Was preparing for my upcoming trip to France, and thought I'd check out
the Customs page. To my undying dismay, we still have a limit if one
liter of alcohol duty free. So, I browsed and searched fruitlessly to
discern what the duty would be on the additional wine if I bring back a
half case or a case. No luck - can;t find any info at all on the US
Customs website.

Does anyone know what the nominal duties are on wine purchased abroad
and brought back, in excess of the one liter exemption?

In past trips, we've always brought back a few (3 typically) bottles of
wine. Declared them, and no-one cared. We were hoping to bring back a
case this time, of wines I can't get here. Assuming someone will care
at that point, and want to budget for the extra duties.

"Ric" > wrote in news:1148335726.038279.299800
@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> Was preparing for my upcoming trip to France, and thought I'd check
out
> the Customs page. To my undying dismay, we still have a limit if one
> liter of alcohol duty free. So, I browsed and searched fruitlessly to
> discern what the duty would be on the additional wine if I bring back
a
> half case or a case. No luck - can;t find any info at all on the US
> Customs website.
>
> Does anyone know what the nominal duties are on wine purchased abroad
> and brought back, in excess of the one liter exemption?
>
> In past trips, we've always brought back a few (3 typically) bottles
of
> wine. Declared them, and no-one cared. We were hoping to bring back a
> case this time, of wines I can't get here. Assuming someone will care
> at that point, and want to budget for the extra duties.
>
>

Basically declare and they won't care. No one here knows because we have
declared our wine and not been charged. (the feds collect taxes after
$10 or so but the real tax on wine is state) If you are with your wife
you basically get the first 3 bottles without any tax (OK 3 bottles puts
you .25 over the limit) and the prices you pay at most European vinyards
are nominal so do not fret much.

--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

in article , Ric at
wrote on 5/22/06 3:08 PM:

> Was preparing for my upcoming trip to France, and thought I'd check out
> the Customs page. To my undying dismay, we still have a limit if one
> liter of alcohol duty free. So, I browsed and searched fruitlessly to
> discern what the duty would be on the additional wine if I bring back a
> half case or a case. No luck - can;t find any info at all on the US
> Customs website.
>
> Does anyone know what the nominal duties are on wine purchased abroad
> and brought back, in excess of the one liter exemption?
>
> In past trips, we've always brought back a few (3 typically) bottles of
> wine. Declared them, and no-one cared. We were hoping to bring back a
> case this time, of wines I can't get here. Assuming someone will care
> at that point, and want to budget for the extra duties.

If they DO charge you, the worst it can be is the Customs Duty rate for
commercial shipments. The official US Tariff (Duty) schedule can be found
at: http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/bychapter/index.htm

Wine is under Chapter 22, at section 2204.21. The duty appears to range
from $.053 to $.198 per liter. How, or if, they may handle any individual
state taxes I don't know.

I would fully agree that you should declare all you bring in. In 30+ years
of overseas travel, the only time I've ever seen anyone get in any real
trouble with customs is when they fail to declare.

I only had a calculation made by agent once.

The tax calculations on my wines were about $0.15 per 0.75L bottle.
The agent calculated % alcohol, and quantity in bottle. when he
finally finished, the total tax was $3.15 for a couple cases.

I had imported some $5000 worth of goods, which I was also declaring,
so I think they had to do calculations on everything.

I was not charged duty for the wine. IAD allows wine in. I have
heard some jurisdictions do not allow wine in, as it violates state
law(check Texas).
On 22 May 2006 15:08:46 -0700, "Ric" > wrote:

>Was preparing for my upcoming trip to France, and thought I'd check out
>the Customs page. To my undying dismay, we still have a limit if one
>liter of alcohol duty free. So, I browsed and searched fruitlessly to
>discern what the duty would be on the additional wine if I bring back a
>half case or a case. No luck - can;t find any info at all on the US
>Customs website.
>
>Does anyone know what the nominal duties are on wine purchased abroad
>and brought back, in excess of the one liter exemption?
>
>In past trips, we've always brought back a few (3 typically) bottles of
>wine. Declared them, and no-one cared. We were hoping to bring back a
>case this time, of wines I can't get here. Assuming someone will care
>at that point, and want to budget for the extra duties.

Thanks - couldn;t find that info when searching the site. And agreed -
I always declare, and usually they don't care. But I didn;t want any
surprises with enormous duties!

Here's the law in CA:
"Adults traveling into California from a foreign country by steamship
or airplane may carry with them a reasonable amount of alcoholic
beverages for personal or household use. That amount is not more than
60 liters (approximately 5 cases)."

We bring back this much every time. Declare all of it every time. Have
never been charged, but that would be fine. Only thing is that the
customs person usually doesn't know the law, so I carry a printout from
the ABC webpage. I have had to show it to them pretty much every time,
and they always say to me "fine, but don't try to bring this much back
again."

Check your states ABC (alcoholic beverage control) website and they
will usually have a section about importing for personal use.

Hope that helps!
e.winemonger
____________
www.winemonger.com

wrote:
> Here's the law in CA:
> "Adults traveling into California from a foreign country by steamship
> or airplane may carry with them a reasonable amount of alcoholic
> beverages for personal or household use. That amount is not more than
> 60 liters (approximately 5 cases)."

