What will I have to pay customs for going over my allowance on clothing? ?

Question

I am a US Resident. I have been abroad for 1.5 years. Now I am returning with all my personal belongings. I have a LOT of clothing. I know the allowance is $800 per person for personal items/clothing. I think I have about $1600 total in clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, plus my laptop which is another $700. I have been looking on-line to get an idea of what fees they may charge me for going over my allowance and I have had no luck. I am trying to get an idea of the cost in US dollars so I can be prepared financially. Do they charge a %? of the total value? Do I give them the real value or the retail, since my husband bought these items for me and I was unemployed my whole time abroad. Plus the exchange rate is twice as much so if I paid £10 for a shirt that's $20. Can I claim them all as a gift? Does anyone know of a website that is more specific on fees?

Answer 1

You typically pay % based on the value of the items at the time of import. If the clothing was originally purchased for $1600, but has  been used, its not worth $1600 anymore. Your laptop also depreciates. Your Jewelry is the only thing you listed that doesn't depreciate as that much with age. They also do give special considerations for personal items that are gifts.

The POINT: You don't really have $1600 worth of items that need to be declared. I wouldn't even bother to declare the laptop. Its a 'personal' item, just like a purse or a handbag.

I don't have any accurate info on customs duties charged when going into the USA, but i can tell you that it doesn't sound like you will be charged any duty AT ALL. If you don't have anything in commercial quantities,  $0 will probably be your total cost.

Let me know how it works out!

Answer 2

I know this might sound bad, however many people lie on the declaration forms because it's simply too much of a hassle to go through customs at all. The customs offers, too, are lazy and angry that they have to be there, and prefer not checking people. I arrived in Minneapolis by myself with probably 400EUR of clothes and 200EUR of other items; I also had alcohol (even though I'm under 21) and I said on the declaration form that I had $60 worth of clothes, and that's it. Flew past customs like there was no tomorrow!