Cross-Border Shopping Tax: $800 Exemption, Duties, and Limits

When you bring goods back into the United States after shopping abroad, cross-border shopping taxes and duties kick in above a personal exemption of $800 per traveler, provided you have been outside the country for at least 48 hours and have not used the same exemption within the past 30 days.¹ Above that, the next $1,000 is taxed at a flat 3%, and anything beyond is assessed at the item’s regular tariff rate. Alcohol, tobacco, and shipped online orders follow their own rules, and those rules changed sharply in 2025 and 2026.

The $800 Duty-Free Exemption

The $800 allowance covers merchandise for personal or household use, and bona fide gifts, that you carry back with you as accompanied baggage. It does not cover anything you intend to resell.¹

If you were out of the country for less than 48 hours, or you already used your full exemption in the past 30 days, the allowance drops to $200. The $200 tier has a trap: exceed it by even a dollar and the whole amount becomes dutiable, not just the overage. A $250 purchase on a day trip is taxed on the full $250.¹

The 30-Day Reset

The $800 exemption is available once every 30 days. The window is measured backward from your current arrival date, not counting the day you land.² Arrive on May 28 having last claimed the exemption on April 29, and you’re still inside the window; you’d get only the $200 tier. Anyone who crosses the Canadian or Mexican border regularly hits this ceiling quickly.

Pooling Exemptions With Family

Family members who live in the same household and travel together can file a joint customs declaration and combine their $800 allowances. A family of four gets a pooled $3,200 duty-free, and it doesn’t matter which member actually bought or owns a given item.³ That helps when one person makes a single large purchase that would blow through an individual exemption.

“Family” here is broader than blood and marriage. It includes adoption, foster children, legal wards, and two adults in a committed relationship who are financially interdependent, including domestic partnerships and civil unions.³ Roommates who don’t meet the financial-interdependence test cannot pool. Whoever signs the joint form is legally responsible for everything listed on it.

What You Pay Above the Exemption

Once you’re past the $800, the next $1,000 in dutiable goods is taxed at a flat 3% rather than at the item-specific rates that apply to commercial imports.⁴ The 3% is calculated on the fair retail value of the goods in the country where you bought them. Goods from U.S. insular possessions (the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands) get a lower flat rate of 1.5%.²

A family filing jointly can stack the flat-rate allowance as well. Four people together get $4,000 at 3% before regular tariffs take over.⁵ Beyond the flat-rate ceiling, duty is assessed under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, where rates vary by classification. Electronics generally carry lower rates than clothing or footwear.

Trade agreements can wipe out duty entirely. Under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, goods that meet North American content requirements typically enter duty-free.⁶ Country-of-origin matters here. A jacket made in Mexico that qualifies as a USMCA originating good may come in free; the same jacket made outside a partner country would not.⁷ Even when a treaty waives the duty, federal excise taxes on things like alcohol still apply.

Alcohol and Tobacco

Alcohol and tobacco have their own quantity limits layered onto the dollar exemption. If you are 21 or older, one liter of alcohol comes back duty-free within the $800 allowance.⁸ Travelers using the $800 exemption on trips to certain Caribbean and Central American countries can bring up to two liters if one was produced in an eligible country.¹ Under the $200 short-trip tier, the alcohol allowance is just 150 milliliters, roughly 5 fluid ounces.

Tobacco within the $800 exemption is capped at 200 cigarettes and 100 cigars. Excess quantities aren’t simply taxed more heavily; CBP treats them as subject to detention, seizure, or destruction.⁹ You cannot pay your way through.

Federal excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco are calculated by quantity, not price. Distilled spirits carry a general rate of $13.50 per proof gallon, with reduced rates available for smaller producers and certain importers.¹⁰ A cheap bottle of rum and an expensive single malt at the same size and proof owe the same excise. Excise sits on top of any customs duty.

