EU cigarettes via Gibralter

spiro

Try looking here http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD_010220&propertyType=document

You will find a section starting:

If you also have tobacco or alcohol goods that you bought in an EU country, you will not have to pay any more duty or tax on these so long as:

This states you can bring goods you bought in an EU country as long as they are for your own use and you have a receipt.

jammin_2

Yes, so the OP's chum will have no problem bringing them in to the UK, so long as he has the receipt which confirms purchase in Spain.

But - he'll have to get them in to Gib first - and that's the problem.

dzug1

jammin wrote: »

Yes, so the OP's chum will have no problem bringing them in to the UK, so long as he has the receipt which confirms purchase in Spain.

But - he'll have to get them in to Gib first - and that's the problem.

Yep - he is proposing to smuggle them into Gibraltar

terryw

dzug1 wrote: »

Yep - he is proposing to smuggle them into Gibraltar

No, mate, he intends to declare them to the Gib customs and pay any Gib duty required.

terryw

jammin_2

dzug1 wrote: »

Yep - he is proposing to smuggle them into Gibraltar

..and this is the problem.

jammin_2

terryw wrote: »

No, mate, he intends to declare them to the Gib customs and pay any Gib duty required.

terryw

Really? Buy in Spain, Spanish duty paid, take them to Gib for an hour or two, pay Gib duty, then bring them to the UK?

Is it worth it?

terryw

jammin wrote: »

Really? Buy in Spain, Spanish duty paid, take them to Gib for an hour or two, pay Gib duty, then bring them to the UK?

Is it worth it?

Yes, mate, this is the point of the original question.

Cigs in Spain are 22 euro a carton (John Player). Duty to enter Gib estimated at 5 euro per carton (but even if this is10euro per carton) equals substantially less that UK price of £55 per carton.

It would be much simpler if he were to fly to a Spanish airport, but his holiday destinatiion is a resort just outside Gib and miles froma Spanish airport.

The query is not peculiar to travel from Gib. It could well apply to many people buying any item (not just alcohol or tobacco)and paying the EU taxes whilst on a cruise in the EU and returning from a non-EU country, or someone buying goods in Greece and paying the EU duty whilst on holiday in Turkey but taking a day trip to Greece during the journey.

terryw

omelette451

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

It may be that if the terminal is finished, then you can access the airport terminal without needing to go through Gibraltarian controls. But - I'm really not certain about this.

It's unlikely this will have any affect on Gib-UK flights though. There is no way of dividing up ex-Spain passengers and ex-Gib ones on the same plane, so each plane will be given a specific country-origin label which will apply at the destination (similar to what happened at Basle/Mulhouse airport pre-March, where there was a Swiss side and a Schengen side, each with their own frontier controls and customs inspections). It would make sense for Gibraltar-UK flights to be treated as leaving the Spanish (and therefore EU) side, but I don't see it ever happening - the locals would never accept having to cross Spanish immigration first before getting on a plane to London (as French people used to have to do if they wanted to fly easyJet from Mulhouse to Bordeaux).

In the OP's case, my interpretation of the rules is that once duty has been paid to take them into Gibraltar, they will be deemed to be coming into the UK from Gibraltar itself and therefore they will become liable to UK duty too. However, it's a sufficiently interesting question that I think he should raise it with someone senior in HMRC in order to get a definitive answer - obviously none of us seem to know.

phatbear

omelette451 wrote: »

think he should raise it with someone senior in HMRC in order to get a definitive answer - obviously none of us seem to know.

Ahhhh I was about to answer this question but alas im only a humble one ringer, ie not in the least bit senior, so I guess im not upto scratch to answer this query.

omelette451

phatbear wrote: »

Ahhhh I was about to answer this question but alas im only a humble one ringer, ie not in the least bit senior, so I guess im not upto scratch to answer this query.

What I meant is that if he was going to write in he should ask someone high up so he gets a definitive answer. I certainly didn't mean to offend you in the process.