Alcohol for checked baggage

[ceecookie]

they 'rarely' check cos the bags are screened/xray as soon as they leave the aircraft. how do you think they catch people who buy excess duty free luxury goods and don't declare?

Fortunately i remove all the price tags from my luxury goods purchased from US, so i can claim they were existing items rather than new.

Common sense prevail here, so obviously the excuse cant work if I am carrying unreasonable amount of LV, Coach etc

 

[halfhuman]

I state ~$215 + GST.
https://www.lazada.sg/products/chivas-regal-royal-salute-21-years-old-70cl-i1450492-s1670586.html

Wow, thanks! I didn't know they had a sale on Lazada.

 

[Beefsteak]

https://www.paneco.com.sg/products/chivas-royal-salute-21-year

Chivas Royal Salute 21 Year w/Gift Box @ S$157

They sell other alcohol at reasonable price also.

 

[seianko]

why TS open thread to ask if it is ok not to be caught for breaking the law?

in the first place, if TS wanna do what he did, he need to bring the original tax invoice. they gave u tax free benefit for travelling bonus and ts still wan to exploit it and justified it???

dun get it at all

 

[halfhuman]

why TS open thread to ask if it is ok not to be caught for breaking the law?

in the first place, if TS wanna do what he did, he need to bring the original tax invoice. they gave u tax free benefit for travelling bonus and ts still wan to exploit it and justified it???

dun get it at all

Because it's an opened bottle which I will have owned for more than 9 months. Paying taxes for something you owned that long sounds ludicrous to me. It's like asking you to pay taxes for a laptop you bought overseas and have been using it for a year or something. Why is there no statute of limitations for something like that?

 

[seianko]

....

a bottle that is opened more than 3 months, the "jiu" already run taste n smell.

if u insist, u can fill them in metallic containers hoping they dun leak in ur baggage

no it is not ludicrous, in the first place u havent pay tax for it. the law is clear that u bring in sth to sector A that was purchase in sector A is allowed for tax free consumption anywhere but sector A

if u buy a laptop from overseas, u have already paid tax on it. hence u are allowed to bring it in, when proven it is solely for personal usage. But if u buy the laptop from sector A tax-free, move to overseas, and bring back the same laptop 12 months later back into sector A, yes u need to pay TAX for it, that TAX is GST
Note that alcohol and accessories is not a good comparison as alcohol have sth known as alcohol tax, as far as i am aware, singapore do not have electronic goods TAX on top of GST

The Law always has been clear, u are not clear

 

[deodorant]

Because it's an opened bottle which I will have owned for more than 9 months. Paying taxes for something you owned that long sounds ludicrous to me. It's like asking you to pay taxes for a laptop you bought overseas and have been using it for a year or something. Why is there no statute of limitations for something like that?

When it comes to foodstuff it's where you consume that matters I guess. You buy and consume half overseas, bring back other half and (presumably) consume locally, so customs can tax you on that half lo. Seems quite logical to me actually

 

[halfhuman]

When it comes to foodstuff it's where you consume that matters I guess. You buy and consume half overseas, bring back other half and (presumably) consume locally, so customs can tax you on that half lo. Seems quite logical to me actually ******************

By this logic, can they tax you on the water you brought in from overseas in a personal water bottle? Why kei kao until like that? It's the penny pinching part that I don't get. How much will they make from this every year? $20000? It's just 2 bottles of scotch, it's not like I'm exploiting the system and making a living off doing this.

if u buy a laptop from overseas, u have already paid tax on it. hence u are allowed to bring it in, when proven it is solely for personal usage. But if u buy the laptop from sector A tax-free, move to overseas, and bring back the same laptop 12 months later back into sector A, yes u need to pay TAX for it, that TAX is GST
Note that alcohol and accessories is not a good comparison as alcohol have sth known as alcohol tax, as far as i am aware, singapore do not have electronic goods TAX on top of GST

The Law always has been clear, u are not clear

Now the practical question is how can the customs go about proving that you didn't pay taxes on that laptop. Also, by your definition, everybody who's ever moved overseas have commited tax fraud since they only paid taxes on their belongings from their original country where they moved from, right? And what makes alcohol excise tax any different from being just another tax that's just piled on to regular tax? Philosophically speaking, excise tax and the low alcohol allowance seem to be just another way for the government to pinch pennies. I can understand wanting to enforce excise tax on cars but doing this to alcohol with such a small allowance just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[seianko]

By this logic, can they tax you on the water you brought in from overseas in a personal water bottle? Why kei kao until like that? It's the penny pinching part that I don't get. How much will they make from this every year? $20000? It's just 2 bottles of scotch, it's not like I'm exploiting the system and making a living off doing this.

They dun do that on water.

Alcohol and tobacco tax is different from rest of the items. At least from singapore laws perspective

water on the other hand u will have to pay GST if you have exceeded the relief amount $600 if u have been away from singapore > 48 hours

 

[Beefsteak]

This law is also to protect retailers here.
If they don't enforce it. People will start abusing it.

 

[deodorant]

It's the penny pinching part that I don't get. How much will they make from this every year? $20000? It's just 2 bottles of scotch, it's not like I'm exploiting the system and making a living off doing this.

