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Many Americans start a wine collection while stationed in Europe. With some advance planning, wine connoisseurs can still enjoy their favorite European vintages when they move to their new stateside homes.
“First, contact your transportation office for shipping procedures and how, if possible, to get reimbursed for the transportation costs,” said Bill Johnson, director of the U.S. European Command’s Customs and Border Clearance Agency. He added that customs duty and taxes are not reimbursable.
Military transportation officials will usually not pack a wine collection in personal property shipments for fear of damage if bottles break, but they will have a list of wine merchants and moving companies that ship wine.
“The company will tell you about state restrictions on alcohol and how to pay any tax that needs to be paid,” he said. The collection must be shipped to an airport with a U.S. Customs and Border Protection office.
As for other shipping options, Mr. Johnson pointed out that the U.S. Postal Service does not allow mailing wine and express shipping companies are usually unwilling to ship wine. Some airlines, however, will allow small collections to be checked as excess baggage for a fee.
After the company packs the collection, they will provide a shipping document and a copy of the bill of sale. Find out the shipment’s airline, flight number, date of arrival and its shipping document number before flying.
“When you arrive stateside, go to the airport’s cargo section with the shipping documents,” Mr. Johnson explained. “They will give you additional paperwork to take to the CBP office.” He recommends people personally clear their wine collection at the port of entry because using a customs house broker is expensive.
Customs will work out the duty and IRS tax and stamp the customs clearance. Customs officials report that the duty on still wine is currently 8.4 cents per liter, but goes up to 19.8 cents for sparkling wine. IRS tax depends on the alcoholic strength of the beverage concerned and works out to around 6 cents per liter for wine. These rates of tax and duty are subject to change.
Follow these rules and you can enjoy the best products of Old World vineyards at your new stateside home. Call a military customs office to find out more about shipping liquor products to the U.S. or visit www.atf.treas.gov/alcohol/info/persimp.htm.
