Sending cigarettes to UK
Discussion
Good evening!
Currently in the Middle East on business. Will be here for a few months.
I am sending some gifts to my nephews and nieces back in the UK, specifically Northern Ireland.
Are there any issues with me sticking 200 cigarettes in one of the boxes as a gift? I couldn’t find any worthwhile information that I could interpret. I don’t want to send a parcel and the box to get confiscated or my niece have to pay a load of customs fees, I would sooner not include the cigarettes if that was the case.
Thanks!
Currently in the Middle East on business. Will be here for a few months.
I am sending some gifts to my nephews and nieces back in the UK, specifically Northern Ireland.
Are there any issues with me sticking 200 cigarettes in one of the boxes as a gift? I couldn’t find any worthwhile information that I could interpret. I don’t want to send a parcel and the box to get confiscated or my niece have to pay a load of customs fees, I would sooner not include the cigarettes if that was the case.
Thanks!
The Duty Free allowance is for personal consumption only. Imported cigarettes over the allowance and / or for others consumption need full duty paying on them. Although not relevant to this topic, I’ll cover this off for the pedants, EU countries are different as it’s not duty free from there, but again must be for personal consumption.
If the cigarettes are imported for your nephew, then he’ll have to pay full duty on them
This is the legal side of things and you might get lucky, so your call.
If the cigarettes are imported for your nephew, then he’ll have to pay full duty on them
This is the legal side of things and you might get lucky, so your call.
Gavia said:
Although not relevant to this topic, I’ll cover this off for the pedants, EU countries are different as it’s not duty free from there, but again must be for personal consumption.
Are you sure? I understand (in the context of EU duty paid fags) that gifts are no problem; the legal point is that you cannot not sell them on (or barter them). Maybe, the giving of gifts counts in your definition as personal consumption. Otherwise, the restriction makes a bit of a mockery of the Single Market. There is no real legal basis for HMRC's guideline quantities, either. I've been stopped off the ferry in the past year bringing 10 cartons/2000 fags of my own back duty paid and 2000 for my non-present wife (different brand) - in effect supplies for a hundred days each. When I told the customs officer that I and my wife did a pack a day and that I had no intention of selling them, I was sent on my way undeprived of any cancer sticks.
psi310398 said:
Are you sure? I understand (in the context of EU duty paid fags) that gifts are no problem; the legal point is that you cannot not sell them on (or barter them). Maybe, the giving of gifts counts in your definition as personal consumption. Otherwise, the restriction makes a bit of a mockery of the Single Market. There is no real legal basis for HMRC's guideline quantities, either.
I've been stopped off the ferry in the past year bringing 10 cartons/2000 fags of my own back duty paid and 2000 for my non-present wife (different brand) - in effect supplies for a hundred days each. When I told the customs officer that I and my wife did a pack a day and that I had no intention of selling them, I was sent on my way undeprived of any cancer sticks.
Back when I was well ‘ard and a smoker, I use to bring in 1000s when I travelled back from anywhere and never had any problems. However, I seem to remember and bit of a set to about a family catering an invitation only party via EU booze. I can’t remember the outcome, but assume cigs would be similar. I've been stopped off the ferry in the past year bringing 10 cartons/2000 fags of my own back duty paid and 2000 for my non-present wife (different brand) - in effect supplies for a hundred days each. When I told the customs officer that I and my wife did a pack a day and that I had no intention of selling them, I was sent on my way undeprived of any cancer sticks.
Either way, it’s irrelevant to this toopic as the OP is outside the EU.
Thank you for the answers.
My niece is 23 so she’s old enough to smoke. I might not agree with it but she’s old enough to make her own choices. And no you can’t have a picture.
The cigarettes weren’t bought in EU so EU tax laws aren’t applicable.
I think the best option is just don’t send them. Send her a couple of nice handbags instead.
Thank you for the replies.
My niece is 23 so she’s old enough to smoke. I might not agree with it but she’s old enough to make her own choices. And no you can’t have a picture.
The cigarettes weren’t bought in EU so EU tax laws aren’t applicable.
I think the best option is just don’t send them. Send her a couple of nice handbags instead.
Thank you for the replies.
TooMany2cvs said:
They become applicable the minute you personally import a relatively small number of them for anything but your own personal use...
Yes, that’s kind of what I meant. I’m not importing for my personal use.
To the Poster above, my niece is 23. If she wants to smoke that’s her choice, as it is with 1 in 5 British people. Of course we all know the problems that come with smoking tobacco but if someone wants to smoke then that’s their right
Far better just to legalize cannibis and get rid of the cancer problem huh?
When I used to work away I could by 200 fags for $12 USD. I used to get family and friends regularly asking me to bring them some back, I could have made a nice tidy profit. However, my attitude was, if they are going to kill themselves by smoking, at least let them pay some tax towards the costs.
I never brought a single packet back.
I never brought a single packet back.
Emanresu said:
Thank you for the answers.
My niece is 23 so she’s old enough to smoke. I might not agree with it but she’s old enough to make her own choices. And no you can’t have a picture.
The cigarettes weren’t bought in EU so EU tax laws aren’t applicable.
I think the best option is just don’t send them. Send her a couple of nice handbags instead.
Thank you for the replies.
A gift for a 23 year old woman.My niece is 23 so she’s old enough to smoke. I might not agree with it but she’s old enough to make her own choices. And no you can’t have a picture.
The cigarettes weren’t bought in EU so EU tax laws aren’t applicable.
I think the best option is just don’t send them. Send her a couple of nice handbags instead.
Thank you for the replies.
Plan A - cigarettes
Plan B - handbags
I bet you're popular at Christmas.
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