duty free allowance

[tyler06]

a couple i know went on a booze & baccy cruise. they had legal amount . all was taken off them reason given they dont work. he sold his business to care for his wife who has m.s how do the get away with it

[dzug]

I really think you don't have the whole story - there is some aspect they have 'forgotten' to tell you about or glossed over.

[tyler06]

may'be but if they wan't to appeal they have to travel 200 miles . if they lose case could have to pay up �750 court cost .

[jno]

new one on me. I never heard of the limits being tied to your working hours before. dzug must be right, there must be some other factor, or else someone has acted way beyond his authority - unless there's some secret law I don't know about. Anyone?

[tyler06]

the plot thickens ? just ask the man he said third time in 2 months he's been did not take advantage other times.dzug could be right .

[dzug]

I suspect customs have concluded 'commercial purpose'

Where did he go?
What did he bring back?
What did he intend to do with it? What did he tell customs on this?

Frequency of travel could come into it - it wouldn't matter if he didn't use the allowance every time - there'd be no record.

If it really was for personal use (including gifts), it may be worth appealing. OTH if he intended to pass it on to friends (even at cost or even at less than cost) he was breaking the law and lucky to get away with it just being confiscated.

The reason he claims was given makes no sense.

[matt66]

Frequency of travel is closely monitored. Your bags on outward travel (if you are on the watchlist) are also weighed (unknown to you). In almost all cases the bags are empty going out and full coming in. When this happens every week you are onto a culprit.

[mrsann]

I regularly travelled accross Spain/France from our home in Andalucia to our family home in North Wales when my husband retired.Naturally we took full advantage of duty free followed by simply lower cost alchohol every trip and except for one trip when customs officers didn't know the rules regarding lower proof alchohol we never had a problem despite making regular trips back and to.I think there's more to this story than has been told.I now travel regularly about the world with a friend and haven't had any trouble at all despite a full bag of alchohol but no tobacco

[Trotbot]

Customs will look at the financial status of the travellers to determine whether they could afford the items. The fact that they were within the indicative limit does not mean Customs cannot seize the goods if there are reasonable grounds to suspect they are for commercial purposes.
They can ask Customs for an internal review of the decision (Customs are obliged to provide details at the time of seizure). Time limits do apply. If they are still not satisfied, they can appeal to the Tax and Duties Tribunal (not the Court).