You got to think big picture here. Government is not trying to nickel and dime YOU. They implement rules to try and catch out those people who would exploit the system. Imagine that the rules are: Opened bottles no duties. Not hard to imagine that people will bring in dozens of opened bottles less one shot to bypass the taxes, then sell cheap cheap to bars and clubs.

 

[halfhuman]

You got to think big picture here. Government is not trying to nickel and dime YOU. They implement rules to try and catch out those people who would exploit the system. Imagine that the rules are: Opened bottles no duties. Not hard to imagine that people will bring in dozens of opened bottles less one shot to bypass the taxes, then sell cheap cheap to bars and clubs.

Ok, this I can understand. But many countries have already moved to allowing 2 litres of duty free alcohol. Australia, Fiji, Tonga and Japan allows 2.25, New Zealand allows 3 and up to 6 litres of wine. https://www.aucklandairport.co.nz/shopping/duty-free-allowances

Maybe it's time for Singapore to do the same.

 

[patryn33]

every gov around the world finds some way to "nickel and dime" citizens lah.
ppl who votes the ppl into power are ok. why we nickel and dime the gov? it that so important outside the matter of principles? or is that adding financial strain on ppl?

singapore alcohol rules so bad making a country so unlivable then its not for those to stay singapore.

Fiji, Tonga so good move there loh..
FYI
https://tradingeconomics.com/fiji/personal-income-tax-rate

FYI HK is a similar country to SG and its 1L limit iirc
iceland also like 1L and tax is like 84.4%
South Korea, Norway, USA also 1L
Switzerland our model also at 1L

 

[halfhuman]

I seriously don't get all the hostile responses. It's as if people here are acting like it's taboo to question government legislature. Do you not know that laws are written by humans and thus, are fallible? Why else do we have parliamentary debates and discussion for legislation? Why are people on HWZ just so quick to dismiss others who're willing to engage in conversation and debate? Everybody here seems to go "the law says X so you must do X". So if the law tells you to eat 5hit, HWZ will literally go eat 5hit?

Also, going by the logic that GST is taxed for consumption of goods, shouldn't all Malaysian cars driven into Singapore be taxed as well, since they're being "consumed" for their purpose of transportation?

 

[Beta_Tester]

Today budget says now duty free 3L will drop to 2L.

 

[g_t2006]

I seriously don't get all the hostile responses. It's as if people here are acting like it's taboo to question government legislature. Do you not know that laws are written by humans and thus, are fallible? Why else do we have parliamentary debates and discussion for legislation? Why are people on HWZ just so quick to dismiss others who're willing to engage in conversation and debate? Everybody here seems to go "the law says X so you must do X". So if the law tells you to eat 5hit, HWZ will literally go eat 5hit?

Also, going by the logic that GST is taxed for consumption of goods, shouldn't all Malaysian cars driven into Singapore be taxed as well, since they're being "consumed" for their purpose of transportation?

Do you honestly think the law about eating sh!t will be passed? Come on lah. You really do make light of the legislation process?!

BTW, foreign cars have to pay a levy when they enter Singapore. There are 10 VEP-free days per calendar year for vehicles too.

 

[halfhuman]

Do you honestly think the law about eating sh!t will be passed? Come on lah. You really do make light of the legislation process?!

BTW, foreign cars have to pay a levy when they enter Singapore. There are 10 VEP-free days per calendar year for vehicles too.

I was giving a metaphor, not a literal example. It's the lack of critical thinking about legislation that I was lamenting about. It all goes back to the political apathy that Singaporeans are so famous for. How are you so sure that the authorities will always act in the citizen's best interests? We were lucky to have 2 benevolent dictators under our independence, how many Singaporeans even know about the implication of the PM placing his own lawyer into the Attorney General position? With this kind of political involvement, I won't be surprised if governmental tyranny like the ones in Venezuela and Hong Kong were to happen with the next head of state voted into office when LKY is not around. But I digress.

With regards to VEP, it's a toll on road usage for foreign vehicles rather than tax.

 

[seianko]

no, its not taboo to qn a law. but u r trying to justified to suit your needs, and u call that discussion. that's ok too.

u r not aware how cheap is alcohol in those countries u mentioned? cheap as dirt, not much profit, so peeps dun even think its any worth to bring back tax free alcohol for all the trouble just to save $5 for 2L, expect for visitors who did not know or locals who are collecting limited edition into the countries u mention

beer can be as cheap as water in australia, and wine is even cheaper 3 times than water in australia

u wanna debate questionable law, dun do it here, do it in honglim park or write in to 154.
it is not that we are posting hostile replies, it is only becos no one here think no one here dun think much to cry over opened bottle of jiu which is not even limited ultra-rare edition

if i hv a bottle of 50year old hibiki , it is gonna cost more than 600 sgd market valuation. i would hv to pay GST. if it exceed 1 L and i am travelling aloene, then i pay tax for the spill over volum. what is so difficylt about understanding simple law? law is how society bind together. and u r trying to be guai lan but i understand, this is edmw hence i replied .