Brexit & Duty Free
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Caporegime
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Duty free changes: Increased allowances & duty free from EU
Added 04/01/2021
On 1st January 2021 the rules for duty-free shopping in the UK changed.
As we have now come to the end of the Brexit transition period and started our new relationship with the EU, the government has brought the rules for duty free shopping in line with the rest of the world.
This means that passengers to and from the EU will be able to buy duty free alcohol and tobacco products, where available, in British ports, airports, and international train stations, as well as onboard ships, trains and planes.
The amount of duty-free that passengers can bring back with them has also been significantly increased for all destinations.
Travellers arriving in the UK will now be able to bring back 3 crates of beer, 3 cases of still wine and 1 case of still wine without having to pay UK duties.
Duty-free allowances from 1st January 2021
Alcohol
Tobacco
Any other goods
https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods
Added 04/01/2021
On 1st January 2021 the rules for duty-free shopping in the UK changed.
As we have now come to the end of the Brexit transition period and started our new relationship with the EU, the government has brought the rules for duty free shopping in line with the rest of the world.
This means that passengers to and from the EU will be able to buy duty free alcohol and tobacco products, where available, in British ports, airports, and international train stations, as well as onboard ships, trains and planes.
The amount of duty-free that passengers can bring back with them has also been significantly increased for all destinations.
Travellers arriving in the UK will now be able to bring back 3 crates of beer, 3 cases of still wine and 1 case of still wine without having to pay UK duties.
Duty-free allowances from 1st January 2021
Alcohol
- 42 litres of beer
- 18 litres of still wine
- 4 litres of spirits OR 9 litres of sparkling wine, fortified wine or any alcoholic beverage less than 22% ABV
Tobacco
- 200 cigarettes OR
- 100 cigarillos OR
- 50 cigars OR
- 250g tobacco OR
- 200 sticks of tobacco for heating
Any other goods
- £390 or £270 if travelling by private plane or boat
https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods
So yes you can bring in cheap fags and booze... just not as much as before
You couldn't buy "duty-free" goods at the airport etc.. before if you traveled within the EU. You could bring back stuff you'd bought elsewhere (and in turn paid the relevant local taxes for).
Granted it can be a bit of a con as plenty of duty-free shops hike up the prices a bit so you don't necessarily get much of a discount at all anyway.
Soldato
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Explain why airports such as Leeds/Bradford has a duty free when they only a handful of flights outside the EU? They only have flights to Norway, Turkey and Switzerland and not many of them at all.
Soldato
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Some prices in DF are not good value. A couple of years ago, found my favourite perfume for £50 for 100ml EDT. Superdrug had the same perfume for £44 which was exactly the same size and type.
Plus no issue with trying to ram the perfume into your small see through bag of liquids and risk of it being damaged
Plus no issue with trying to ram the perfume into your small see through bag of liquids and risk of it being damaged
So yes you can bring in cheap fags and booze... just not as much as before
Well if post # 2 is correct, (4 litres of spirits), that’s 3 more than it used to be, I THINK that it was only one bottle in the past.
I rarely bought alcohol Duty Free, you could get off a plane in the U.S. and get it in a liquor store at half the DF price, plus you could buy as much of any variety as you wished, gin, vodka, bourbon, Scotch.
Man of Honour
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Kinda miss shopping in the airport used to get some great deals on stuff when passing through Edinburgh or Heathrow; especially on electronic/camera kit; alas Dixons Travel is no more.
Soldato
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Dixons Travel was great for picking up ex-display Micro Four Thirds lens for half the high street price as long as you didn’t mind them being a bit grubby after hundreds of people have handled them wondering what the Hell MFT is.
Man of Honour
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Hehe; loved the big one upstairs in T5; probably the widest range of camera's I'd seen anywhere in a shop for a long time; spent loads in there from time to time
Dixon’s travel was in Heathrow T5 when I went through there a couple of days ago.
Man of Honour
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Fair enough; they announced in April that the business was being closed down; looks like its just Gatwick, Heathrow and Dublin left now
Edit: In fact it looks like WH Smith is taking on a lot of the stores but will be re-branded as "InMotion" which is a firm they own in the US
Agree regarding prices, definitely have to do your research while you are there, but there still bargains to be had - picked up a £45 bottle of Japanese whisky for £25 on my last trip back from Croatia
Not sure why you're trying to put it in your see through bag though, duty free is after security, so need for that?
Soldato
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Sleeve of fags and 250 g of baccy is less than before???? I thought it was a kilo of tobacco previously
Sounds like a Brexit bonus.
Deleted User 298457
Deleted User 298457
Buying on the way out/hand baggage only.Agree regarding prices, definitely have to do your research while you are there, but there still bargains to be had - picked up a £45 bottle of Japanese whisky for £25 on my last trip back from Croatia
Not sure why you're trying to put it in your see through bag though, duty free is after security, so need for that?
No idea, was probably just marketing.
Well, firstly there isn't any duty charged on perfume in the first place so the only saving (in theory) would be VAT. What has tended to happen though is retailers didn't go with dual pricing but instead just charged the same amounts regardless of whether you're traveling outside the EU or not.
This is why they've generally asked to see your boarding pass, if you were on a non-EU flight then they don't need to pay VAT on the sale and the stingy retailer just pockets the difference themselves!
It's a sleeve of ciggies or 250g of tobacco, the max allowed before brexit was 4 sleeves of ciggies or 3kg of tobacco,
for a few years before brexit they did try to suggest you could only bring back 1kg of tobacco and they talked about crushing cars etc but it did still remain at 3kg
Soldato
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Likewise. Again pre-Brexit, my usual aftershave was €50 (£44) on the ferry, but I later realised in The Fragrence Shop in Stafford's Guildhall Centre that it was only £38 in there! Now that the Stafford Guildhall is virtually empty, I just go on eBay nowadays
Also pre-Brexit, a litre of Gordon's gin was £15, so again not really a bargain compared to supermarket prices.
Post-Brexit, have prices changed for the better?