is there a limit to the amount of alcohol that can be bought??

lennon84

hi, i live in the south and i'm planning on travelling to northern ireland to stack up on alcohol for upcoming events. just wondering is there a limit to the amount i can bring back?

Gazza22

Nope no limits at all!

Not a bargain alert though...maybe in future look for the appropriate forum!

the groutch

technically no limits, but they would be suspicious of very large quantities and might ask questions

CH3OH

I think Gazza may be technically not 100% correct. He may be 99.9% correct:). You could thereotically be stopped and you may need to prove that the goods are for your personal use.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/travel-and-recreation/travel-to-ireland/customs_regulations_for_travellers

"Goods bought in another EU country

You will not be charged any extra duty or VAT on purchases where the duty and VAT has been paid (for example, goods bought in shops, supermarkets, etc.) in another EU country, provided the goods are for your personal use.

If your purchases are equivalent to or less than the quantities set out in the table below, they will usually be regarded as being for your personal use. If you exceed these quantities, you may have to demonstrate at Customs that the goods are for your personal use.

Alcohol and tobacco allowances for travellers to Ireland from EU Goods Maximum quantity allowed
Cigarettes 800
Cigarillos 400
Cigars 200

Smoking tobacco 1 kg
Spirits (whiskey, vodka, gin, etc.) 10 litres
Intermediate Products (e.g. sherry, port, etc., excluding sparkling wine)20 litres
Wine (only 60 litres of sparkling wine allowed) 90 litres
Beer 110 litres "

TheZohanS

lennon84 wrote: »

hi, i live in the south and i'm planning on travelling to northern ireland to stack up on alcohol for upcoming events. just wondering is there a limit to the amount i can bring back?

Individual supermarkets may have limits, e.g. Tesco have a 6 bottle of spirits limit.

All you need to do is make seperate purchases.

Tipsy Mac

Sainsburys won't sell you more than 1 case of the same spirits or more than 6 cases of the same wine, you could get around this if there's 2 people just purchase them seperately.

citizen_p

if your stopped,
you hust have too prove your not going to sell it on.

alan4cult

Mousey- wrote: »

if your stopped,
you hust have too prove your not going to sell it on.

How could you do that short of drinking it in front of them?

EZeeBOS

Yes there are limits!

But they are very big, so unless you are going to sell it on, use it for a wedding/party, you will be fine!

craichoe

feck sake lads .. ye should look it up !

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/travellers/within_eu/index_en.htm

a) Tobacco products
•cigarettes 800 items
•cigarillos (cigars weighing not more than 3 g each) 400 items
•cigars 200 items
•smoking tobacco 1.0 kg
b) Alcoholic beverages
•spirit drinks 10 litres
•intermediate products 20 litres
•wines (including a maximum of 60 litres of sparkling wines) 90 litres
•beers 110 litres

Ruu_Old

Moved, not a Bargain Alert.

Shelflife

if youre going to be buying a large quantity why not go to your local offy and ask them for a price, that way you would save on the travel , both time and cost.

Tipsy Mac

Shelflife wrote: »

if youre going to be buying a large quantity why not go to your local offy and ask them for a price, that way you would save on the travel , both time and cost.

Problem is with the excise duty in Ireland it's not possible to even come close to matching the prices up north on alcohol particularly with spirits, even with zero margin there's a massive difference.

Shelflife

True , but factor in €30 for fuel and a day out of your life travelling and the cost of a bite to eat and you would have to buy alot of spirits to make it up.

im assuming that the op lives a fair bit away and the events are private, you wouldnt use alot of spirits at a private party.

if you had to take a day off then thats a days wages so thats about €80-€100 extra.

foggy_lad

go for it up the north it is so much cheaper than south of the border and you wont even have to take time off work if you go on a sunday or saturday. even if you lived in the wilds of cork/kerry it will still be well worth the trip.

calex71

watch out for the size of the cans you buy up north op, thought i was getting a major bargain on a crate of beers till i noticed that they where 440ml cans :eek: so it was a little less of a of a bargain that i would have liked.

