Article Travel Leisure Tip

Gifts you bring back for your personal use must be declared
but you may include them in your personal exemption. This includes gifts people gave you while you were out of the country
such as wedding or birthday presents
and gifts you have brought back for others.

Gifts intended for business
promotional
or other commercial purposes may not be included in your duty-free exemption.

Also note that by federal law
alcoholic beverages
tobacco products
and perfume containing alcohol and worth more than $5 retail may not be included in the gift exemption.

Gifts worth up to $100 may be sent
free of duty and tax
to friends and relatives in the United States
as long as the same person does not receive more than $100 worth of gifts in a single day. If the gifts are mailed or shipped from an insular possession
this amount is increased to $200.

Unless returning to the United States from an insular possession
you don’t have to declare gifts you sent while you were on your trip
since they won’t be accompanying you.

Gifts for more than one person may be shipped in the same package
called a consolidated gift package
if they are individually wrapped and labeled with each recipient’s name. Here’s how to wrap and label a consolidated gift package.

Be sure to mark the outermost wrapper with the:

* Words “UNSOLICITED GIFT” and the words “CONSOLIDATED GIFT PACKAGE;”
* Total value of the consolidated package;
* Recipients’ names and
* Nature and value of the gifts inside. For example
tennis shoes
$50; shirt
$45; toy car
$15.

For instance:

To John Jones—one belt
$20; one box of candy
$5; one tie
$20.
To Mary Smith—one skirt
$45; one belt
$15; one pair slacks
$30.

If any item is worth more than the $100 gift allowance
the entire package will be dutiable.

You
as a traveler
cannot send a gift package to yourself
and people traveling together cannot send gifts to each other. But there would be no reason to do that anyway
because the personal exemption for packages mailed from abroad is $200
which is twice as much as the gift exemption.

Your personal belongings can be sent back to the United States duty-free if they are of U.S. origin and if they have not been altered or repaired while abroad. Personal belongings like worn clothing can be mailed home and will receive duty-free entry if you write the words “American Goods Returned” on the outside of the package.

If a package is subject to duty
the United States Postal Service will collect it from the addressee along with any postage and handling charges. The sender cannot prepay duty; the recipient must pay duty when a package is received in the United States.

For more information about mailing packages to the United States
visit the page called "Sending Goods to the United States" (Sending Items Back to the United States) at the Customs and Border Protection website. Make sure you get the latest information before your travel.