Import duties

Was preparing for my upcoming trip to France, and thought I'd check out the Customs page. To my undying dismay, we still have a limit if one liter of alcohol duty free. So, I browsed and searched fruitlessly to discern what the duty would be on the additional wine if I bring back a half case or a case. No luck - can;t find any info at all on the US Customs website.

Does anyone know what the nominal duties are on wine purchased abroad and brought back, in excess of the one liter exemption?

In past trips, we've always brought back a few (3 typically) bottles of wine. Declared them, and no-one cared. We were hoping to bring back a case this time, of wines I can't get here. Assuming someone will care at that point, and want to budget for the extra duties.

Reply to
Ric
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"Ric" wrote in news:1148335726.038279.299800 @y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Basically declare and they won't care. No one here knows because we have declared our wine and not been charged. (the feds collect taxes after $10 or so but the real tax on wine is state) If you are with your wife you basically get the first 3 bottles without any tax (OK 3 bottles puts you .25 over the limit) and the prices you pay at most European vinyards are nominal so do not fret much.

Reply to
Joseph Coulter

in article snipped-for-privacy@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com, Ric at snipped-for-privacy@pacbell.net wrote on 5/22/06 3:08 PM:

If they DO charge you, the worst it can be is the Customs Duty rate for commercial shipments. The official US Tariff (Duty) schedule can be found at:

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Wine is under Chapter 22, at section 2204.21. The duty appears to range from $.053 to $.198 per liter. How, or if, they may handle any individual state taxes I don't know.

I would fully agree that you should declare all you bring in. In 30+ years of overseas travel, the only time I've ever seen anyone get in any real trouble with customs is when they fail to declare.

Reply to
Midlife

I only had a calculation made by agent once.

The tax calculations on my wines were about $0.15 per 0.75L bottle. The agent calculated % alcohol, and quantity in bottle. when he finally finished, the total tax was $3.15 for a couple cases.

I had imported some $5000 worth of goods, which I was also declar>Was preparing for my upcoming trip to France, and thought I'd check out

Reply to
gerald

Thanks - couldn;t find that info when searching the site. And agreed - I always declare, and usually they don't care. But I didn;t want any surprises with enormous duties!

Reply to
Ric

Here's the law in CA: "Adults traveling into California from a foreign country by steamship or airplane may carry with them a reasonable amount of alcoholic beverages for personal or household use. That amount is not more than

60 liters (approximately 5 cases)."

We bring back this much every time. Declare all of it every time. Have never been charged, but that would be fine. Only thing is that the customs person usually doesn't know the law, so I carry a printout from the ABC webpage. I have had to show it to them pretty much every time, and they always say to me "fine, but don't try to bring this much back again."

Check your states ABC (alcoholic beverage control) website and they will usually have a section about importing for personal use.

Hope that helps! e.winemonger ____________

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Reply to
winemonger

Err... 60 litres is 6 2/3 cases of 750 mL bottles. But maybe they were talking about those nifty 1L bottles from Austria. ;-)

I've never brought back *that* much, but when we came back from a month in France with 15 bottles in tow, all fully declared of course, customs didn't bat an eyelash.

Mark Lipton

p.s. I recently perused the winemonger website. You going to be getting more '04 GVs in stock any time soon?

Reply to
Mark Lipton

By plane? That stuff is heavy. How do you manage that much? Do you have to pay for excess luggage weight? How do you handle transportation to and from the airport with all that to carry?

Reply to
Ken Blake

Outstanding! Thanks winemonger.I'm also in California, so your info is right on target.

Methinks the bounty just jumped to two cases. The only ones who will be happier than my cellar and I will be the vignerons whose wines I covet.

Reply to
Ric

When returning by car from Mexico there are signs that clearly state no more than 2 bottles of liquor or 2 six-packs of beer per adult may be brought back. I don't know if I declare it and pay duties if I could bring more.

On holiday weekends it is quite common to see stacks of cases of confiscated Corona beer next to the inspection station. Probably one heck of a party for the agents that night!

Reply to
miles

"Mark Lipton" wrote .......

As a "foreigner" I flow flown into LAX and landed two cases of NZ wine - and fully declared them as gifts and found that Hank or Chuck or whoever was more interested in whether I had sufficient funds to support myself (and my wine habit !) or whether I was in the US to purchase firearms, than the wine I had with me.

Likewise, I have flown into the US via Honolulu with three cases, which were accompanying me to the UK: again, after a little "discussion" it was established that it was less trouble to just let them into the country than to try and hold them in bond awaiting on-shipment as accompanied baggage.

However, I do know that which State your "Port-of-Entry" is located is critical.

For example, the amount one can import through Boston is ZERO !!

My advice to anyone, US citizen or incoming tourist - do your homework

*before* attempting bring wine into the US

p.s. In 1988 when I first brought wine into the US as gifts, I entered the country through LAX - and later drove across to Arizona - promptly committing a felony for illegal interstate transshipment!!!!!!!

Reply to
st.helier

Ric, a friend who regularly brings back 2 cases ties them together, well padded, and checks it as a bag. This has always worked without breakage, and could save some arm strain if you're checking bags anyway.

When we moved to CA our wine arrived by ship, the duty on around 1K bottles of still table wine was around $150.

-E

Reply to
Emery Davis

Don't forget that a case of wine will weigh 15kg, which is almost 3/4 of your carry-on luggage allowance. So the excess baggage charges might outstrip the duties anyway.

As an amusing aside, when I returned to New Zealand after living in the Netherlands, I asked NZ customs how much duty I would pay on our wine cellar. The absolutely bizarre reply was that wine for immediate consumption carried no duty (when shipped with the remainder of our household goods), but wine intended for keeping attracted the full alcohol tariff. This seemed to fly in the face of logic, but needless to say I declared that I was going to commit infanticide on the entire cellar in one go and paid no duty.

Cheers,

Andrew

Reply to
Andrew L Drumm

You kiwis are all terrorists - transporting noxious fluids across state borders; leaving pavlovas behind at parties; threatening tourists with the haka - sheesh, crazy, the lot of you. Kia ora mate - where abouts in EnZed do you live?

Reply to
Ric

"Ric" wrote ...............

Greetings from Whangarei in the sub-tropical (read wet!!) far north.

Not exactly wine country - but with wintertime temperatures seldom under

10degrC - not an unpleasant place to sit and sup!

So, are you an ex-pat - or just knowledgable in the culture of Godzone?

Reply to
st.helier

I lived in EnZed for ten years, and my Kiwi wife's family are all still there. We moved back here to California many years ago. My father still lives in the Bay of Plenty, and I have a bro in Nelson. Don't get back as often as I would like, but we "fly two flags over the house", so to speak. But sure am proud of the Kiwi winemakers; we guzzle lots of the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc's - damn they're good!

Have you been getting any of the recent Otago Pinot Noirs? Still just a rumor up here, but what I hear is all good.

Reply to
Ric

Mark-

Just quotin' straight from the ABC website!

Sure will. And I'm off to Austria next week to taste through the new wines (hate my job). If you want to try something really tasty, though, grab the Hogl Ried Schon-Viessling Gruner Veltliner Smaragd 2004. I just love this wine, and we only have a few bottles left. Wine Spectator was extremely kind to Johann Donabaum in their most recent report, and that Spitzer Point GV 2004 they rated will be coming in on the next container. Might be a few months away, though, so "make do" with the Hogl (and your Knoll) until then!

cheers as always, emily

Reply to
e. winemonger

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