) may not be dutiable at all. (OTOH, some items form some countries are dutiable - at 100% rates!)

Also note - the first $1,000 of excess is generally dutiable at a flat rate of 1.5~3.0%, and further excess will be taxed at the rates for those kinds of goods. USCBP is actually and generally pretty good about covering your highest duty purchases in the $800 exemption, and then in the $1,000 flat duty exemption.

Also note - items mailed or shipped back separately DO fall under your returning exemption limit, as do repairs (e.g. on cameras, etc.) (However, you can send / mail $100 in gifts per person daily to others in the USA duty and tax free; $200 from insular possessions.)

These are very general guidelines and should not be relied upon. Your authoritative source is U S Customs and Border Protection, and you can download the current "Know Before You Go" brochure here.

I can tell you this from over a half century of experience in dealing with USCBP / Customs, from many countries with many goods, including having permits for animals, plants and other goods: always disclose fully; they will often cut you considerable slack.

The consequences for not disclosing and attempting to conceal can be pretty dire, and I have seen all kinds of people with shoes and clothes they purchased but soiled and wore, goods they attempted to wear or conceal, etc. etc. and there is no tolerance for any of it - they will often be merciless, and if you belong to a GOES / Trusted Traveler program, you will lose that privilege. Oh, they will likely forward records to your state, which like California, may communicate with you and charge you a "use tax" if they have a sales tax, just to add insult to (self-inflicted) injury.

I've always wondered about the $1600 exemption for American Samoa, Guam, and the USVI. I'm guessing it is designed to provide economic support to these insular posessions by making it especially attractive for U.S. tourists to visit and spend money there?