U.S. Customs

[Lyle1]

Interesting...I read recently that bagpipes were exempted from import duty. I wonder what it would take to extend that exemption to kilts.

I discussed the issue of duty charges on kilts with an employee of the Customs Office several months ago. He said that KILTS SHOULD BE EXEMPT under the ETHNIC CLOTHING section of the regulations.

Another point: When the carriers charge you for duties, do they in practice present a detailed breakdown of the charges and some proof that they were actually paid?

[ctbuchanan]

No offense taken, as none was intended.

It is just a story I tell often to highlight the different approaches that I thought were interesting. My father was a Yorkshireman and career British Army officer. He wouldn't have approved of those "avoiding" the proper laws either.

As I recall we never discussed it with any of the store clerks (but it was quite a while ago) and we fully expected to pay the duty here when they arrived.

Cheers

[ForresterModern]

[QUOTE=Lyle1;900533]I discussed the issue of duty charges on kilts with an employee of the Customs Office several months ago. He said that KILTS SHOULD BE EXEMPT under the ETHNIC CLOTHING section of the regulations.
QUOTE]

OK, we have had this discussion in much greater depth before, and as it turns out it would be an extremely rare situation that would allow a kilt to be considered tariff/duty exempt, except from certain countries like Canada and Australia. See the detailed discussion in the following thread about "ethnic clothing" exemptions to the US Customs code:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...example-58250/

I did a pretty intense drill down of the code (probably deeper than most customs folks would) to get to the bottom of this in that thread.

jeff

[Cygnus]

I discussed the issue of duty charges on kilts with an employee of the Customs Office several months ago. He said that KILTS SHOULD BE EXEMPT under the ETHNIC CLOTHING section of the regulations.

I'll keep that in mind for future reference - it just might come in handy.

EDIT: I found the CBP site to be especially informative on the subject.

[wildrover]

I discussed the issue of duty charges on kilts with an employee of the Customs Office several months ago. He said that KILTS SHOULD BE EXEMPT under the ETHNIC CLOTHING section of the regulations.

Aha! Good to know!