Duty Free Cigarettes

Storf

Im not sure if this is the right place to post this but here goes anyway!

I was wondering if anybody knew where the cheapest duty free cigarettes and alcohol can be found (not online!)

Preferably a European country but also worldwide - if anybody has any information I would really appreciate it!

Paulw

I think you need to go do some research.

There is no duty-free within Europe any more. That ended nearly 10 years ago now.

joolsveer

The duty free within the European Union is only for those travelling outside the EU (or coming from outside the EU).

rubadub

Closest would be somewhere like Norway not sure if the isle of man or jersey would be feasible, probably costs a lot to go there (not sure if they even can sell duty free). You would have limits anway, so if you were getting any amount you should be asking where is the cheapest for certain things. Like spain, or hungary might be cheap for smokes & booze.

TheDriver

normal duty paid, would be cheapest in Spain or Poland or Czech Republic (about 2.50 a packet of L&M. Remember you can bring in 800 I think legitimately

syklops

Does the OP mean free of irish Duty? As in where is the cheapest place in or around Europe to buy cigarettes and alcohol? There is duty in every EU country(afaik), but in few countries is the duty as high as it is in Ireland.

I think thats what the OP is asking. Where is the cheapest place in the EU to buy smokes and drink(not online).

If that is what your asking then here are some prices from the Czech republic

Right now there is 26 Koruna to the Euro.

Marlboro lights - 82 Kc = 3.15 euros
Camel Lights - 75 Kc = 2.88 euros
L&M blue - 55 Kc - = 2.11 euros

500ml bottle of Vodka - 69 KC = 2.65
700ml Bottle of Jameson - 375 = 14.4 euro
Tesco own brand whiskey - 180 Kc = 6.90 euro
1 500ml can of guinness -35 Kc = 1.3 euro


Edit:TheDriver beat me to it.

Storf

Thanks for the responses - I know that in Bangkok airport the cigarettes are 10 euros for 200 but I was looking for somewhere closer to home

Since there is a limit on the amount of tobacco you can bring on the plane,
do you reckon that posting some back would be feasible or would there be customs problems?

Paulw

Storf wrote: »

Since there is a limit on the amount of tobacco you can bring on the plane,
do you reckon that posting some back would be feasible or would there be customs problems?

Posting it back would be considered importing. You would then be liable for duty and any further fees.

jor el

Yes, personal allowances only count for what you bring yourself. Shipping them, even from within the EU, leaves you liable for duty. They'll probably work out more expensive that way, as you'll pay duty in the source country as well as here.

parsi

TheDriver wrote: »

normal duty paid, would be cheapest in Spain or Poland or Czech Republic (about 2.50 a packet of L&M. Remember you can bring in 800 I think legitimately

Allowances from Poland are less than most other EU aloowances - probably due to the cheapness of tobacco products.

Luxembourg is another cheap place for tobacco.

foggy_lad

within the eu you are allowed buy as much as much as you want but it must be for personal use so if you were catering for a son/daughters wedding and christmas as well as a communion and confirmation that adds up to a lot of alcohol for many families and you can also claim to be buying several months supply of cigarettes but this is something customs watch out for by recording amounts brought in on previous occasions to ensure people are not "importing" large amounts to sell them.

rubadub

foggy_lad wrote: »

within the eu you are allowed buy as much as much as you want but it must be for personal use

Actually there are limits, as in definitions of what is personal use, dunno if they would be strict on all of them. I think there are even limits on how much beer you can have in your own house, bought here or not (I used to make homebrew and read it years ago, might have been the UK but the limits were HUGE)

I think somebody said there might be a some way of upping your limit, somehow proving it was for several people, sounded like a myth to me.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1878.html

Duty-Paid and Tax-Paid Goods
(i) General

No additional duty or tax will be charged on goods bought duty and tax paid (e.g. in shops, supermarkets etc.) in another EC country. However, see below for Alcohol and Tobacco Products.

(ii) Alcohol and Tobacco Products

In the case of alcohol and tobacco products:

they must be for your personal use,
you must retain your receipts as proof that you have paid duty and taxes, and
you must personally transport and accompany the goods on arrival.
Where your purchases of the specific products listed below are equivalent to, or less than, the quantities shown in the table they will, generally speaking, be regarded as for personal use

Maximum quantity and list of goods allowed as personal use Maximum Quantity Goods
800 Cigarettes
400 Cigarillos
200 Cigars
1kg Smoking Tobacco
10 litres Spirits (whiskey, gin, vodka, etc.)
20 litres Intermediate Products - Alcoholic drinks not exceeding 22% vol. (e.g. port, sherry, some liqueurs, etc.)
90 litres Wine (of which only 60 litres can be sparkling)
110 litres Beer

It should be noted that until 31 December 2009 there are specific limits on the amount of tobacco products you can bring into Ireland for your personal use that have been purchased in the following EC countries.

Estonia - 200 cigarettes or 250g smoking tobacco*
Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, - 200 cigarettes*
* If you have tobacco products over these specific limits you must declare them to a Customs Officer in the Red Channel and pay the appropriate duties and taxes

There was rumours of them enforcing these rules with people going up north.

Grumpypants

Poland is around the 20-22 euro mark for 200
Andorra is around 12-22 for 200.

JimsAlterEgo

Jersey - if you could get cheap flights

Paulw

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

Jersey - if you could get cheap flights

Jersey is not within the EU duty zone, so you will be limited to 200 cigarettes and 1 litre of alcohol.

