Why Was I Charged Duty on My Duty-free Purchases? A: Many travelers are confused by the term “duty-free” as it relates to merchandise they buy in duty-free shops.
Buying an item in a duty-free shop does not mean that you will not have to pay duty on the item when you take it into your destination country. It only means that the item you are buying does not reflect the cost of duty or taxes that would have been added to the item if it had been formally imported into the country where the duty-free shop is located. Duty-free shops are shops where taxes on commercial goods are neither collected by a government, nor paid by an importer. An English-made wool sweater purchased in a clothing store in Germany may cost you $250.00, a price that includes the duty and taxes that the importer paid to import it. The same sweater purchased in a duty-free shop may only cost $225.00. That’s because as long as the sweater stays in the duty-free shop, or exits the country with the purchaser, it has not been formally imported into the country. There has been no duty charged on the sweater, and the duty-free shop owner has been able to pass that savings on to you.
Related Questions
- Why Was I Charged Duty on My Duty-free Purchases? A: Many travelers are confused by the term "duty-free" as it relates to merchandise they buy in duty-free shops.
- Are there limits to the amount of duty-free merchandise that I may bring into the U.S. from the Eastern Caribbean?
- How much stamp duty is charged for Port Douglas investment property purchases versus owner- occupied purchases?
