Liquor & customs

I did a quick search, but the best info I found was from 2007. Can somebody please explain to me how buying liquor in Mexico and bringing it back works? How much we can bring, what it will cost us, etc? :confused:

There is nothing special about bringing back booze from Mexico. Every adult (21 or over) is allowed to bring back 1 liter or hard liquor duty free. If you decide to bring more it will be subject to duty which is actually quite reasonable. I should add that we have sometimes brought in more then the free allowance and always fully disclosed this fact on our customs declaration where we itemized each bottle. In every case the customs agent looked at our declaration, stamped the form, and let us go without assessing the duty (which would have been less then $30. If you are honest with them they may cut your a break because its not worth the time for them to do the paperwork on a small amount of overage. If they want to duty....its no big deal (its usually about 10% of the value) so if we see something we really want we bring it back.

Hank

Thank you! I just want to make sure we're prepared. I have no interest in spending a few hours in custody because we unknowingly did something wrong! :)

momof1son, please check out this Customs and Duty Free Guide from Independent Traveler.

Here's a link to the U.S. Government site (see page 20). It was last updated in late '09, but should still be valid.

I have no interest in spending a few hours in custody because we unknowingly did something wrong!

The only thing you can do wrong is not being honest on your customs declaration. As someone who used to do tax returns for a living, I will tell you this: deductions are sometimes a matter of opinion regarding the tax regulations, and can usually be sorted out in a civilized manner if you are audited; failure to declare income is a BIG problem. The same thing is true when you buy stuff overseas and fail to declare it. Pay the duty; it's actually really cheap.

I have always filled out the form listing what i have and in the last 9 cruises bring back at least 3 liters per person I have only been charged duty once about 12 years ago and it was less than 20 dollars. I don't even think about it any more, I think they have better things to do with their time.

The worst part is getting it into your checked baggage,to go home on the plane safely. Take plenty of bubble wrap and zip lock bags, unless you are lucky enough to be able to drive to port! :)

I just came back from Europe with 15 bottles of wine, offered to pay the duty and was told not to worry about it. They seemed more concerned with me bringing in tobacco products. I found that odd because it seemed that 90% of the cigarettes we saw in Europe had come from the US to begin with.

Anyhow, I've also brought two cases of wine and four cases of beer back from Canada, declared it, and been told they were "too busy" to worry about the duty.

As others have mentioned, declare it. even if they do charge duty, it's a minimal amount.

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/190/~/bringing-alcohol-(including-homemade-wine)-to-the-u.s.-for-personal-use

I just came back from Europe with 15 bottles of wine, offered to pay the duty and was told not to worry about it. They seemed more concerned with me bringing in tobacco products. I found that odd because it seemed that 90% of the cigarettes we saw in Europe had come from the US to begin with.

 

Anyhow, I've also brought two cases of wine and four cases of beer back from Canada, declared it, and been told they were "too busy" to worry about the duty.

 

As others have mentioned, declare it. even if they do charge duty, it's a minimal amount.

 

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/190/~/bringing-alcohol-(including-homemade-wine)-to-the-u.s.-for-personal-use

Just curious how you protected the bottles? From Europe that it is. I assume you drove it home from CA.

I've always wondered about this as they don't always check carry-on bags on the way off the ship yet you have to fill out the form - whats the point ????

ok you put one bottle and declare it in your checked bag put a 2nd bottle in your carry on bag and walk off the ship with it. Go upto the customs agent hand over the form that has the 1 bottle they don't even look into the checked bag or the carry on whats stopping you from simply putting the undeclared bottle in your checked bag in the terminal parking lot or at the airport if you have to fly home with it. The airline isn't going to know you just came back from a cruise. Unless you fly out of the country they won't care if you have 1,2 or 5 bottles in your checked bag as long as it doesn't leak.

Same goes with other items really don't see the point in the forms if they don't fully inspect everything coming off the ship and just leave it upto people being honest.

Just curious how you protected the bottles? From Europe that it is. I assume you drove it home from CA.

