For a foreigner bringing wine into the U.S. what are the rules? Do I need to declare it and pay tax? If so, how much? Thinking of bringing over a few mags of champagne for a party…
Appreciate any help.
On paper, the duty-free limit is 1 liter per person (see customs website). But the duties and excise taxes are so low – $1-$2 per liter in duty plus excise tax of $1.07 - $1.57 – that in general they can’t be bothered to do the paper work.
Note that, unlike the UK, the tax is on volume, not value. So bring on those fancy magnums!
To give you a sense of the policy, the site says: “There is no federal limit on the amount of alcohol a traveler may import into the U.S. for personal use, however, large quantities might raise the suspicion that the importation is for commercial purposes…”
One twist: If you land in a place like Texas, or another state with strict alcohol rules, it may be more complicated, as the federal customs officers supposedly will enforce those. That is not an issue flying into NYC.
Dan, I always bring wine back from Europe and have never been stopped. Usually I bring back a case but my wife and I have brought in up to 2 cases. I brought wine back as recently as last month. I fly into Newark airport.
Just make sure you declare it on your Customs form when you land here. Never had any issue as I’ve always declared and when asked I always say I am willing to pay duty on the overage. Note, I’ve never been charged duty on up to a 18 bottles of wine (the most I’ve brought back with me from Europe).
Not declaring it will raise serious red flags and you’ll most likely get the unwelcome treatment from US Customs officers. So be honest, declare, and you should have nothing to worry about.
I fly to Newark all the time w 2-3 cases and have never been asked to pay. May that luck hold 
As everyone says, declare it and you should be fine.
The only potential issue is if you get a really new guy who insists on calculating the duty. If so he’ll probably take an hour to tell you that you owe about $1. I’ve never had that happen to me but I’ve heard stories about it. I doubt anyone does it more than once.
I have only one experience of paying overage duty (and I always declare - to include overage) and it was in Charlotte, NC and it took a few minutes and cost less than $10.
Yes, I had that happen once at Newark, but when he checked with his supervisor, the supervisor gave him a kind of annoyed look, asked me if it was for personal use and, when I said yes, waived me through.
US customs only cares about plants, dirt, drugs and meat.
Hah! I brought back a kilo of salt once and that got more scrutiny than the two cases of wine I had with me.
Thanks everyone! Party on.
Lots of solid advice here, and I’ve done it many times too - just one more yellow light for possible enforcement of state alcohol laws. It’s never happened to me, but I have heard second hand that people have very occasionally been stopped and, when I looked into it moving several hundred bottles back after a few years living in Europe (with no problems and duty of less than $1 per bottle, by the way), I seem to recall seeing warnings on the Customs website. If you have a choice about which state you land in on your first US stop (where you will clear Customs), you might want to look into whether one of the states has better policies than others, even though it might be unlikely that you’ll have an issue (and I have not).
I’m landing in Atlanta. Does that change anything?
Not sure about foreigners. I have come through Atlanta many times with wine from Itlay. No problems. I was stopped once because of the volume (18 bottles). And after calculating the tax was kicked free. I can’t imagine a few mags would be an issue.
Someone posted once on problems in Texas, I remember. Given Pennsylvania’s efforts to catch locals buying wine in adjacent states, I wouldn’t try anything at the Philadelphia airport.
I landed once in Atlanta with three cases without problems. They were in cardboard styro cases, and I declared them. The customs guy asked about them, and waved me through. I’m unaware of any issues with Georgia on alcohol.
Never a problem. Been doing it every couple of years since around 1985.
The border State retail stings are uncommon, are an inefficient use of enforcement resources and certainly don’t help PLCB’s “Big Brother” image. A Brit flying in to town with a case of Mags is not an enforcement priority!
Besides, Philly is now #3 of 52 for 2015 Places to Go in the World according to the NY Times. 52 Places to Go in 2015 - The New York Times
The City wants you to fly here!
RT
Flew into EWR last month with 10 bottles of wine in a WineCheck (big red box with a wine bottle with wings logo). Carefully filled out the customs declaration form, writing on the back (where you put in details) that I had 10 bottles of wine. They never even looked at the details, just stamped it (at entry) and wave me through (at customs).
Dulles can be problematic due to state laws.