we landed today and the flight was randomly checked (so lots of us were in the open baggage check area). I declared and was charged 9% on the amount on top of personal allowance. i've never seen that many people got checked before...they opened our suitcases and briefly checked and asked for receipts. I had some other items in my bag (that i owned before the trip) and was never asked.
US Customs discussion - airports, importing
- Thread starter esyee
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do you mind sharing which airport?
and would you mind explaining what you meant by the the flight was randomly checked? They pulled people from Global Entry and just said to go to the regular line?
Was the 9% for leather items?
it was SFO. They pulled us from the global entry and others (including cabin crew) to go through the bag checked where they opened the baggage to see what's inside. I did tell them when we went through the GE that we had some items declared and they asked the amount (which is <5k, so the person said fine no worries). But after that he said the system chose us randomly to check bags and put my husband's passport to the box to go through the bag check after we got our luggage. At the bag check, the custom guy said they are doing a random search for the entire flight - we saw many people in the line after us. And most of my purchase was not leather (just a Kelly belt and shoes but we had a 140 scarf) he told me the amount and I computed that they converted my receipt to USD and then take out family allowance and then slap a 9% duty on it (I did not bother asking for details).
Thanks for the details! Wow, sounds like they are really cracking down... well silver lining is it doesn't sound like they charged you the extra 10% tariff for EU. The standard rate for leather is 9%. Although it should've been less for the scarf if it was 100% cashmere.
But yeah given the circumstances, I would've just paid too.
Yeah the 140 scarf is the shawl that has mix cashmere and silk (the receipt is in French, I don't think he cared to itemize). I think they did not really care, they just wanted to charge us (when we went to pay, the custom guy said to the cashier: there'll be more, i'll see you again soon). There were people behind me paying at the cashier too. I saw the sheet where he wrote our address and the duty paid and it's full, so others have paid today too. I think it's definitely a period where they are being stricter than normal.
I forgot to mention: i dont know if its a coincidence but in my family, only my husband holds a foreign passport and he was asked to go through bag checks although we came in GE as a family (i also saw other couples paying holding foreign passports). The custom guy who checked our bags and made me pay also asked me if both my husband and I hold non US passports. I never got that type of questions before.
Thank you for sharing your story. I always declare and was usually charged 5% flat rate, I guess the good days were over.....
Just letting everyone know that the new government is really trying to get our money at customs!
I received a one year old invoice from when I self declared last year and the officer said I would probably not get a bill. The cashier wasn’t there and the officer very nice.
I today got that invoice with no explanation.
I called and they said that they are “backed up”…
Now I wonder if that is really the reason or they are trying to cash in as much as possible.
I received a one year old invoice from when I self declared last year and the officer said I would probably not get a bill. The cashier wasn’t there and the officer very nice.
I today got that invoice with no explanation.
I called and they said that they are “backed up”…
Now I wonder if that is really the reason or they are trying to cash in as much as possible.
From a year ago?!! Well I got the bill a couple weeks after I self declared last month, so they are apparently all over my account lol.
Btw they are not very organized. (Big surprise) One time I tried to pay an invoice at the cashier because I was traveling back to back and I thought oh good the cashier is here today, let me pay the invoice from my prior trip at the same time. The cashier had no clue what to do when I handed him the invoice! (I brought it with me so I could pay in the event the cashier was there!) So I just ended up paying what I owed for that day, then mailing a check separately for the old invoice. 🤦🏻♀️
The same recently happened to me. I received a 2 year old invoice about 1.5 mths ago and then another 1 year old invoice about a mth ago via snail mail. I usually take the red eye when I fly back into the US so there is no one available to take my payment.
No idea. Seems like a new made up rule… I am going to see if it is really legal after so long. 🤔so this means that if you declared in the past, they can always go back and charge you? :| this is news to me
Also, I came back yesterday from Paris at JFK and self declared as usual.
Purchased VCA gold and H leather and silk, ect.
Was charged a flat 5.5% on everything.
The officer said that clothes and silk were probably over 10% and he was doing me a favor by offering 5.5% on everything. He called this tariffs…
Before when I self declared I was offered a 3% on everything. But at least I didn’t pay an extra 10% I guess.
The new tariffs are probably not applied to imported personal sales?
Nobody else was self declaring on my plane but plenty had designer clothes and shopping bags.
Purchased VCA gold and H leather and silk, ect.
Was charged a flat 5.5% on everything.
The officer said that clothes and silk were probably over 10% and he was doing me a favor by offering 5.5% on everything. He called this tariffs…
Before when I self declared I was offered a 3% on everything. But at least I didn’t pay an extra 10% I guess.
The new tariffs are probably not applied to imported personal sales?
Nobody else was self declaring on my plane but plenty had designer clothes and shopping bags.
the duty charges (% on the amount exceeding our allowance) seem quite random based on their mood.
Is there a statute of limitations for duty clawbacks?
I feel like if I got a letter in the mail from a trip more than a year ago, I’d probably assume it’s a scam and never pay.