Children's Duty Free

[Gerry123]

We are going away and bringing our 6 month old baby with us. will he be entitled to 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars duty free when he returns to the uk?

[Everhelpful]

Wouldn't have thought so!!

[society]

You 6 months old baby smokes!? Holy crap!

[hc4361]

That is really funny

[Buenchico]

The minimum age for importing alcohol or tobacco is 17 years (which seems a bit odd when you've got to be 18 to buy them):
http://www.hmrc.gov.u...ing/arrivingnoneu.htm

Chris

PS: I assume that you're travelling to a non-EU country, since there's NO duty allowance (for anyone) when travelling within the EU.

[sara3]

see you in the News of The World ;o)

[boxtops]

the short answer is No!

[Gerry123]

The cigarettes weren't for the baby but I suppose he is still entitled to bring other goods into the UK
worth up to £390 (e.g. perfume and electrical
goods) without paying duty and / or tax in the UK.

[boxtops]

I think you'll find he can't!

[Buenchico]

HMRC might take a different view to that one, Gerry. Here's a quote from that link above:
"The goods must be for your own use or as a gift".
It's unlikely that HMRC would regard a baby as capable of giving a bona fide gift to anyone, so (unless the electrical goods are baby monitors or the 'perfumes' are actually talcum powder) he gets no allowance.

[jno]

good question... I don't actually know of any rule that children don't get the same allowance, and I can't find anywhere specifying an age limit. The very fact that they are specifically excluded from the alcohol and tobacco allowances suggested they are *not* excluded from the rest.

The 'for own use' qualification seems aimed at stopping people buying for resale.

Cigars, though - definitely not.

[mikey0118]

1st April has long since passed... or was this a serious question?

[Dee Sa]

I cant believe so many people gave a serious answer !

[Gerry123]

this was a serious question