Buying beer in the U.S. (Questions about duty/taxes, etc.)

mh007 · Post by **mh007** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:36 pm

I am going to Michigan (by car) later this week and I want to bring back some craft beer with me. I won't be in the U.S. for 48 hours, so I won't qualify for a "personal exemption". I was wondering if anyone has any info on the duty and taxes the beer would be subject to when I come back to Ontario. I looked on the applicable government websites and I could not find anything useful (it seems like they don't want people to do this...). Any other tips and info relevant to this would be much appreciated as well. Thanks.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:44 pm

Welcome to the forum!

The #1 tip I'll offer is don't lie. Honesty goes a long way and often you'll get waved through without a tax charge.

If you do get charged make sure you hold onto your bill. In my experience the taxes generally come in about 30% of the value but it's been a while since I've had to pay. Some of the other folks here will have more recent experiences.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:24 pm

Depends on a number of factors, but overall it depends on the border guard you get.

Border guards rarely care about a 6 pack, and for the most part won't care about anything less than 12 bottles. I have run into one guard crossing up north who brought me in and had my car searched when I claimed 6 beer cause it sounded suspicious.

Buying a pile of bottles? More likely to pay 30%. Again, some will wave you through, and I have seen the occasional customs miracle. Last time I brought back a large number of bombers I somehow paid less than 3 bucks of duty. I think they thought Southern Tier was a pop.

Buying a case of smokes as well? You're paying taxes.

Travelling with someone else who isn't buying beer? Hit or miss.

Bought a bunch of other stuff? If you spent more than 150, good chance of getting called in.

Bought your beer at duty free? I'd put money on you going inside to pay taxes and duty.

Lieing about what you bought and getting caught? Expect not only to pay, but you will likely be put on the border watch list. They may even take your beer!

Ukie · Post by **Ukie** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:00 pm

sprague11 wrote:
Lieing about what you bought and getting caught? Expect not only to pay, but you will likely be put on the border watch list. They may even take your beer!

And probably check all of your orifices!

And dont even think about bringing back alcohol, the duty and taxes is severly higher if you arent staying over.

You can usually grab some half decent hotel deals and stay 2 nights and get an exemption, depends where you are driving from and to if its worthwhile. I've seen 2 adults 2 nights $100 usd plus taxes.

heebes · Post by **heebes** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:00 pm

you can only bring back up to 5 cases a person (way too much anyways)

whenever i just get 24 or so bottles, it seems like they dont bother with the duty. if so its just a matter of going inside and charging more to your c. card as they sort out what the heck you just bought.

i'd like to make Michigan my next road trip.
what breweries besides the obvious founders/bells are exclusive to MI? (by that i guess i mean vs. NY)

Soods · Post by **Soods** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:09 pm

Short's Brewing Company but that's a trek up north.

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:29 pm

Soods wrote:Short's Brewing Company but that's a trek up north.

If you want to visit the brewery. But not if you just want to get bottles...

I would also recommend Dark Horse.

notdan · Post by **notdan** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:31 pm

I'm a pretty big fan of the Arcadia beers I've tried. They're in Battle Creek, apparently... I just know their beers were easy to find in Kalamazoo. The B-Craft Double Black IPA and Sky High Rye were particularly good.

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:37 pm

heebes wrote:
i'd like to make Michigan my next road trip.
what breweries besides the obvious founders/bells are exclusive to MI? (by that i guess i mean vs. NY)

I would highly recommend that you make a weekend out of it and go to Grand Rapids. I had a blast there this weekend. You can visit Founders and the Hop Cat for some great beer and easily be entertained for a whole weekend. And there are a couple of great beer stores in GR where you can get all of the stuff from Founders, Bells, Shorts, Arcadia, Dark Horse, New Holland, etc.

And if you don't want to dedicate whole weekend to Grand Rapids, Kalamzaoo is 45 minutes south. Then you have Battle Creek (Arcadia) & Marshall (Dark Horse) just minutes east of K'Zoo.

Michigan is where it's at. The only problem you'll have is trying to decide what to buy to bring back with you. There are so many great choices...

Ralphus · Post by **Ralphus** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:48 pm

If you think you might have to pay its worth tabulating up the amount of beer you have in oz. That was the unit we were charged against.

pushkinwow · Post by **pushkinwow** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:22 am

You are actually allowed to bring back 45 liters (around 5 cases) of beer anytime you go into the US - if you stay 48 hours you can also bring an additional duty free case. Doesn't apply in you case but if you get the duty free case the nice part is you can put your most expensive bottles into the duty free case and only pay duty on the rest. In my experience this is charged based on a percentage of total $ value and liters.

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:29 am

Ralphus wrote:If you think you might have to pay its worth tabulating up the amount of beer you have in oz. That was the unit we were charged against.

I would not go to that extent unless they ask. They ask me how many bottles I have and I tell them. If they ask me if they are all 12 oz bottles, I provide more detail, as necessary. It is easy to play dumb on that one. Even after paying duty I have had my trunk searched in the past and they never take note of the number of ounces. If you had growlers, that might be another story ...

devonsleigh · Post by **devonsleigh** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:14 pm

its been hit and miss for me. Sometimes I have to go in to pay full duty and taxes, other times waved through. More often than not they just charge 13% on the total on my bill rather than going through each bottle size individually.

Bottom line though, NEVER EVER under any circumstance underreport or omit anything. I made the mistake once of not knowing the correct amount of bottles I had, I missed 5 that were in 2 gift packs, out of 19 bottles of liquor I reported. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

JohnnyB · Post by **JohnnyB** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 3:59 pm

How does it work then if you are staying over 48 hours? Can you bring back whatever you like with no duty at all, or are you capped at a 5 case limit still (as if that is much of a problem)?

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:06 pm

JohnnyB wrote:How does it work then if you are staying over 48 hours? Can you bring back whatever you like with no duty at all, or are you capped at a 5 case limit still (as if that is much of a problem)?

You can bring back 24 - 12 oz. bottles duty free. Anything above that limit risks duty being charged, depending on the border agent you get. But even if you choose to pay duty, you are capped at 5 cases in total.