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A duty is the customs tax paid to import something into a country. In many cases, the merchandise in those
duty free shops you see at the airport isn't free of that tax for the buyer. It's the shops that don't have to pay a duty to import their merchandise. Because the goods are sold at an airport, seaport, or border, and are only sold to people leaving the country, the goods aren't completely imported into the country. Thus, the seller doesn't have to pay a customs tax. Hopefully the seller will pass this savings along to the buyer, but there's no guarantee. Americans re-entering the United States are allowed a limit of $800 of goods purchased in other countries. Customs calls this personal exemption and the amount in question can vary by the countries you’ve visited. If you purchase $800 or more in goods you still have to pay a tax even if they were purchased at a duty free shop.
Also many countries have a limit on the quantities of items you purchase to avoid the taxation of such goods. Liquor and tobacco are often restricted, but in some cases you can purchase these things in the duty free shops since there’s a restriction to fly with glass bottles. The specific details of duty taxes and quantity limitations varies by country so if you have any questions regarding this you’re best to contact the consulate of the country you’re planning to visit since they have information in place to address things like taxes for duty shopping and laws that are currently in effect. Even if those of you who do shop in these places don’t pay taxes you don’t exactly save a lot of money and it’s easier to do your research for shops overseas that ship to the United States with inexpensive shipping. Articles that were written on duty free shopping recorded that a camera that cost like $129 was $40-50 more in these shops and this was an Australian periodical that had written and published the article addressing this. A study conducted in England had published the cost of a bottle of liquor that was 14 pounds which is about $25 in U.S. dollars. You don’t exactly save much money when you have to cough up a chunk of change for taxes when it’s easier to go to liquor stores that specialize in bringing in liquors from foreign lands since they paid all necessary taxes for these products to be imported to the states.
Travelers are advised to do some detailed and thorough comparison shopping before they get slapped with a huge tax bill for the luxury items that the United States charges a huge price for, but in a duty shop will hit a higher cost over the actual price the item(s) are charged for at retail price.
