Duty Free Or Not?
With the many shopping temptations presented to you while you’re on a cruise, it’s necessary to note which are really duty free or not. You might get carried away into thinking that you get to purchase things a whole lot cheaper because you don’t have to pay duty, but once you arrive back in the United States, customs presents you with a hefty amount of payments you need to make.
The best way to avoid hassles and unnecessary fines is to be informed. The US Customs has rules and regulations that you need to read, and be sure you bring a copy with you during your travels, so you know what you can and can’t purchase, or what will cost you certain fines. When entering your home country, you will be subject to a thorough inspection that includes your clothing and luggage, but these rules after all are made for the safety of American citizens. It is important that you declare all items purchased duty-free upon entering American soil again together with their respective receipts, otherwise your goods will end up being confiscated. The US Customs and Food and Drug Administration have a compiled list of both prohibited and restricted items, and it highly suggested you read the list to avoid purchasing items you won’t be allowed to bring back home or that you will have to pay additional fines for.
The US Customs grants a $400 duty-free allowance for residents of the US who are visiting foreign ports for more than 48 hours. Adults of legal age are permitted to bring home liquor, duty free. Also, if you’re visiting St. Thomas, you are granted $1200 duty-free allowance, but you are not permitted to bring back more than $400 of goods purchased in other places. No more than 5 liters of liquor may be brought back from St. Thomas as well, duty-free.
US residents are also given an $800 allowance to bring home duty-free items. Any more than that and you will have to pay duties. However, certain exemptions in the form of $200, $800, and $1600 purchases are provided if the items are meant for gifts, personal use, or use at home. Furthermore, if you are bringing the items with you back to the United States, meaning they do are not sent through other means later than your return to the US, they are also included in the exemptions. Purchasing items from the US Virgin Islands or Guam are exempted from this rule.
Items that are used for the home don’t have any tax implications. These include tableware, linens, books, carpets, furniture, and the like. If you are traveling to the Caribbean, Andean, sub-Sahara African countries, Jordan, Israel, Chile, Singapore, Mexico, and Canada, you will be glad to know that certain laws provide that you are able to bring in items free of charge or at a certain reduced cost from these countries back to the United States.
