I am not an expert but I have come back into the US through multiple airports and the customs agents have been totally focused on my current trip and what I have to declare.
US Customs discussion - airports, importing
- Thread starter esyee
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
I am not an expert but I have come back into the US through multiple airports and the customs agents have been totally focused on my current trip and what I have to declare.
We had to make a customs declaration before we could get our bags. It involved waiting in a line, talking briefly to a customs officer, then waiting in a big room with others in the same situation, then paying duty. It is a long process. I am glad I had some $$ in checking account b/c you don't get your stuff if you don't pay! (What happens then I don't know).^ For me, 41$ DHL.
If I had to do it over again, I would do the same thing and ship. I had one of the many customs officers strolling around the room come up into my facewhen I was waiting for my suitcase and ask me specifically what I bought (and I showed him since they warn not to pack purchases). If you hand carry back, you get to bring in 800$ no duty. After that 800., you are assessed. I don't know what they would do if a person got caught trying to sneak in something that cost several thousand dollars, maybe just have them pay. But if they flag the passport by computer, future international travel could be a real pain.
The VAT refund offset the duties. I actually wasn't upset about the duty b/c a lot of things come into the US with low or no duty. That's the advantage of free trade. When I sold HS on ebay years ago, people in the EU drove me nuts with requests to label the HS as a gift b/c their duty was so high.
Last edited:
I had that exact situation this summer coming in through IAD. I declared, was selected for secondary screening, and sent into the big CBP room to wait to be called. Husband and daughter went through normal exit and collected the checked bags. However, I got lucky with the officer. She told me that husband needed to be with me to claim his exemption, too, but she ended up waving me through with no extra payment (bag was less than $2K). The whole process took about an hour, and there were people sitting in the large room who looked like they had been there a LOT longer. Luckily IAD was home for us, and I didn't have to worry about a connecting flight.
You should not be charged duties for a bag less than $2k because you are a family of 3 and each person has $800 to be exempt. So therefore you were exempt $2400 hence no duties. After its 3% on additional $1k and then the rest is according to item. ie cotton, cashmere, wool, leather, gold etc.
Thank you for letting me know! Glad the little one didn't have to go through the whole process!!
Sorry to hear... I guess it really depends on the officer and location...
I hope it wasn't a long wait for you guys?
This is not entirely correct.
The $800 exemption is per person and can only be used by the person. So if you have a $2000 purse, you can’t share your exemption 3 ways. In addition, you can’t use your toddler’s exemption as yours. It is a purse for you, not your daughter.
Someone else mentioned that you “may” lose your global entry privileges if you are caught not declaring. Also not quite true. You will most certainly lose your privilege (among other nasty penalties) because customs officers love nothing more than to nail offenders to the wall. Especially well off tourists bemusing high end goods trying to evade taxes. I speak from experience: I used to be a customs officer.
As for what happens to the goods: they get confiscated, and sometimes destroyed.
Perhaps its changed since you have been a customs officer. I always declare and they always give me this formula of $800 per person in a family traveling together. Not trying to evade CBP at all. Been through it enough times going over this formula on a piece of scrap paper to know that it has been consistently the same formula for the last 3 years.
Not suggesting you are evading but you may encounter a customs officer who decides to apply the rule literally and tells you that the items your child is declaring is not truly intended for your child. Many customs officers waive people through or apply more leniency as this thread has documented endlessly but it doesn’t mean that is the rule. Just is all just a FWIW to readers on the thread ...
I thought it was less than regular leather (5 point something percent)
ETA: just used a duty calculator website to double check; it's 5.3%. The HS code is 4202.21.30. https://hts.usitc.gov/ also lists 5.3%
Last edited:
I thought it was less than regular leather (5 point something percent)
ETA: just used a duty calculator website to double check; it's 5.3%. The HS code is 4202.21.30. https://hts.usitc.gov/ also lists 5.3%
Thanks!