Moving back to the States from Taiwan, suggestions on transporting 20 + boxes?

[Naug]

Our stay in Taiwan appears to be coming to an end earlier than expected. Our moving costs are all covered by our employer.

Looking for advice on how to get the CC's back to the states. We will have a container for the bulk of our belongings which will be at sea for about 4 weeks. We also have an air freight box that will be out of sight for about a week and then of course there is carry on and checked baggage.

Probably ~ 450 cigars.

Ideas?

TIA

Toby  

[Bagman]

Bring them with you and declare them.  It is totally legal.  Each box (assuming around 300) will cost you 12 dollars in taxes.  20 boxes is just 240 in tax.  You can deduct 100 cigars per person as well.

Any other way of bringing them over can result in seizure.  240 (billed to your company?) is the ONLY smart way to go

[Randy956]

Take the bands off so there isn’t any question as to what they are. Put your own band on, or bundle them less bands and code the bundle so you know what they are. Label them Nicaraguan to be safe.

[Bagman]

4 minutes ago, Randy956 said:

Take the bands off so there isn’t any question as to what they are. Put your own band on, or bundle them less bands and code the bundle so you know what they are. Label them Nicaraguan to be safe.

Why on earth would you do that?  It is legal to bring back as many boxes of cuban cigars as you want (assuming the agent believes the volume falls under "personal use"). 

There is NO reason to unband cigars. 

[Guest Nekhyludov]

I didn't have to deal with any import issues, but here's what I found works well for taking care of your inventory while it's in transit.

 

[Bagman]

4 minutes ago, Nekhyludov said:

I didn't have to deal with any import issues, but here's what I found works well for taking care of your inventory while it's in transit.

 

But again, that is for shipping.  If you ship them, they can be confiscated.  If you instead just put them in your carryon luggage (I find that you can hold 14ish boxes in a carryon bag) and take them with you on the plane they will not be confiscated and you don't have to worry about it being tossed around as the cigars will be with you at all times.

[Randy956]

There ya go. Expert advice.

In fact I don’t actually know. If it were me I wouldn’t risk getting into a pissin’ contest with a nit-wit TSA goon over 450 cigars worth s lot of money.

[luckme10]

Agreed easier and safer to just declare and pay the additional taxes.

[Naug]

Thanks all, I had a nacient idea that it was legal to hand carry CCs. When we go through customs will have as many as 20 peices of luggage plus carry on. Not overly concerned that they bother mom and dad with 3 preschool aged kids.

 

[Bagman]

I could be wrong, but ironically, the United States is the easiest country to bring in large quantity of cubans.. Over 100 cigars per person, the tax is 4% of the value of the remaining cigars.  So 20 boxes - two people = 12 boxes.  At 300 bucks a box the total import tax bill would be 144 dollars.  What other country allows that?  You would have to sign over your house if your brought 20 boxes into Canada!

[helix]

12 hours ago, Monterey said:

I could be wrong, but ironically, the United States is the easiest country to bring in large quantity of cubans.. Over 100 cigars per person, the tax is 4% of the value of the remaining cigars.  So 20 boxes - two people = 12 boxes.  At 300 bucks a box the total import tax bill would be 144 dollars.  What other country allows that?  You would have to sign over your house if your brought 20 boxes into Canada!

Over $300 duty and taxes in Canada for every $100 value of cigars !!!! Don't think OZ is far off that also.