Duty on liquor

[skeezak]

We are in St. Martin next week on the Mariner I can't remember the amount of duty free liquor you can purchase several friends asked us to pick up some but we want to stock up ourselves How much duty free and how much is duty on what you go over thanks

[kal]

I wouldn't even worry about duty, but rather make the determination on how much you want to CARRY thru airports.

Over the last many years I have NEVER paid duty on liquor. Every time I was over the limit and the customs guys just DID NOT CARE! On my April 2004 trip to SXM, this is how I filled out the declaration form:

Wine - $...
Beer - $...
Liquor - $...

I only included the $ amount and did not even list the number of bottles nor show anyone what was purchased. The custom guy looked at the form and said "have a nice day".

I had a total of 11 bottles (for 2 people).

[bob&karen]

Skeezak,

The above poster is essentially correct, and I've done the same thing [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] however the premise is "it's only prohibited if you get caught."

The direct quote from the U.S. Customs web site is:

"$1,200 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 $1,200 duty-free exemption. You may include 1,000 cigarettes as part of this 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. Four may be products of other countries (see section on Unaccompanied Purchases from Insular Possessions and Caribbean Basin Countries)."

What this translates to is, if you're going to bring back 5 bottles per person, make sure one is a bottle of Cruzan coconut rum. The above advice about making sure you have enough room for your liquor bottles is also important - on our first cruise we had to buy another carryon bag just for the liquor!

The site's web address is:

[url="http://www.customs.treas.gov/xp/cgov/travel/leavingarrivinginUS/vacation/know_brochure/dutyfree_exemption.xml"]US Customs - Duty Exemptions[/url]

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