Hello,
I have sold 4 bottles of the Petrus to a man in PA.
He gave me his Fed Ex account number and asked me to declare the wine is a gift.
Does anybody know anything about customs?,could it come back and bite me?,could the IRS charge me the tax at a later date?.
When I lived in NYC I would go to Jersey to make large purchases as sales tax in Jersey was less,most people did.
is declaring the wine as a gift like going to Jersey or is it something that could cause me problems?.
Best,
Linda
‘Gift’ or ‘Sample’ is often used when shipping between individuals to avoid import duty/sales tax. I don’t know what PA’s rules for import of wine are. Worth looking to see if there are any explicit mentions of gifts/samples (but there may not be).
(edited for awful typo)
Thank You for your advice.
Best,
Linda
I’ve read a few horror stories of trying to ship wine from Europe to the US without an appropriate license or an importer/clearing agent to help. It could be held up in customs for long periods or sent back to Europe. A single bottle sent to me from an unknowing friend in Italy as a gift got sent back. It’s much preferred to bring wine back to the US with you on the plane as checked baggage.
And that’s just US Customs. State law varies, and unfortunately PA is one of the worst when it comes to bringing wine into the state. I would never take a chance on flying home with wine if Philadelphia was the port of entry. Always NY or DC.
Hopefully you haven’t yet sent the wine. You should research this further and discuss in detail with the purchaser what happens and who is responsible if the wine is delayed and potentially damaged or confiscated.
Your question about tax due the IRS is a separate issue from import duties and clearing the wine into the US. Proceeds from a sale would be reported when you file your 2018 tax return.
Thank You,I will have a chat with him tomorrow.
Best,
Linda
I see what you mean,Thank You.
to be concise, I dont think im overstepping bounds saying PA is just about the worst state in the country to try and get alcohol in.
Thanks,I will have a chat with him tomorrow,only have his office number.
Best,
Linda
For what the Petrus is worth, I think it would be a good idea to ship it legally. Who is taking responsibility for it if it gets held up in customs, you or the buyer? Presumably the buyer is, but you need to make sure.
Thank You,I am going to call him and ask him what he wants me to do tomorrow.
Best,
Linda
Does PA mean Pennsylvania?
Or is it the Palestinian Authority?
If it’s Pennsylvania, then the big question is whether the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board [PLCB] is as interested in older vintage wine as they are in recently released wine.
My guess is that, on four bottles of Petrus [with, say, a retail value of $16,000 to $20,000], the PLCB is probably gonna wanna collect several thousand dollars in taxes on it.
And cheating the PLCB out of several thousand dollars in taxes is probably gonna be a rather serious felony.
And since the origin of the felony involves an American overseas, the FBI and the Treasury Department [Secret Service & BATF] and the Postal Service [mail fraud] could well become involved.
Possibly even Homeland Security.
You’re a smuggler now, baby, and Leviathan hates smugglers.
I wish it was 16,000 to 20,000
I guess all that is missing is Wyatt Earp and Rosco P Coltrane.
I emailed the buyer and he explained to me it is common business practice to state " gift" and a man above said the same.
I guess you are trying to get me going,on that note,time to sleep.
Thanks to all the people that offered me advice.
Best,
Linda
Linda,
I assume that you are in Europe? If so, you cannot just ship wine to the United States. Rather, it must be imported, which requires certain procedures and taxes. If wine is simply shipped (for example, using UPS or similar) and intercepted, it will be destroyed. It is also illegal to ship alcohol via the US Postal Service (so that is not an option). The easiest thing to do is to use an importer who is aware of the various requirements. E.g., cote d’or imports in Burgundy. Import services — Cote d'Or Imports - Sending your wine treasures home I don’t know where you are located, but I’m sure there are similar companies. As others have alluded to, there is also the separate issue of the state regulation of alcohol as many states prohibit the shipping of wine (as a general matter). Pennsylvania is a particularly strict example. It is likely that any importation service would have some insight on any state law issues so may be easiest to simply ask Cote d’Or or similar. Or you could just fly to Pennsylvania and bring the wine with you in your luggage. Good luck.
In the USA - at least in most states - if you become a felon, then you can’t be a doctor nor a nurse nor a pharmacist nor a physical nor occupational therapist; nor a lawyer nor a paralegal; nor an accountant nor a financial planner; nor a real estate agent; nor can you work in any other profession which requires licensure from the state.
Similarly, you can’t get a liquor license from the state [which means neither a wine store nor a restaurant are in your future], nor can you get a license to open a day care, nor to drive a school bus, etc etc etc etc etc.
Nor can you get a security clearance, which means that you can neither work for nor contract with the Deep State, which removes something like 1/5th of the entire GDP from your potential sources of income.
Nor can you vote, and, worst of all, you lose your Right to Keep & Bear.
Now, at this point, honey, your problem is not so much in the tax felonies which you’re about to commit, but rather in the “INTENT” and “STATE OF MIND” which you’re displaying with all of this crap about “a gift”.
Falsifying the paperwork to be about “a gift” adds fraud to the list of your felonies, and with the prosecution able to show your intent & state of mind [beyond any reasonable doubt] to the jury, that increases your potential prison sentence from, say, 90 days, to a whole lot more like 96 MONTHS.
What’s more, if someone from the Feds kicks off this prosecution with a subpoena to Todd French, inquiring about your IP address, then all of these alphabet soup agencies will have carte blanche to start mucking around in “Commerce Corner”, and, at the end of the day, Wine Berserkers might very well be RICO’ed into oblivion.
Which would be a terrible shame, because there’s an enormous wealth of wine esoterica here that would simply vanish into thin air once the Feds were to take WB offline.
All packages need to clear customers, this not like tossing it into your suitcase.
It must be hell to live your life like this.
What is it with some people who want to buy expensive wine but don’t want to pay tax? And in this instance put the bulk of the risk on the seller. I had a former client in Toronto who wanted dummy invoices for his wine. He was spending $20k at a time with me. Go through legit channels or cosign to an EU auction house.
As mentioned in one of her other posts, Catawiki is a good online European auction site for beverage alcohol.
Probably get more money than a private trade and less headache than sending overseas.