Duty Free allowance

[Soulie]

Hi,

Does anyone know if the duty free allowance has changed on cigarettes.  I have just been walking the dogs and someone up the field told me a chap came back from Greece last week and had his allowance taken off him as he was only allowed to bring 800 cigarettes back?  Dont seem right to me and I havent heard anything.

Does anyone know anything please?

Thanks
Cheryl

[Caz]

cigarettes brought into the uk must be for your own consumption or a gift, they must not be for resale, the guideline is 800 cigarettes, more and they would not be classed for your consumption and confiscated. The person was most likely bringing in a large quantity. We understand this is something customs are clamping down on due to people abusing the free allowance purely for resale purposes.

[tonyco1]

Yes - this now seems to be the Norm!!
One of our friends does a Med cruise from Southampton, that calls into Gibraltar  - - - once a year.
He fills a suitcase with cigarettes - enough to last him a year and has no trouble bringing them in back home.
Gib is duty free!

[Jimbo]

This is a guideline only. Under EU law you are entitled to bring back for personal use as many cigarettes as you can carry.

The guidelines say that you may be asked questions if you have more than 800. It was 3,200 until November. The Labour government raised it from 800 because of the chaos it was causing at ports and airports, and now this remarkably stupid government has opted for another bout of chaos.

We brought back 3,600 cigarettes. If I had been challenged and had cigarettes confiscated I would have taken HRMC to court and won. They are NOT duty free. VAT and Duty has been paid in Greece, and the only challenge that they have is that you are going to flog them in your local market. I'd like to see them prove that! They cannot charge extra duty without being hauled up before the European Commission.

Basically it's yet another pathetic money-raising effort by a collection of Etonian bullies who seem to think that "fag" means something you can treat as you want. Well, they can't. They are in breach of the law, not you.

Generally speaking, I suspect that they're more interested in cars and vans coming in on ferries, and package flights to and from Corfu are an unlikely route for smugglers.

Stand up for your rights. Cough a lot and sing Jerusalem as you go through Customs. Preferably bring Greek cigarettes like Assos and GR - on the grounds that (a) you support the Greek economy, and (b) nobody in their right mind would try to sell a carrier bag of those at a car boot sale.

[tonyco1]

This is a guideline only. Under EU law you are entitled to bring back for personal use as many cigarettes as you can carry.
The guidelines say that you - - - - - - - - - - - - etc....etc.........
....... Cough a lot and sing Jerusalem as you go through Customs.
Preferably bring Greek cigarettes like Assos and GR - on the grounds that (a) you support the Greek economy, and (b) nobody in their right mind would try to sell a carrier bag of those at a car boot sale.

Nobody in their right mind would try to smoke them!!  LOL
(Sorry Jim - I couldn't resist it!!).

[Jimbo]

Funnily enough, that's what my psychiatrist said.

[tonyco1]

Funnily enough, that's what my psychiatrist said.

Funnily enough I can't afford a psychiatrist!!

[Jimbo]

Funnily enough, we thought that was the case!

[vickyapts]

I've had a couple of guests asking about the tax free allowance.  As I don't have a printer, I advised them to go to the 3 W's and print this page off.  HMRC don't have a leg to stand on.  They have no right to confiscate ciggies over and 800.

Arrivals from EU countries
When arriving into the UK from an EU country you can bring in an unlimited amount of most goods.

For excise goods such as alcohol and tobacco, there are no restrictions. However you must meet the conditions below:

•You transport the goods yourself.
•The goods are for your own use or as a gift. If the person you give the goods to pays you in any way - including reimbursing you for any expenses or payment in kind - then it's not a gift and the goods may be seized.
•The goods are duty and tax paid in the EU country where they were acquired.
If you don't meet these conditions, the goods and any vehicle that transported them, may be seized.

You can read more about Excise Duty in the guide 'Customs Duty, Excise Duty and Import VAT: introduction'. You'll find a link to this in the ‘More useful links’ section below.


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

[Soulie]

Thanks everyone for your replies and help.  will certainly print off information on website link and take with me.  I usually bring 16 cartons back but they are only for me.  It is only people who dont smoke who think that amount is excessive.  Smokers realise it doesnt matter how long it takes you to smoke them, being so much cheaper it is a bargain.

thanks again everyone.

3 weeks Friday and counting...... 

Cheryl

[tonyco1]

I  have never smoked, but I am with Jim on this - the principle is that the tax is paid, but some jumped-up bureaucrat has decided to take the law into his own hands, and confiscate - that is just wrong!
In the mean-time another 100,000 ilegals are welcomed in so we can pay them free money plus a house!!

[Jimbo]

Quite - actually it wasn't a bureaucrat - it was a member of what is laughably called our "government"  - (more U-turns than an Albanian unblocking a Greek lavatory).

Same old thing - bash the smokers. Send them out into rain and snow, close the pubs, tell monstrous lies about secondary smoking and the cost to the NHS, whilst not revealing the fact that smokers pay three times as much tax as they cost the NHS, live on average five years less (in itself a massive saving), and if they banned smoking tomorrow (which would be a more honest approach) non-smokers would suddenly find themselves paying a hell of a lot more tax! The spread of infections on aeroplanes has massively increased since they banned smoking and saved fuel by turning down the air extraction rate.

Traditionally, being a leper has been a free ride, but now it's quite expensive! Apart from most of the rest of the world. Why is it that a packet of fags that costs about £6:50 in the UK costs about E4.0 even in desperate-for-cash Greece? Greed and hypocrisy, in my view.

Rant over! Phew... thing I'll have a ciggie and calm down. 

[katie]

I agree with everything you say Jim.  We always bring as many cigarettes as we can fit into our suitcases as there is no way we would pay UK prices.

Katie

[benson]

When you buy in the resort or towns then they are not technically duty free. You have paid the greek duty on them.
Purchases from airports are duty free and thats when you can only buy a limited amount.

[Jimbo]

benson - I'm not sure that's true any longer. I think (but may well be wrong) that fags at the airport are the same price as in a shop and are duty-paid.