I am not American, but Canadian, and assume that it is a similar experience. When regarding the values you must base your US dollar amount that you are declaring on an accurate currency exchange rate. For example, when you buy from Europe you pay in euros. Whatever you payed for in euros for that item must then be converted into US funds. That is most likely how US customs will calculate the value of your goods.
Travel Returning Back to the US from Overseas - Airport Customs/Duties?
- Thread starter ctester
- Start date
I don't know the US Customs rule, but logically to me it would make sense that you would pay duty based on the age of the item. For example if your LV purse was gifted to you a year ago, the current market value of a year old purse is considerably lower than a new one. But check on this as I don't know.
Also, I'm not sure if the rules vary depending on what country you are returning from, but last year I went on a 2 week vacation to Japan and Korea. I left from Korea to the US. I researched custom rules before I left and I was allowed to bring back 2 replica bags under the rule. I am positive of this. This makes sense because customs should be focusing on resellers and not a bag or two.
Also, I'm not sure if the rules vary depending on what country you are returning from, but last year I went on a 2 week vacation to Japan and Korea. I left from Korea to the US. I researched custom rules before I left and I was allowed to bring back 2 replica bags under the rule. I am positive of this. This makes sense because customs should be focusing on resellers and not a bag or two.
i'm not sure about the 'replica allowance' , a family friend of co worker vacationed in Vietnam, upon returning to HI she was given two choices - be taxed on current MSRP (aka, what the real thing cost now), or be charged for transport counterfeit goods. She had 'inspired' LV bag and Gucci wallets. It was an ugly event, that lady earned herself a spot on the list. She has been receiving detail search treatment every time she fly.
so what happened? i have a friend w/ the same issueHey everyone! I know there's already been a few threads about this topic, but nothing I've read has given me a really good idea of what goes on with customs and duties at US airports, so I thought I'd post a thread asking for everyone's experiences.
To start off, I'm an American citizen but have been living and working in Shanghai, China for the past year. By the time I take my flight back to the US, it will have been over a full year. I've been pretty lucky and have been able to go to a lot of different cities and countries in Asia, some of which include Macau and Hong Kong.
I have pretty wealthy family here in China, so my aunt has taken me shopping a few times and gotten me designer things as gifts for my birthday, Christmas, etc. The notable items that I've acquired so far are as follows:
1 Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag, bought for ~$900USD
1 Chloe Python Elsie bag, bought for ~$2000USD
1 Prada Suffiano Lux tote, bought for ~$2000USD
1 Chanel Classic Flap bag, bought for ~$5000USD
1 pair of Louboutin heels, bought for ~$800USD
1 pair of Tory Burch flats, bought for ~$400USD
(Yeah.....I have really rich family in China. My family's like the only one that's more on the middle-class level. Also, I'm super estimating on the costs here, I honestly don't really know some of them because my aunt kind of just purchased some on her own)
Anyway so I've been reading about going through customs back in the United States, and I'm getting increasingly nervous about having to pay duties. I know that you get $800 worth of items duty free, and the next $1000 is taxed at 3%, then the rest is taxed at around 9.5% I think? However, as you'll notice, I'm going way beyond the low-tax $1800 limit; if I were to claim everything, I'd have to pay about $900 worth in duties. I'm not that poorly off, but with my job, $900 is pretty much equal to one month's pay for me, so it would be best if I didn't HAVE to spend all that much. I can't really bring myself to ask my aunt for money though; I think it sounds a bit lame to ask for additional money when she's already spent so much on me.
So, I know and I understand that it's technically illegal not to claim everything, and I do understand that getting caught is really bad. I get it. However, I sort of want to get a feel for this situation with customs before making any decisions that I will definitely hold myself accountable for. So below are my questions/hypotheticals:
1. How often exactly is it that customs will check your bag? I haven't had to go through US customs since 2008, so I don't really remember how it works. However, I do remember buying a few fake bags last time I was in China, and being a bit worried that I'd be caught but not having anything happen. My dad also has brought back fake bags before, and nothing's happened.
