[?] Subscribe To This Site

US Customs Duties

Exemptions

Each person returning from Europe has an $800 personal exemption from US Customs Duties which includes not more than 200 cigarettes and 100 cigars. If you are traveling with your spouse you can combine your exemptions. One liter (33.8 fl. oz.) of alcoholic beverages may be included in your exemption if:

You are 21 years old.
It is for your own use or as a gift.
It does not violate the laws of the state in which you arrive.

You can use your exemption only once every 30 days.

Determining Duty

The CBP officer will place the items that have the highest rate of us customs duties under your exemption. Then, after subtracting your exemptions and the value of any dutyfree items, a flat rate of duty will be charged on the next $1,000 worth of merchandise.

Any dollar amount beyond this $1,000 will be dutiable at whatever duty rates apply. The flat rate of duty may only be used for items for your own use or for gifts. As with your exemption, you may use the flat rate provision only once every 30 days.

The flat duty rate will be charged on items that are dutiable but that cannot be included in your personal exemption, even if you have not exceeded the exemption. The best example of this is liquor.

If you return from Europe with $200 worth of items, including two liters of liquor, one liter will be duty-free under your exemption. The other will be dutiable at 3 percent, plus any Internal Revenue Service tax.

Family members who live in the same household and return to the United States together can combine their items to take advantage of a combined flat duty rate, no matter which family member owns a given item. The combined value of merchandise subject to a flat duty rate for a family of four traveling together would be $4,000.

Tobacco Products

A returning resident is eligible for the $800 exemption, which includes not more than 200 cigarettes and 100 cigars:

If the resident declares 400 previously exported cigarettes, the resident would be permitted 200 cigarettes, tax-free under the exemption and the remaining 200 previously exported cigarettes would be confiscated.

If the resident declares 400 cigarettes, of which 200 are previously exported and 200 not previously exported, the resident would be permitted to import the 200 previously exported cigarettes tax free under the exemption and the resident would be charged duty and tax on the remaining 200 foreign-made cigarettes.

The tobacco exemption is available to each adult. Except for information and informational materials, no traveler (whether traveling legally under an Office of Foreign Asset Control license or traveling illegally without an OFAC license) may import Cuban-made goods, including Cuban cigars.

Alcoholic Beverages

Federal regulations allow you to bring back more than one liter of alcoholic beverage for personal use, but, as with extra tobacco, you will have to pay duty and Internal Revenue Service tax.

While federal regulations do not specify a limit on the amount of alcohol you may bring back for personal use, unusual quantities are liable to raise suspicions that you are importing the alcohol for other purposes, such as for resale.

CBP officers are authorized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to make on-the-spot determinations that an importation is for commercial purposes, and may require you to obtain a permit to import the alcohol before releasing it to you.

Paying Duty

If you owe US Customs duties, you must pay them when you arrive in the United States. You can pay in any of the following ways:

U.S. currency. Foreign currency is not acceptable.
Personal check in the exact amount, drawn on a U.S. bank, made payable to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. You must present identification, such as a passport or driver’s license. CBP does not accept checks bearing second-party endorsement.
Government check, money order or traveler’s check if the amount does not exceed the duty owed by more than $50.
In some locations, you may pay duty with credit cards, either MasterCard or VISA.

Increased Duty Rates

Under what is known as its “301” authority, the United States may impose a much higher than normal duty rate on products from certain countries. Currently, the United States has imposed a 100 percent rate of duty on certain products of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, The Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the Ukraine.

If you should bring more of any of these products back with you than fall within your exemption or flat rate of duty, (see below) you will pay as much in duty as you paid for the product or products.

While most of the products listed are not the type of goods that travelers would purchase in sufficient quantities to exceed their exemption, diamonds from the Ukraine are subject to the 100 percent US customs duties and might easily exceed the exemption amount.

Return to top of US Customs Duties

Return from US Customs Duties to US Customs Regulations

Return to European Travel Tips

SBI!