Online Orders Shipped From Abroad

The rules for goods you buy online and have shipped are now very different from the rules for goods you carry back. Until mid-2025, shipments valued at $800 or less entered duty-free under the Section 321 de minimis exemption.¹¹ Executive Order 14324 suspended that treatment effective August 29, 2025. As of 2026, all shipments entering the U.S. are subject to applicable tariffs, taxes, and fees regardless of value.¹²

A $50 item from an overseas retailer that once arrived with nothing added now owes duty at its classified tariff rate. Since February 2026, duties on postal shipments are calculated with the standard ad valorem method based on the item’s tariff classification and value.¹² Shipments valued under $2,500 can still move through simplified informal entry procedures, but they are no longer duty-free.¹³

The $800 exemption for accompanied baggage is separate and still in effect. If you physically carry the goods across the border, the traveler rules above apply. The suspension only targets goods shipped by mail or courier.

State Use Tax

Federal duty and excise aren’t the only charges on foreign purchases. Most states impose a use tax on goods bought outside the state and brought in for personal use, and foreign purchases count. The rate mirrors the state’s sales tax, roughly 1% to over 8% depending on where you live. Some states exempt a certain dollar amount of hand-carried goods; shipped purchases usually get no such break. CBP does not collect state taxes at the border, so this typically surfaces on your state income tax return as a use-tax line.

Declaring and Paying at the Border

Every traveler entering the United States has to complete a customs declaration, either on paper CBP Form 6059B or through a digital alternative such as the Mobile Passport Control app or a Global Entry kiosk.¹⁴ You’re legally responsible for everything on the form, including items belonging to children or others on a joint declaration.

Keep every receipt. CBP officers use them to verify the value you declare, and without receipts the officer will estimate fair retail value, which rarely favors you. Receipts should show the purchase date, items, and price. For gifts or secondhand items with no receipt, CBP applies “fair retail value in the country of acquisition,” meaning what the item would sell for new or used where you got it. Convert foreign prices to U.S. dollars using the exchange rate from the date of purchase, and don’t round in your favor.

If your declared purchases exceed the exemption, the primary officer will send you to secondary inspection. There, a CBP officer reviews receipts, verifies the goods, and calculates duty and tax owed.¹⁴ Payment is due before you leave with the goods. CBP accepts credit cards and other electronic payment methods for personal import duties at border locations.¹⁵

Penalties for Not Declaring

Skipping the declaration is expensive. The penalty for failing to declare goods equals the value of the undeclared items, and CBP can seize the goods outright.¹⁶¹⁷ For controlled substances the penalty jumps to $500 or 1,000% of value, whichever is greater. People undercount thinking the worst case is a modest tax bill, but losing the goods entirely changes the arithmetic. Declare everything, round up when unsure, and let the officer decide what is dutiable.

Some items sit outside the money question entirely. Many fruits, vegetables, meats, and animal byproducts are prohibited or require permits regardless of value, and undeclared agricultural items can trigger penalties even for small amounts.¹⁸ When in doubt, declare it and let CBP sort it out.

1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Types of Exemptions
2
eCFR. 19 CFR Part 148 – Personal Declarations and Exemptions
3
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Expands Filing of Joint Customs Declarations
4
eCFR. 19 CFR 148.101 – Applicability
5
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Customs Duty Information
6
International Trade Administration. USMCA Overview
7
Office of the United States Trade Representative. USMCA Chapter 2 – National Treatment and Market Access for Goods
8
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bringing Alcohol Into the United States for Personal Use
9
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Carrying Tobacco Products to the United States for Personal Use
10
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Tax and Fee Rates
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 US Code 1321 – Administrative Exemptions
12
Federal Register. Notice of Implementation of Executive Order 14324 Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment
13
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Filing an Informal Entry for Goods Less Than $2500 in Value
14
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. What to Expect When You Return
15
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Acceptable Electronic Payment Methods
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 US Code 1497 – Penalties for Failure to Declare
17
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Form 6059B – Customs Declaration
18
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Prohibited and Restricted Items