The Canada trip was a driving trip, so it was all stuffed into the trunk of the car.

From Europe we used a http://www.thewinecheck.com for 12 of the bottles. The others were only 375's, they were wrapped in plastic and padded by layers of corks in a regular cardboard wine case.

I've always wondered about this as they don't always check carry-on bags on the way off the ship yet you have to fill out the form - whats the point ????

 

ok you put one bottle and declare it in your checked bag put a 2nd bottle in your carry on bag and walk off the ship with it. Go upto the customs agent hand over the form that has the 1 bottle they don't even look into the checked bag or the carry on whats stopping you from simply putting the undeclared bottle in your checked bag in the terminal parking lot or at the airport if you have to fly home with it. The airline isn't going to know you just came back from a cruise. Unless you fly out of the country they won't care if you have 1,2 or 5 bottles in your checked bag as long as it doesn't leak.

 

Same goes with other items really don't see the point in the forms if they don't fully inspect everything coming off the ship and just leave it upto people being honest.

Law of averages. They choose random people to be searched. I've seen families who looked about as criminal as Aunt Bea get searched.

I've always wondered about this as they don't always check carry-on bags on the way off the ship yet you have to fill out the form - whats the point ????

The operative word here is "always." They sometimes do random checks, and they are also pretty skilled in reading body language (including eye movements) to determine who might be hiding something and is nervous about it. Ask any experienced cop.

I've always wondered about this as they don't always check carry-on bags on the way off the ship yet you have to fill out the form - whats the point ????

 

ok you put one bottle and declare it in your checked bag put a 2nd bottle in your carry on bag and walk off the ship with it. Go upto the customs agent hand over the form that has the 1 bottle they don't even look into the checked bag or the carry on whats stopping you from simply putting the undeclared bottle in your checked bag in the terminal parking lot or at the airport if you have to fly home with it. The airline isn't going to know you just came back from a cruise. Unless you fly out of the country they won't care if you have 1,2 or 5 bottles in your checked bag as long as it doesn't leak.

 

Same goes with other items really don't see the point in the forms if they don't fully inspect everything coming off the ship and just leave it upto people being honest.

Not much to wonder about here. US Customs does not even pretend to search everyone. But the agents are well trained and think of themselves as professionals at reading body language, language inflection, etc. You can go through customs a hundred times and never be searched (that would be us) but the 101st time they might pull you over to the side and search every single bag (both checked and carry-on) and even have you empty your pockets (happened to a friend). If you get caught with undeclared items it will result in some long delays and on-the-spot fines. But even worse, you will then be in their data base and very probably be subject to future searches on future trips.

The reality is that our US customs duties are relatively cheap unless you have bought some very expensive items (we are talking in the thousands of dollars). Do no try to be cute to save a few dollars. Be honest, declare everything and be prepared to pay the small duty assessment if the agent deems in necessary.

I should add a related customs story. DW and I spend a few months a year living in Mexico and they have a random system where you press a button on a console and you get a red or green light. If you get a green light they wave you through and search nothing...but if you get a red they will usually search everything. For several years we would enter Mexico and "smuggle" in some food products such as good cheddar cheese (which is hard to find in Mexico) and certain other food items that we wanted for our condo. In all those years we never got caught (they would probably have confiscated the stuff). Then last year we did not take any of those food products because of the new airline luggage rules and the better availability of such products in Mexico (we have Costco, Walmart and Sams). Well DW presses the button and gets the dreaded red light. I just could not help but smile as they hand searched all of our luggage and found nothing...nada....zip.

Hank

Law of averages. They choose random people to be searched. I've seen families who looked about as criminal as Aunt Bea get searched.

It really is quite random. I've been stopped and searched coming back from Jamaica. They held my passport and inspected my bags. It was unsettling to say the least, but I wasn't doing anything wrong, so I had nothing to worry about.

Now I did have 8 bottles of rum (you're only really allowed 2) and told the TSA agent that, but he didn't have me pay any duty fees. I asked the agent why he stopped me and not my friend who came with me, he just said it was random. :rolleyes: