• Up to $1,600 in goods will be duty-free under your personal exemption if the merchandise is from an insular possession.
• Up to $800 in goods will be duty-free if it is from a Caribbean Basin and Andean country.
• An additional $1,000 in goods will be dutiable at a flat rate if they are from an insular possession, or from a Caribbean Basin country. (See chart under Paying Duty.)
• If you are sending more than $2,600 from an insular possession or more than $1,600 from a Caribbean Basin country, the duty rates in the Harmonized Tariff Schedules of the United States will apply. The Harmonized Tariff Schedule describes different rates of duty for different commodities. For example, linen tablecloths will not have the same duty rates as handicrafts or plastic toy trucks.

To take advantage of the duty-free exemption for unaccompanied tourist purchases from an insular possession or a Caribbean country:

Step 1. At place and time of purchase, ask your merchant to hold your item until you send him or her a copy of CBP Form 255 (Declaration of Unaccompanied Articles), which must be affixed to the package when it is sent.

Step 2. (a) On your declaration form (CBP Form 6059B), list everything you acquired on your trip, except the things you already sent home as gifts. You must also complete a separate Declaration of Unaccompanied Articles form (CBP Form 255) for each package or container that will be sent to you after you arrive in the United States. This form may be available where you make your purchase. If not, ask a CBP officer for one when you clear the customs area.

Step 3. When you return to the United States, the CBP officer will: (a) collect duty and tax on the dutiable goods you have brought with you; (b) check to see that your list of unaccompanied articles, which you indicated on the CBP Form 255, agrees with your sales receipts; (c) validate the CBP Form 255 as to whether your purchases are duty-free under your personal exemption ($1,600 or $800) or whether they are subject to a flat rate of duty.

Step 4. Two copies of this three-part CBP Form 255 will be returned to you. Send the yellow copy of the CBP Form 255 to the foreign shopkeeper or vendor holding your purchase, and keep the other copy for your records.

Step 5. When the merchant gets your CBP Form 255, he or she will put it in an envelope and attach the envelope securely to the outside wrapping of the package or container. The merchant must also mark each package “Unaccompanied Purchase.” Please remember that each package or container must have its own CBP Form 255 attached. This is the most important step to follow in order to gain the benefits allowed under this procedure.

Step 6. If your package has been mailed, the U.S. Postal Service will deliver it after it clears customs. If you owe duty, the Postal Service will collect the duty along with a postal handling fee. If a freight service transports your package, they will notify you of its arrival so you can go to the CBP office holding the shipment and complete the entry procedure. If you owe duty or tax, you can pay it at that time. You could also hire a customs broker to do this for you. However, be aware that brokers are not CBP employees, and they charge fees for their services.

If freight or express packages from your trip are delivered before you return and you have not made arrangements to pick them up, CBP will authorize their placement in storage after 15 days. This storage will be at your risk and expense. If they are not claimed within six months, the items will be sold at auction.

Packages sent by mail and not claimed within 30 days will be returned to the sender unless the amount of duty is being protested.

DUTY-FREE SHOPS

The term “duty-free” shops confuses many travelers. Travelers often think that what they buy in duty-free shops will not be dutiable when they return home and clear customs. But this is not true. Articles sold in a duty-free shop are free of duty and taxes only for the country in which that shop is located. So if your purchases exceed your personal exemption, items you bought in a duty-free shop, whether in the United States or abroad, will be subject to duty.

Articles purchased in American duty-free shops are also subject to U.S. duty if you bring them into the United States. Therefore, if you buy liquor in a duty-free shop in New York before entering Canada and then bring it back into the United States, it may be subject to duty and Internal Revenue Service tax.