Duty Free, I’m confused
Again another topic that seems to have cropped up recently, now we all like to get our cheap cigarettes and Alcohol when we travel abroad, but do you know exactly how much you can bring back to the UK?
It seems there are many confused people out there who are really not sure what the legal rule actually is.
So for all those of you that are confused, please see below
Duty and tax free allowances – arrivals from non EU countries
The allowances below cover the most common items that you can bring into the UK duty and/or tax-free from outside the EU.
You must also meet certain conditions listed in the section ‘Additional conditions when bringing goods into the UK’. If you don’t meet these conditions or you go over your allowance you’ll have to pay any Customs Duty, Excise Duty and/or Import VAT due (VAT will also be due on any duties that may be charged).
For passengers who are in transit and changing flights in an EU airport there are set conditions that apply regarding liquids, including any duty-free purchases you’ve made.
Alcohol allowances
You can bring in either, but not both, of the following:
- 1 litre of spirits or strong liqueurs over 22 per cent volume
- 2 litres of fortified wine (such as port or sherry), sparkling wine or any other alcoholic drink that’s less than 22 per cent volume
Or you can combine these allowances. For example, if you bring in one litre of fortified wine (half your full allowance) you can also bring in half a litre of spirits (half your full allowance). This would make up your full allowance. You can’t go over your total alcohol allowance.
In addition you may also bring back both of the following:
- 16 litres of beer
- 4 litres of still wine
Tobacco allowances
You can bring in one from the following list:
- 200 cigarettes
- 100 cigarillos
- 50 cigars
- 250g of tobacco
Duty and tax free allowances – arrivals from EU countries
Although there are no limits on the amount of alcohol and tobacco you can bring in from EU countries, customs officials are more likely to ask you questions if you have more than the following:
| Goods brought to the UK from the European Union | Until 30 September 2011 | From 1 October 2011 |
|---|---|---|
| Cigarettes | 3,200 | 800 |
| Cigars | 200 | 200 |
| Cigarillos | 400 | 400 |
| Tobacco | 3 kilograms | 1 kilogram |
| Beer | 110 litres | 110 litres |
| Wine | 90 litres | 90 litres |
| Spirits | 10 litres | 10 litres |
| Fortified wine (for example port or sherry) | 20 litres | 20 litres |
7 Comments on “Duty Free, I’m confused”
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"Open the map, spin around, point to any country….” Hi. My name is Nik and I've been at Cruise.co.uk for nearly 10 years. OK, so I took an 18 month break while I worked at a soccer school in Phuket, Thailand…. but I missed the cruising world so much I…
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Your article is confusing as many ships will shop at ports outside the eu eg turkey or Gibraltar so if you buy on board do the eu or non eu rules apply?
I understood that if you purchase on shore and have a receipt that the customs will allow you more frorm EU countries as you will have paid the tax on them?
Yes that is correct, also you will see that the item purchased that is bought from an EU country will have a label on it stating that tax has been paid on it.
Nik…..Should that last table not be titled “Duty and Tax Paid Allowances” ?
Hi to all 3 of you, Hope you are well. The easiest way to understand this, is to check the item themselves, if there is a notice on the product saying Local tax has been paid on this item them you can take through customs as much as you like, however you must be able to prove to customs it is for personal consumption.
If however there is no label on the item saying that local tax has been paid you are only allowed to take through customs the amounts above (200 ciggies, etc)
This also goes for products purchased on board cruise ships, if you have paid tax on the item you must keep your receipt as proof, to show customs if they request to see it.
Having read the above articles on duty free allowances, I am now more confused than ever!! It seems that if you buy from non EU countries the allowance is 1 litre but from EU countries your allowance is 10 Litres??? On my last cruise which visited 7 EU countries the information given in the ship’s leaflets clearly stated the allowance was only 1 Litre.
Does this mean if you purchase from the ship it is 1 Litre but if you purchase from a local shop in say Majorca, it can be 10 Litres??? I would like to know a definitive answer on this topic.
Hi James
Basically if you visit and purchase anything from an EU country, it will have a label on it stating that you have paid tax on it, so if you see this label on the item it means you can take as much as you can physically carry.
If you purchase anything outside the EU there will be no label on the item stating you have paid tax on it, if this is the case then you can only take for example 1 carton of ciggies and 1 litre of alcohol.
Too be fair having worked on ships for many years, I would always buy in port and not on board (cheaper to buy off the ship) but again the ship has a responsibility to tell you if you have paid local tax or not. If you do buy from the ship and you have paid local tax which the ship has to do then you can take as much as you can carry. However if you have not paid local tax on the purchase from the ship then revert to the minimal limits.