2. Is checking your bags totally random or can they do it just because they're suspicious about where you've been? And if so, is China considered a "suspicious" country, and is being away for a whole year "suspicious"?
3. Hypothetical: Let's say I don't declare most of my bags, and customs does open my suitcase. If, say, I tell them that I had bought my bags in America before I left for China but they don't believe me, can I just tell them that I don't want any trouble, and that I'll just pay the duties? Or will they automatically blacklist me and fine me? I'm not quite sure how that's fair because if I really did bring my bags from the US, then I wouldn't have declared them on my customs form. If I'm cooperative and nice and understanding about everything, will they still accuse me of lying?
4. How closely do customs really look at how much your items are worth? So if on my customs form I wrote that my LV Neverfull was worth $700 instead of $900, and that my Chanel was worth $3000 instead of $5000, is that something that they'd easily catch onto? What if I really did think that my Chanel was worth $3K?
5. What is it exactly that customs focuses on when searching through your bag? Do they care about clothes and shoes and stuff? Also should I even be worried about something like a Marc by Marc Jacobs clutch that I bought in HK for $200?
The more I think about this customs issue, the more confused I get about how serious of a matter it is. I've spent way more than $1000 this past year on clothes alone, but I'm thinking that declaring about $500 worth of clothes should be believable enough (thoughts?). After all, if I was moving abroad for a whole year, of course I'd bring a large amount of clothes, and "all" of my designer bags, right? I think I'd be more suspicious of someone who only went away for 2 months and came back with 4 designer bags - why bring so many on vacation?
I'm mostly concerned about getting blacklisted and paying a huge fine. I don't want any trouble (which I know sounds hypocritical considering I'm thinking about illegally leaving things off my customs card), so I'm mostly wondering if it's possible to backtrack and just give a "Oh, alright I'll just pay the duties even though my bags are from America" kind of speech if they do open my bags?
Sorry for the long post! But any insight will be greatly appreciated
Curious on what happened? When I flew back last year with a Burberry trench, I don't remember even filling out what I bought since I have global entry. Would love to hear others experiences. I am going to Europe next week and curious about shopping
I think the concept for this is that you don't pay for taxes twice. Your aunt bought you these things and most likely didn't claim a refund for tax? I assume she is local and paid the usual sales tax when she purchased these goods.
The idea of paying customs tax is that as a visitor you usually can get a refund for sales tax in the host country and hence you get taxed in your home country with the goods when you declare.
The goods your aunt bought you, aren't they used? If so, I wouldn't worry about it - I don't think you can get a sales tax refund as a visitor if you claim used items. For example - I bought some luxury goods in EU, claimed a refund at the airport and the customs agent checked my purchases and made sure it is new still and I think the form also says to make sure it is not used in order to be eligible.
Just come and dress well - profiling happens and Chinese visitors do get reviewed more at airports - I have seen it happen. It also depends on your port of entry to the US. Lastly if you'd like to do something that is technically illegal, having it discussed at a relatively public space might not be a good idea
Good luck!
The idea of paying customs tax is that as a visitor you usually can get a refund for sales tax in the host country and hence you get taxed in your home country with the goods when you declare.
The goods your aunt bought you, aren't they used? If so, I wouldn't worry about it - I don't think you can get a sales tax refund as a visitor if you claim used items. For example - I bought some luxury goods in EU, claimed a refund at the airport and the customs agent checked my purchases and made sure it is new still and I think the form also says to make sure it is not used in order to be eligible.
Just come and dress well - profiling happens and Chinese visitors do get reviewed more at airports - I have seen it happen. It also depends on your port of entry to the US. Lastly if you'd like to do something that is technically illegal, having it discussed at a relatively public space might not be a good idea
Good luck!
Even with Global Entry, you are required to declare all goods purchased abroad. You have to answer yes to the appropriate customs declaration questions. You'll then be directed to show the items to a CBP officer (I usually have things in a bag ready to show and I've always been waived through). I always declare if I purchased items because, on the off chance I encounter a stickler for the rules, I don't want my GE privileges revoked.
