Declaring Items in Customs

Newbie Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 16

Okay, this may seem like a silly question ... but I have to ask. What do we need to declare when we are going through customs besides liquor and meat? I will be packing some food items like coffee, cookies, coffee cake, candy, paper products etc. None of the items are over $7.00 a piece and some are home made .... Do we have to declare this stuff?

One more thing. I have boxed up the wine for our group of 6 traveling together. We only have 6 liters of wine between us ( good start of a weeks stay Jump

) ... so I figured we could all declare one bottle on our declaration form. Will this be a problem when we go through customs? I sure hope not ...

Temporary Resident Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 150

Fantastic questions! clapping

We are doing the same thing. We have a cooler of meat, wine, liquor, grocery items to be used over our stay. I hope someone can give you (and me Laughing

) the proper answer.

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject:

I was planning on bringing little snacks for the kids. Like the 100 calorie packs, fruit snacks and stuff like that. I am not sure if we have to declare those either. I hope someone can answer these questions. I have never brought any food items with us before.

Jen

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:39 pm Post subject: Re: Declaring Items in Customs

LIBBYGIRL wrote:

Okay, this may seem like a silly question ... but I have to ask. What do we need to declare when we are going through customs besides liquor and meat? I will be packing some food items like coffee, cookies, coffee cake, candy, paper products etc. None of the items are over $7.00 a piece and some are home made .... Do we have to declare this stuff?

One more thing. I have boxed up the wine for our group of 6 traveling together. We only have 6 liters of wine between us ( good start of a weeks stay Jump

) ... so I figured we could all declare one bottle on our declaration form. Will this be a problem when we go through customs? I sure hope not ...

Hi,

I think what I would do is just to list something like "snacks and paper goods" and just give some sort of estimated value, like $25.00 (or whatever it is)....so yes, I think you need to declare it, but I don't think you have to itemize it or that you'll get charged or anything. If they want more details, they'll just ask.

As far as bringing in the wine, you will be fine, and I'll tell you why.....there is not one Customs form per person....it's one per family. The Head of Household (doesn't say that it has to be the husband Wink

). Anyway, I'm assuming that the six people in your group don't all live in the same household, right? Assuming that it's three couples, then there will be three Customs forms. Anyway, I don't think that one couple can bring in more duty free than they are allowed, just because they are bringing it in for their friends.....I'm almost positive of that. HOWEVER, since every adult is allowed to bring in 4 liters of wine, then you and your husband can bring in 8 liters, claimed on the one form. There you go! You claim the entire 6 liters and your friends don't claim any (cause they're not bringing it in).

Does that make sense?

Char

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject:

I have never written any of our food on the customs form, ever. We usually take lunch meats and bread and condiments, some English muffins etc. The only thing I declare is the 1 case of beer and the 1 liter of rum (which is actually the 1.75 size, I don't know, I look at things in gallons and pints and stuff, this metric stuff is confusing Wink

) for the two of us.... plus I always take a second bottle of some type of liquor, Jaegermeister or something, that is a gift for a friend on the island .... I don't even declare that.... it is a gift!!! (of course, I'm "The Friend", and it's actually for me)

I'm not saying that my way is the correct way, but that is how I do it. If they ever ask me why I didn't write it all down, I'll play dumb and pay them what they want..... after 6 visits, no one has ever asked me anything and have have always looked thru my cooler (yes, I take a cooler with me) ... they have seen all my food, beer and liquor and just smile and tell me to have a wonderful vacation ..... which, of course, we always do !!!

They're not going to throw you in jail for bringing stuff with you ... you'll just have to pay the duty if it's excessive ....... I never have!! Wink

Newbie Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 16

Thanks for all the advice. I am not real worried about the liquor. Our party of six ... four sisters, a niece and one sister-in-law rolllaugh

will just have to take out chances. If they make a big deal about the packaging we can just break open the box and hand a bottle to each of us ..

Status Member Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 765

Hope you all have a wonderful time! Not sure which house you will be in, but you will be a "walk down the beach" from the home my parents built!

Newbie Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 16

Sand Castle ... Didn't get it through CAG with a discount (will know better next time Embarassed

) but I thought I saw it advertised as one of the villas ...

We are all getting excited. Nine of us total ... my group of six is surprising one of the people in the group of three. Hope we can pull it off. As long as our planes are on time and customs doesn't take too long we should be at the villa before the 2nd group arrives ...

This is a GREAT forum .. it has helped me tremendously ... especially since I was the one in charge of organizing everything ....

Status Member Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 765

It's a great house. A couple times each day you will see a woman walking her dog (a labrador) on the beach. Her name is Ann and the dog is Fergus. Tell them Sue said to say hello!

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:33 pm Post subject:

LIBBYGIRL wrote:

Thanks for all the advice. I am not real worried about the liquor. Our party of six ... four sisters, a niece and one sister-in-law rolllaugh

will just have to take out chances. If they make a big deal about the packaging we can just break open the box and hand a bottle to each of us ..

If any of the six of you live together, then they should be the ones to declare the six liters of wine......then, there will definitely be no problem.

Char

Newbie Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 16

Okay ... NorthSideSue .. I will do that. Can't believe it is only 2 more days before we arrive !!!

Char .. thanks for everything ... all of you at the CAG are great !!!!!

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:41 am Post subject:

I hope you have a wonderful vacation, and I know you will! So glad that you found out some valuable information here on the board....

Now, when you get home, we expect a full report, and then it will be your turn to give others advice and insights!

Have a blast!

Char

Newbie Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 16

We will .. and I will definitely give a report when I get back . typing

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