Err... 60 litres is 6 2/3 cases of 750 mL bottles. But maybe they were
talking about those nifty 1L bottles from Austria. ;-)

>
> We bring back this much every time. Declare all of it every time. Have
> never been charged, but that would be fine. Only thing is that the
> customs person usually doesn't know the law, so I carry a printout from
> the ABC webpage. I have had to show it to them pretty much every time,
> and they always say to me "fine, but don't try to bring this much back
> again."

I've never brought back *that* much, but when we came back from a month
in France with 15 bottles in tow, all fully declared of course, customs
didn't bat an eyelash.

Mark Lipton

p.s. I recently perused the winemonger website. You going to be
getting more '04 GVs in stock any time soon?

wrote:

> Here's the law in CA:
> "Adults traveling into California from a foreign country by steamship
> or airplane may carry with them a reasonable amount of alcoholic
> beverages for personal or household use. That amount is not more than
> 60 liters (approximately 5 cases)."
>
> We bring back this much every time.



By plane? That stuff is heavy. How do you manage that much? Do you have to
pay for excess luggage weight? How do you handle transportation to and from
the airport with all that to carry?

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Outstanding! Thanks winemonger.I'm also in California, so your info is
right on target.

Methinks the bounty just jumped to two cases. The only ones who will be
happier than my cellar and I will be the vignerons whose wines I covet.

wrote:
> Here's the law in CA:
> "Adults traveling into California from a foreign country by steamship
> or airplane may carry with them a reasonable amount of alcoholic
> beverages for personal or household use. That amount is not more than
> 60 liters (approximately 5 cases)."
>
> We bring back this much every time. Declare all of it every time. Have
> never been charged, but that would be fine. Only thing is that the
> customs person usually doesn't know the law, so I carry a printout from
> the ABC webpage. I have had to show it to them pretty much every time,
> and they always say to me "fine, but don't try to bring this much back
> again."
>
> Check your states ABC (alcoholic beverage control) website and they
> will usually have a section about importing for personal use.

When returning by car from Mexico there are signs that clearly state no
more than 2 bottles of liquor or 2 six-packs of beer per adult may be
brought back. I don't know if I declare it and pay duties if I could
bring more.

On holiday weekends it is quite common to see stacks of cases of
confiscated Corona beer next to the inspection station. Probably one
heck of a party for the agents that night!

"Mark Lipton" wrote .......
>
> I've never brought back *that* much, but when we came back from a
> month in France with 15 bottles in tow, all fully declared of course,
> customs didn't bat an eyelash.
>
As a "foreigner" I flow flown into LAX and landed two cases of NZ wine -
and fully declared them as gifts and found that Hank or Chuck or whoever was
more interested in whether I had sufficient funds to support myself (and my
wine habit !) or whether I was in the US to purchase firearms, than the wine
I had with me.

Likewise, I have flown into the US via Honolulu with three cases, which were
accompanying me to the UK: again, after a little "discussion" it was
established that it was less trouble to just let them into the country than
to try and hold them in bond awaiting on-shipment as accompanied baggage.

However, I do know that which State your "Port-of-Entry" is located is
critical.

For example, the amount one can import through Boston is ZERO !!

My advice to anyone, US citizen or incoming tourist - do your homework
*before* attempting bring wine into the US

p.s. In 1988 when I first brought wine into the US as gifts, I entered
the country through LAX - and later drove across to Arizona - promptly
committing a felony for illegal interstate transshipment!!!!!!!

--

st.helier

Don't forget that a case of wine will weigh 15kg, which is almost 3/4
of your carry-on luggage allowance. So the excess baggage charges might
outstrip the duties anyway.

As an amusing aside, when I returned to New Zealand after living in the
Netherlands, I asked NZ customs how much duty I would pay on our wine
cellar. The absolutely bizarre reply was that wine for immediate
consumption carried no duty (when shipped with the remainder of our
household goods), but wine intended for keeping attracted the full
alcohol tariff. This seemed to fly in the face of logic, but needless
to say I declared that I was going to commit infanticide on the entire
cellar in one go and paid no duty.

Cheers,

Andrew

You kiwis are all terrorists - transporting noxious fluids across state
borders; leaving pavlovas behind at parties; threatening tourists with
the haka - sheesh, crazy, the lot of you.
Kia ora mate - where abouts in EnZed do you live?

"Ric" wrote ...............
>
> You kiwis are all terrorists - transporting noxious fluids across state
> borders; leaving pavlovas behind at parties; threatening tourists with
> the haka - sheesh, crazy, the lot of you.
> Kia ora mate - where abouts in EnZed do you live?
>

Greetings from Whangarei in the sub-tropical (read wet!!) far north.

Not exactly wine country - but with wintertime temperatures seldom under
10degrC - not an unpleasant place to sit and sup!

So, are you an ex-pat - or just knowledgable in the culture of Godzone?

--

st.helier

I lived in EnZed for ten years, and my Kiwi wife's family are all still
there. We moved back here to California many years ago. My father still
lives in the Bay of Plenty, and I have a bro in Nelson. Don't get back
as often as I would like, but we "fly two flags over the house", so to
speak.
But sure am proud of the Kiwi winemakers; we guzzle lots of the
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc's - damn they're good!

Have you been getting any of the recent Otago Pinot Noirs? Still just a
rumor up here, but what I hear is all good.