Bahamas Customs/Duty/Immigration Page

What’s Your Duty% is the leading annual digest of Bahamas Customs duties and Stamp Tax rates. It also brings together in one place the key investment incentives and tax concessions for Bahamian and international investors in The Bahamas. What’s Your Duty% consolidates essential information from the Bahamas Tariff Act, Stamp Duty Act, Customs Management Act, Hotels Encouragement Act, Hawksbill Creek Agreement, and the Family Islands Development Encouragement Act. The 2006/07 edition of What’s Your Duty% will be available in July 2006 and will be expanded to include a profile of the investment projects in The Bahamas between 2002 and 2006 that are supported by heads of agreements

What You Can Bring into The Bahamas -- Bahamian Customs allow you to bring in 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, or 1 pound of tobacco, plus 1 quart of spirits (hard liquor). You can also bring in items classified as "personal effects," and all the money you wish. What You Can Take Home from The Bahamas -- Visitors leaving Nassau or Freeport/Lucaya for most U.S. destinations clear U.S. Customs and Immigration before departing The Bahamas. Charter companies can make special arrangements with the Nassau or Freeport flight services and U.S. Customs and Immigration for preclearance. No further formalities are required upon arrival in the United States once the preclearance has taken place in Nassau or Freeport. Collect receipts for all the purchases you make in The Bahamas. Note: If a merchant suggests giving you a false receipt, misstating the value of the goods, beware -- the merchant might be an informer to U.S. Customs. You must also declare all gifts received during your stay abroad. If you purchased an item during an earlier trip abroad, carry proof that you have already paid customs duty on the item at the time of your previous reentry. To be extra careful, compile a list of expensive carry-on items and ask a U.S. Customs agent to stamp your list at the airport before your departure. Returning U.S. citizens who have been away for 48 hours or more are allowed to bring back, once every 30 days, $800 worth of merchandise duty-free. You'll be charged a flat rate of 10% duty on the next $1,000 worth of purchases. Be sure to have your receipts handy. On gifts, the duty-free limit is $100. You cannot bring fresh foodstuffs into the United States; canned or packaged foods, however, are allowed, and you can bring back 1 liter of alcohol. For specifics on what you can bring back, download the invaluable free pamphlet Know Before You Go online at www.cbp.gov. (Click on "Travel" then "Know Before You Go Online Brochure.") Or contact the U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20229 (tel. 877/287-8667) and request the pamphlet. For a clear summary of Canadian rules, write for the booklet I Declare, issued by the Canada Border Services (tel. 800/461-9999 in Canada, or 204/983-3500; www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca). Canada allows its citizens a C$750 exemption, and you're allowed to bring back duty-free 1 carton of cigarettes, 1 can of tobacco, 40 imperial ounces of liquor, and 50 cigars. In addition, you're allowed to mail gifts to Canada valued at less than C$60 a day, provided they're unsolicited and don't contain alcohol or tobacco (write on the package "Unsolicited gift, under $60 value"). All valuables should be declared on the Y-38 form before departure from Canada, including serial numbers of valuables you already own, such as expensive foreign cameras. Note: The C$750 exemption can only be used once a year and only after an absence of 7 days.

TARRIFS

Items followed by the percentage duty

a/c 35..... auto parts 50..... bath tub 25..... bath/kitchen sink 25..... bedroom furniture 35..... beef meats free..... blinds 35..... broom 35..... cabinets 35..... canned vegetables 35..... carpet 35..... cement free..... chicken 35..... clothes hangers 25..... coffee maker 35..... dishwasher 35..... doors 25..... doors/windows (aluminum) 25..... drain 35..... dryer 35..... fan 35..... fertilizer 35..... filing cabinets 50..... fishing reels 35..... frozen vegetables 35..... gaskets 35..... generator 35..... grout 35..... hinges 25..... ladder 35..... lamp 25..... lavatory seats 35..... lawnmower 25..... light fixtures 25..... linoleum free..... living room furniture 35..... lock set 25..... lumber free..... medicine cabinet 25..... microwave 35..... mixer 45..... nails free..... paint 50..... paints/enamels 50..... plywood 15..... port 20..... printed books free..... propane tank 35..... radio 25..... radio & cassette 45..... rattan furniture 35..... rebar 35..... refrigerator 15..... roof trusses 40..... satellite receiver 35..... screens 35..... seeds 30..... sewing machines free..... sheet rock 15..... shingles free ..... spades/shovels 35..... stereo 45..... stove 15..... television 25..... thinset 35..... Tiles 35..... tires 45..... transmission 50..... vacuum 55..... varnishes/lacquers 35..... vcr 25..... vhs tapes 10..... Washer 35..... water filters 35..... water heater 35..... windows 35..... windshields 35.....

These are the SUGGESTED tariffs; they may be different, things change. for example, the lumber is up to debate, whether the customes officer considers it "pre-cut". Before shipping, to be sure check with a customs agent, so you are not surprised.