Storf

So by the looks of things I could fly to Andorra and pick up nearly 1000 cigarettes and 10 bottles of Vodka and not have to pay any import duty or taxes - sounds like its a bit too good to be true:rolleyes:

matrim

Storf wrote: »

So by the looks of things I could fly to Andorra and pick up nearly 1000 cigarettes and 10 bottles of Vodka and not have to pay any import duty or taxes - sounds like its a bit too good to be true:rolleyes:

Yes you could (except the taxes \ duty in Andorra itself).
I've actually considered it before (except going to Spain). If you buy 5 cartons (1000 cigarettes) it's unlikely you'll be stopped at customs and you save yourself about 250 euro on what they would cost here. So basically what you save on cigarettes is paying for flights and probably a hotel for 2 nights, so you end up with what works out as a cheap break.

Paulw

Storf wrote: »

So by the looks of things I could fly to Andorra and pick up nearly 1000 cigarettes and 10 bottles of Vodka and not have to pay any import duty or taxes - sounds like its a bit too good to be true:rolleyes:

Actually, since Andorra is only a principality, you can only take back 300 cigarettes and 1.5l of alcohol.

http://www.andorra.com/uk/shopping/shopping.asp

joolsveer

Andorra is not in the EU. If you travel from Andorra into Spain you can be stopped and searched and VAT is charged on the goods (this happened to me once but it did not involve drink or tobacco). The Spanish customs stopped and searched all cars and buses crossing the frontier.

TheDriver

curious as to what they did stop you for?

dudara

Moved to Bargain Alerts [Requests]

dudara

bagels

Our membership of the EU guarantees us the free movement of goods and services from one member state to another.
Therefore, we are entitled to legally bring unlimited duty-paid tobacco and alcohol products, for our own use, into Ireland.
However, our government (and the Brits) ignore that EU law and set their own limits.
The ordinary citizen cannot afford to take the State through successive courts to secure his/her Rights.
Like the VRT fiasco, we are being scammed by our own government and the EU authorities are allowing us to be treated as 2nd class EU citizens.
I have heard that British customs are allowing people to bring in up to 6 months supply of tobacco/alcohol for their own use, but i have no proof of that.

byte

Yeah, I prefer to travel via Belfast airport, since UK import allowances are much more lax.

Although there are no limits on the amount of alcohol and tobacco you can bring in from EU countries, customs officials are more likely to ask you questions if you have more than:

* 3,200 cigarettes
* 200 cigars
* 400 cigarillos
* 3kg of tobacco
* 110 litres of beer
* 90 litres of wine
* 10 litres of spirits
* 20 litres of fortified wine (for example port or sherry)

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingeu.htm

Spanish Eyes

The indicative amount for personal use in the UK is huge (3,200). Here, if you bring back more than 800 cigs you can have them confiscated if you cannot prove they are for your own use.

I find that appalling, despite the fact that any smoker should try to give em up, me included! I really thought as members of the EU we were all one big happy family, and duty paid goods purchased in an EU country for one's own use had no limits on returning to home country provided the goods travelled with you.

I think I will get on to my MEP and see what he has to say about this. But he is FF, and we can't bring in too much because it might harm our tax base!! So much for free movement of goods and services.

I would challenge a customs officer if stopped with more than 800 to point me to the actual law that states more than 800 is questionable, given the huge disparity with what the UK thinks is for own use and our own. I don't think the price of cigs in the UK is much less than here, so they must want to protect their tax base also, but despite the euroscepticism over there, they have a far more liberal interpretation of the free movement theory.

m4rkiz

parsi wrote: »

Allowances from Poland are less than most other EU aloowances - probably due to the cheapness of tobacco products.

not true
since early 2008 there is no difference between amounts that you can get from Poland and rest of UE countries

it is any amount that you can prove it is for your personal use (which unfortunately means up to 800 cigarettes if you put that theory into practice)
definition of personal use include giving them as a gift

btw. regular price of malboro in Poland is €2.50-2.70 for 20, 1 litre of red Smirnoff is €10-11, prices on airport are pretty much the same so it is just matter of finding cheap tickets on some of ryanair sales

Pj!

Just browsing here but wondered if it's therefore possible to safely fly into belfast from another European country with 3,000 cigarettes?

Thoie

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

The indicative amount for personal use in the UK is huge (3,200). Here, if you bring back more than 800 cigs you can have them confiscated if you cannot prove they are for your own use.

How do you prove they're for your own use? Sit there and smoke them all in front of them? Is there a period over which you must smoke them? Could you suggest they sign each pack, and they can jump out from under the sofa and surprise you when you light up? For a 20 a day smoker, 3,650 would be six month's supply.

m4rkiz

Thoie wrote: »

How do you prove they're for your own use? Sit there and smoke them all in front of them? Is there a period over which you must smoke them? Could you suggest they sign each pack, and they can jump out from under the sofa and surprise you when you light up? For a 20 a day smoker, 3,650 would be six month's supply.

there is few indicators such as if you actually smoke at all , if you have mixed brands or types they might get suspicious, most of brands (especially cheap ones) that cant be purchased in Ireland or UK are safe too, as chances that one will find a buyer for them are quite slim

for example - friends of mine had 1600 of them and because they are basically cheapest and crap%!est ( €1.93 for pack ) he didn't had any problems after his explanation and could keep them all