rebel.ranter

If you were stopped just tell them you are getting it for whatever event you are buying it for, e.g major family BBQ, a wedding or whatever it is.

lennon84

ok guys thanks for the replys. i'll head away up anyway sure make a day of it..thanks again

dowtchaboy

In May we met some people bringing back a vanload of booze from France to Cork. There were 6 of them - 4 travelled in a car and 2 took a Transit van for all the booze - there was as much in it as the axles could take I'd say. (maybe 1/3 of the volume?)
They told me they went every year, just once per year, and went specifically for booze - just over and back. Any trouble with Customs I asked? No - they said they could show that they only went once a year and so the amount of booze was "reasonable" for 6 people for 1 year. We just had 24 bottles of wine and 12 of cider - oh and 4 x 5 litre boxes of wine - wish we had bought lots more!

It seems you can argue for higher amounts if you (honestly) have some event coming up such as a wedding, 50th birthday party etc - you are quite entitled to buy for such events as long as you are not selling the booze or somehow making money out of the event. Nipping over the Border every week for a load on the grounds that it's somebodies birthday "soon" would not qualify!

Be careful - Customs have incredible powers (legal ones, not supernatural!) since Napoleonic era - unlike the Garda, they can enter your home without a warrant, confiscate your car if it was used to carry the goods, and the burden of proof is on you - ie a Customs officer can just declare that you were smuggling and it is up to you to prove you were not.
Seriously - the fact that they can confiscate your car on the spot and you have to walk home is a reality. Also they can do it anywhere - you could meet them on the WestLink toll bridge, or in the pub carpark as you unload a few boxes for your mate, or even get a call from Security at work to go to the company car park 'cos they want you to open the car there and then! Don't mess with them!

Davidth88

When I lived in London we used to travel to France 2-3 times a year to buy beer and wine.

We used to buy 30 odd cases of beer and fill the rest of the car with wine/cheese and coffee ( much cheaper in France for some reason )

Watch for overloading , I was never stopped , although on occasion I should perhaps have been .

The advice on the amounts is just that advice . If you can prove that you are buying say for a wedding in your family then there wouldn't be a problem . If you went every week and started doing it , then you would be copped I reckon.

Actually when I was last in the North ( May I think ) the prces on wine certainly were not the bargins they were before, still cheap , but not staggeringly so.

Del2005

dowtchaboy wrote: »

In May we met some people bringing back a vanload of booze from France to Cork. There were 6 of them - 4 travelled in a car and 2 took a Transit van for all the booze - there was as much in it as the axles could take I'd say. (maybe 1/3 of the volume?)
They told me they went every year, just once per year, and went specifically for booze - just over and back. Any trouble with Customs I asked? No - they said they could show that they only went once a year and so the amount of booze was "reasonable" for 6 people for 1 year. We just had 24 bottles of wine and 12 of cider - oh and 4 x 5 litre boxes of wine - wish we had bought lots more!

It seems you can argue for higher amounts if you (honestly) have some event coming up such as a wedding, 50th birthday party etc - you are quite entitled to buy for such events as long as you are not selling the booze or somehow making money out of the event. Nipping over the Border every week for a load on the grounds that it's somebodies birthday "soon" would not qualify!

Be careful - Customs have incredible powers (legal ones, not supernatural!) since Napoleonic era - unlike the Garda, they can enter your home without a warrant, confiscate your car if it was used to carry the goods, and the burden of proof is on you - ie a Customs officer can just declare that you were smuggling and it is up to you to prove you were not.
Seriously - the fact that they can confiscate your car on the spot and you have to walk home is a reality. Also they can do it anywhere - you could meet them on the WestLink toll bridge, or in the pub carpark as you unload a few boxes for your mate, or even get a call from Security at work to go to the company car park 'cos they want you to open the car there and then! Don't mess with them!

The UK customs got caught out with this, confiscating cars from "smugglers" , they got taken to the EU courts and lost, now you can bring as much as you want. Just don't over load your vehicle. And if you are doing this every week you'll get done.