Shopping in the USA

gaui3d0pnbz86o

bit of a question for ye, sorry if it seems daft but i just plain dont know.

heading to the USA in Jan, whats the deal with shopping there, is there a limit to what you can buy before paying import tax coming back? do you have to delcare all purchases - if it is for personal use(ie clothes and related items? I presume shopping is tax free for us, ie claim it back afterwards in airport coming home, what is the minimum spend?

again apoligies for seeming stupid, and green to all who help
thank you in advance
tom

irishguy

you can spend as much as you want [as long as its for personal use] and shopping is NOT tax free, because the US charge tax [vat] per state not as a country so there is no facility to claim back tax like in europe, but some state dont charge tax on certain items so i depends where you are going

madramor

the governement announced new plans to charge a tax on all item bought in the us, also fines and confications if you fail to declare and thay catch you.

this was in the paper a week ago so its probably not policy yet.

for clothes just remove labels/receipts, pay in cash if you are paranoid about them checking your CC statement and say they are the clothes you bought with you

Tazz T

Yeah, I read that too.

Tou have to pay VAT and excise (around 25%) for goods over 22 euro. It's in excess of 40% for goods over 350 euro. Just when the euro was doing so well aganist the dollar too. Bloody spoilsports!

Captain Trips

Tazz T wrote:

Yeah, I read that too.

Tou have to pay VAT and excise (around 25%) for goods over 22 euro. It's in excess of 40% for goods over 350 euro. Just when the euro was doing so well aganist the dollar too. Bloody spoilsports!

yes.....spoilsports......because that camera, GBA, iPOD, PS2 and XBox and Digital Camcorder were all mine when I left Ireland........:)

A word of advice: electronics are literally dirt cheap in the US, even NYC. Expect very large savings (well I did anyway).

Linoge

I was in the states over the summer with my gf. Between us we must have brought home about $5000-6000 worth of clothes and electronics. I can give a list but that would sound boastful , but the best one was that I put a 15" flat panel tv into my gf's onboard luggage. It was one of those businessman type luggage. They only wanted to take it out to check it, but it was packed in too tightly so they just let her go through.

You pay tax on luxury items such as clothes and electronics in shops. NY has a higher tax rate than most of 9%. I think NJ is 7.5%, makes a big difference if you're buying a laptop. Delaware has no tax on clothes and very low tax on other items. I know that cigarettes are cheap there.

I'm not sure about this whole nationwide tax thats coming in in the US, but at least for the moment, if you use the internet to buy from a different state you pay no tax at all. Will prob be impossible for you to do if you dont have a permenant address and a US Bank account (they use the account to verify your address).

I wouldn't worry about paying duty on clothes. With no tags on them how can they prove you didn't buy them here. Worry more about the weight of your luggage. I suggest bringing over just the bare essentials, really, then buy a suitcase over there, they're cheap too! As for the electronics I'm not quite sure what to do there, but my best suggestion is to take what you can on onboard with you. Its more secure aswell.

gaui3d0pnbz86o

thanks for all the replies, itll mostly be clothes, so ill cut the tags off and put in luggage, might have a hard time with the i love new youk t shirt though <- ill be a tourist and wear it home!!!

thanks again!
tom