jackattack

Hello


Me and hubby have been lucky enough to spend the last six weeks in Sydney. He is USC and I am LPR (if that makes any difference?). We got to spend a weekend in Aussie wine country where we made some wine purchases. Clearly we overestimated our drinking ability while in Australia and haven't managed to get through it all before we leave this Friday.

I know that we're allowed to bring in 1 liter of wine per adult (sadly the nipper doesn't get an allowance), so that's two liters. Now we didn't buy these wine duty free since we paid Aussie tax on them, but clearly we haven't paid any US tax. We have about 6 bottles left that we'd like to bring back, clearly we're not going to lie on any of the forms that we have to fill out but does anyone have any experience of how much you can bring in without them charging duty? I have heard that if you have slightly over the official limit, then they don't really raise any eyebrows. And, assuming that they do charge us duty - any idea how much that is? Each bottle was about $25-$30 although we don't have receipts but we do have credit card statements.
We'll be flying into SFO.

Cheers

wordfool

I've flown into SFO with 2-3 bottles of wine many times. I just put "wine" on the customs form without specifying the quantity. I've even had my bag go through the secondary inspection xray machine with 3 bottles and never had a problem.

If you do get called on it then the flat-rate duty on a couple of bottles is not going to be much, I believe about 10%, so it's no biggie as long as you have declared it in some form or another and can give some indication of how much it cost (they'll tax the cheapest items first). The fact that you paid tax when you bought it in Oz is totally irrelevent to US customs.

You can actually bring as much wine into the US as you want for "personal consumption". There's no specific limit on the quantity, just a limit on what can be duty free, so as long as you mention wine somewhere on the customs form and don't come in with a ludicrous amount there's no need to worry.

md95065

Unfortunately it isn't quite that simple.

What you said is true as far as the federal government goes, but individual states can and do impose their own restrictions.

See, for example, this article.

wordfool

True, but California is not one of those states still attached to weird prohibition-era laws. In fact CA considers a "reasonable" amount for personal consumption to be up to 60 liters, which is really quite astounding!

http://www.abc.ca.gov/permits/importing.html

frrussre

Surely, the Alcohol allowance, is only allowed if bought in duty free, certainly since 9/11.
Pre 9/11 we had brought in some wine, from UK.

We recently took a trip to Atlanta, while we were there, a friend gave us an expensive bottle of wine, we placed it in our hand luggage, arrived at the airport, on our way back to Miami. The bag went through the scanner, alarm bells (I exaggerate) sounded, wine was not allowed through, we said its sealed & no different from Duty free, they said no, no & more no. We said goodbye expensive wine, and boarded. Normally would have opened & drank, but already had a migraine.
In the US, it was or still is illegal to buy alcohol, wine etc, across State lines. I know they are trying to change that, not sure if it has happened yet.

Reg. Frank R.

md95065

You seem to be confusing the question of how much alcohol you are allowed to bring into the US for personal use with whether you are allowed to take it on the plane with you in your carry on luggage ...

frrussre

They bought the wine, in Australia, not Duty Free at the airport. How will they get it here, in their suitcase? In a box, in the hold? If can't bring in hand luggage, then how?

Maybe i'm missing something?

Reg. Frank R.

jackattack

Yes, we're flying direct to SFO so no domestic airport transfers to worry about. We'll be packing the wine in our checked luggage so shouldn't have issues about taking these through scanners.

Interestingly we flew domestically within Australia last weekend and there was a distinct lack of security around flying. We just needed to tell them our names and which flight we were on, no ID needed - yikes! And we took 2 bottle of (unopened) wine in carry on luggage without any issues. Definitely different to US.

jackattack

I love it. Thank you.
60 liters each means we can in fact make another trip up to wine country to buy some more!
I think that we'll end up bringing 6 bottles in and that is only 4.5 liters but your info puts less pressure on me downing two bottles a night for today and tomorrow.

Now i have to figure out how to actually get it in the luggage. Staying abroad with a nipper for 6 weeks means we haven't been traveling lightly.

frrussre

Your going to place the wine in your checked baggage?

Good luck, better you then me.

Reg. Frank R.

jackattack

we'll pack it in our checked luggage. We've tons of beach stuff and clothes that we can use as padding, plus the wineries gave us pretty good packaging to transport bottles without breaking. I'll leave hubby to pack them in the bags so I can blame him if they break.

frrussre

Happy sipping & a safe flight home.

Reg. Frank R.

md95065

They should be able to pack it in their checked baggage - they just won't be allowed to take it in their carry on bags.

frrussre

I was thinking more about the risk of breakage then, the ability. Jackattack, has now clarified the fact that she or hubby is going to pack it in their checked baggage. Something I would never do, fragile or liquids we have always packed in hand luggage.
Hope all works out for them, I am too much of a wuss, to chance it.

Reg. Frank R.

wordfool

As long as the bottles are surrounded by soft stuff in the middle of the suitcase and not at the exterior they'll be fine (short of the suitcases breaking open and spilling its entire contents on the tarmac). Actually I recommend having them in the middle of the case to insulate them a little against the the big temperature changes in aircraft holds.

Wine bottles are actually pretty strong and rarely leak -- certainly not what I'd classify as fragile. I've brought literally dozens of bottles over the years in checked suitcases on international flights and never had one break or leak. They do often taste totally different in another country, but that's part of the magical mystery of wine

Jackattack... be prepared to pay the duty on any bottles over the duty-free allowance, but chances are you'll breeze through with no bother ar all.