When Is It Best To Buy Duty Free

[winkyridg]

Hi, we're flying to Lanzarote in 7 days, ive never really bothered with duty free but some of the lads at work are asking for tabacco products to be brought back, when is it best to buy duty free, outbound, homebound or on the plane and what are we limited to? Many Thanks

[10ClarionSt]

There is no such as "Duty Free" if you're travelling within the E.U. and Lanzarote is in the E.U. Duty free products are only available at the airport (either end) if you are travelling outside the Eurozone.

However, lots of products like tobacco are much cheaper in the destination you are travelling to e.g. 20 cigarettes in Malta costs £4.60; 50g of Golden Virginia tobacco costs £9.00. You could buy these in the local shops but you are only allowed 10 pouches of tobacco and 10 pkts of cigarettes.

[10ClarionSt]

^^^No such thing..^^^

[calmck]

Do be careful to keep within the limit as stated previously. Cases are screened on return and anything over the allowance will be fined or taken from you

[Prudie]

Although Lanzarote belongs to Spain the Cnaries do not have the same rules as the EU when you can bring back almost unlimited cigarettes as long as they are for personal use (800 is the suggested maximum before you may be asked to explain to customs why you have more). So you can only bring back 200 cigarettes. You can't buy them at reduced prices outbound so your options are to buy in Tabacs in resort which will be a bit cheaper but then you have to find room in your packed luggage or you buy at the airport on your way home.
Although the words duty free are not in fact what they are the airport shops are still called 'World Duty Free'.

[Gizmonster]

As Prudie has pointed out, although Lanzarote is part of Spain; it's NOT in the EU.

Your allowances are there as follows:

beer - 16 litres
wine (not sparkling) - 4 litres
You can also bring in either:

spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol - 1 litre
fortified wine (for example port, sherry), sparkling wine and alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol - 2 litres
You can split this last allowance, for example you could bring 1 litre of fortified wine and half a litre of spirits (both half of your allowance).

Tobacco allowance:
You can bring in one from the following:

200 cigarettes
100 cigarillos
50 cigars
250g tobacco
You can split this allowance - so you could bring in 100 cigarettes and 25 cigars (both half of your allowance).

Bring anything over the limit at your own risk :)

[Gizmonster]

Typo:

*Your allowances are therefore as follows*

[Buenchico]

>>> As Prudie has pointed out, although Lanzarote is part of Spain; it's NOT in the EU

A pedantic point possibly but the Canary Islands ARE most definitely within the EU. However, as Prudie has indicated, they have a separate tax status to mainland Spain, meaning that the rules on imports from EU countries don't apply there.

So, as has been indicated already, the Canary Islands are treated in the same way as non-EU countries such as the USA or Australia. So you're limited to bringing back just 200 ciggies without getting clobbered for Import Duty, Excise Duty and VAT.