Why do customs make declaring such a nightmare???
- Thread starter bb721
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DH and I flew from Paris to Washington Dulles airport this past September and I declared the $2100 bag I bought. We had Global entry. The customs agent asked for my receipts but then waived us along, mumbling something about our $1600 duty free limit. I guess he didn’t want to do the paperwork to collect duty on the excess $500 I do get the impression that no one in customs wants to calculate duty
What!!!!!!
This is just anecdotal from what I've seen the two times I've had to pay, but the vast majority of the people they made pay paid at least 1K so around 12-13K roughly in goods depending on what you bought since I think different items are taxed differently. Both times I had to pay it was 1.2-1.5k
This time though I did see that two people had to pay the in ~600 range that day so roughly 8Kish but I think they were a little unlucky tbh.
Not Hermes but last time I went through customs I purchased a bag at LV in Paris, and a small box of Laduree goodies for my sister at CDG. And they knew about both, at the initial GE checkpoint. I gave the amount to the officer for the bag, not even thinking about the cookies, and they passed me to the person who would assess my fee. She was a piece of work lol. She wanted to see the bag, the care cards, she was annoyed LV didn’t put the one in with the materials used and didn’t accuse me of getting rid of it but implied it. And I said gosh, I didn’t look for it or ask for it because in the US they really only have those half the time and I didn’t know they mattered, I apologize. She also then asked me if I had anything else to declare and I was baffled thinking, I didn’t do any other shopping. She said food?? And I was like cheese, wine, fruits - like all those things. And finally I was like oh, I got a box of six macarons in the airport?? And she said - I said FOOD when I asked you and didn’t know why you didn’t mention it.
It was very uncomfortable lol. She charged me the full tax for “plastic polyurethane goods bc that’s all these canvas bags are you know.” And I said ok, this one is lined in leather so there are some quality material which is nice. And she put her nose INTO my bag and said, smells like plastic to me, it has a VERY distinct smell.
I don’t travel a ton and don’t spend a ton but I’m used to declaring every time I cross. I still came out ahead with the full taxes and of course am honest bc I don’t want to lose my GE. But they can see EVERYTHING and it depends on their mood lol. Last trip before this latest one, one of the gentleman said, oh we know before you all get on the flights who is bringing what. It’s not work risking it. Most of my trips have had minimal estimates to pay. But she really hard lined it this last time lol. No small talk, no sense of humor, nada.
It was very uncomfortable lol. She charged me the full tax for “plastic polyurethane goods bc that’s all these canvas bags are you know.” And I said ok, this one is lined in leather so there are some quality material which is nice. And she put her nose INTO my bag and said, smells like plastic to me, it has a VERY distinct smell.
I don’t travel a ton and don’t spend a ton but I’m used to declaring every time I cross. I still came out ahead with the full taxes and of course am honest bc I don’t want to lose my GE. But they can see EVERYTHING and it depends on their mood lol. Last trip before this latest one, one of the gentleman said, oh we know before you all get on the flights who is bringing what. It’s not work risking it. Most of my trips have had minimal estimates to pay. But she really hard lined it this last time lol. No small talk, no sense of humor, nada.