taxes ON CRUISE

[teroot]

WE WILL BE GOING ON THE JUNE 6-9TH WONDER CRUISE. CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THE TAXES YOU HAVE TO PAY ON MERCHANDISE BOUGHT IN NASSAU WORKS?

 

[Señor Ferrari]

I believe that each person has a personal exemption of $400, which can be combined among family members. So, you would pay no duty on the first $400 worth of merchandise. Over your exemption, I believe the duty is 10%, but they do not collect it if the amount is less than $10.

For example, if a husband and wife spent $600 on the ship and in Nassau, their combined $800 exemption would mean that they do not have to pay duty. If they had spent $1000, they would exceed their exemption by $200, so they'd pay 10%, or $20.

They personal exemption may be $600 for the Bahamas, as it is in the Caribbean, but I've heard conflicting reports about this. I also got different answers to the same questions onboard the ship, leading me to report to customs on the last morning of the trip, only to be told that we didn't owe anything, so we didn't have to.

There are other guidelines for alcohol and tobacco, but I'm not sure of them. Please note that I do not work for the US Customs service, so don't take what I say as fact. Check out the US Customs website (link).

 

[tecdavidt]

We had to pay duty on our 3/16 7 day cruise. We were told 10% on the overage was what we had to pay. When my husband came back from customs and paying the duty it ended up only being 3%. A pleasant surprise. He did have all of our receipts and a piece of paper of where everything was purchased. We had the limit of $400 in St. Maarten times 5 (we are a family of 5 so $2000) and $800 in St. Thomas times 5(so $4000). Lets just say we where in the shopping mood. It ended up not being that big of a deal. Just be prepared when you go down to customs on the ship on debarkation morning. Don't forget that they only accept cash for duty payment. Kathy