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U.S. Customs Regulations
Whenever international travel is concerned, there is often
a bit of confusion when it comes to U.S. customs regulations. If your travel as taken you out of the United States,
you must declare all articles acquired during your trip and in your possession at the time of your return. This
includes:
- Articles that you purchased.
- Articles presented to you while abroad, such as wedding
and birthday presents or inherited items.
- Articles purchased in duty-free shops or on board a carrier.
- Repairs or alterations made to any articles taken abroad
and returned, whether or not repairs or alterations were free of charge.
- Items you have been requested to bring home for another
person.
- All articles you intend to sell or use in your business.
Promotional items and samples for Customs purposes are only those items that are valued at $1 or less.
Exemptions
$800 Exemption
If you are arriving from anywhere other than a U.S.
insular possession (U.S. Virgin Islands, American
Samoa, or Guam) you may bring back $800 worth of
items duty free, as long as you bring them with you.
This is called accompanied baggage.
For Caribbean Basin or Andean countries, your exemption
is also $800. These countries include:
Antigua and Barbuda Guatemala
Aruba Guyana
Bahamas Haiti
Barbados Honduras
Belize Jamaica
Bolivia Montserrat
British Virgin Islands Netherlands Antilles
Colombia Nicaragua
Costa Rica Panama
Dominica Peru
Dominican Republic Saint Kitts and Nevis
Ecuador Saint Lucia
El Salvador Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Grenada Trinidad and Tobago
You may include two liters of alcoholic beverages with
this $800 exemption, as long as one of the liters was
produced in one of the countries listed above (see section
on Sending Purchases from Insular Possessions
and Caribbean Basin or Andean Countries).
$1,600 Exemption
If you return directly or indirectly from a U.S. insular
possession (U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or
Guam), you are allowed a $1,600 duty-free exemption.
If you travel to a U.S. insular possession and to one
or more of the Caribbean Basin or Andean countries
listed above, let’s say on a Caribbean cruise, you may
bring back $1,600 worth of items without paying
duty, but only $800 worth of these items may come
from the Caribbean Basin or Andean country(ies).
Any amount beyond $800 will be dutiable unless
you acquired it in one of the insular possessions. For
example, if you were to travel to the U.S. Virgin
Islands and Jamaica, you would be allowed to bring
back $1,600 worth of merchandise duty free, as long
as only $800 worth was acquired in Jamaica.
Also, you may include 1,000 cigarettes as part of the
$1600 exemption, but at least 800 of them must have
been acquired in an insular possession. Only 200 cigarettes
may have been acquired elsewhere. For example,
if you were touring the South Pacific and you stopped
in Tahiti, American Samoa, and other ports of call,
you could bring back five cartons of cigarettes, but
four of them would have to have been bought in
American Samoa.
Similarly, you may include five liters of alcoholic
beverages in your duty-free exemption, but one of
them must be a product of an insular possession.
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