Cigarette Run to Eastern Europe, where to go?

BeerNut · 10-11-2010 9:29pm

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

As I stated the cigarettes I was referring to are brought into the EU from the Ukraine where the tax is significantly lower if existent. There is no EU tax paid on them

You, the buyer, are not importing them into the EU therefore you are not liable to pay duty on them. This is a matter between the people taking the cigs across the border and the Polish revenue. If the tax isn't paid on them by the time you buy them, they are smuggled. None of this is the concern of you, the purchaser at retail.

Dave_Kilkenny wrote: »

I go up their and buy lots of cheap cigarettes bring them to a car boot sale down south and sell them to people.

Right: so you have smuggled them across the border. You are the criminal and Revenue will be after you, not the customers at your car boot sale. There is no mechanism by which your customers can apply to have a Revenue sticker applied to their pack before they light up.

There is no way to "be sure to pay all relevant taxes to the appropriate customs and excise people" on the cigs you mentioned: they're just smuggled cigarettes and can't be legitimised retrospectively.

CCCP · 15-11-2010 11:07pm

Whatever you choose to do , just remember that Ukrainian ciggs will have a revenue sticker from Ukraine and a person traveling in EU with these Legal Cigarettes is limited to 200 on a flight, its EU law on Ukrainian Ciggs not Ukrainian law. I recommend the Malboro lights/gold/ They are better quality then the same smokes bought here IMO. they don't taste funky like the cheap spanish 'fumars' for example.

Also remember that if you are going to Ukraine and wish to purchase cigarettes, The Duty free in the airport is 4 times more expensive then in the shops outside :P

I remember the look on an Irish woman's face who I bumped in the Duty free in Kiev, I was behind her in the Que and saw her pay 31 euro for 200, I heard her accent and said hello , as I'm Irish myself. And informed her that she could of bought the same smokes for 8 euro outside the Airport, she wast impressed:P

Another high quality cheap legal Import is Crimean Wine and Ukrainian Vodka.

Also as a side not, if you enjoy a cigg before a flight, you can do so in Ukrainian airports

:)

mezzomix · 19-11-2010 1:54pm

I'm planning a short weekend trip back to austria and I'm thinking about travelling back from bratislava to dublin.. up until now, but to break even, I'd need to buy 5 at least.
Up until now, I've only bought 4 boxes max. Can I just buy 6 boxes at the airport and put them in my hand luggage, or should anything over 4 boxes be checked in?

larryolaoi · 16-01-2011 8:31pm

Terrontress wrote: »

See the link beneath.

I think that you can only bring in 4 cartons (800 ciggies) while remaining within the law and I think that from certain EU countries that drops to the same level as per a non-EU country although it doesn't state that on the link beneath.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1878.html

I read that the UK have no allowance but advise you that you might have to explain yourself if you have more than 3,200 cigs (16 cartons).

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/no-limit-for-cheap-holiday-cigarettes-and-drink-2096877.html

You can bring in as many as you like for your own personal use. keep receipts and only buy one brand.

Kendannedy · 28-01-2011 2:33pm

CCCP wrote: »

Whatever you choose to do , just remember that Ukrainian ciggs will have a revenue sticker from Ukraine and a person traveling in EU with these Legal Cigarettes is limited to 200 on a flight, its EU law on Ukrainian Ciggs not Ukrainian law. I recommend the Malboro lights/gold/ They are better quality then the same smokes bought here IMO. they don't taste funky like the cheap spanish 'fumars' for example.

Also remember that if you are going to Ukraine and wish to purchase cigarettes, The Duty free in the airport is 4 times more expensive then in the shops outside :P

I remember the look on an Irish woman's face who I bumped in the Duty free in Kiev, I was behind her in the Que and saw her pay 31 euro for 200, I heard her accent and said hello , as I'm Irish myself. And informed her that she could of bought the same smokes for 8 euro outside the Airport, she wast impressed:P

Another high quality cheap legal Import is Crimean Wine and Ukrainian Vodka.

Also as a side not, if you enjoy a cigg before a flight, you can do so in Ukrainian airports :)

Noticed this in Moscow too. Was completely baffled as to why smokes were cheaper in the kiosks than in the airport.

tomas88 · 07-02-2011 2:09pm

larryolaoi wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/no-limit-for-cheap-holiday-cigarettes-and-drink-2096877.html

You can bring in as many as you like for your own personal use. keep receipts and only buy one brand.

So just to be clear here , you can bring in as many cigarrettes as you like from EU or non-EU countries , provided that these are for your own personal use?

There are no duty issues with say the Ukraine as opposed to Latvia??

BuffyBot · 07-02-2011 2:49pm

No, you can only bring in the normal limits from non-EU countries.

rob1970 · 11-02-2011 1:34pm

larryolaoi wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/no-limit-for-cheap-holiday-cigarettes-and-drink-2096877.html

You can bring in as many as you like for your own personal use. keep receipts and only buy one brand.

So what's the risk if one brings 50 boxes from eg Latvia? Ireland and Latvia are part of EU and duty was paid in Latvia. Can officers at the airport prosecute you and impose a fine for transporting goods bought in EU even in large quantities? Can they actually size your cigs? 50 boxes is difficult to prove that they are for own personal use and officers definitely will have queries but I am not sure they have any rights to prosecute a 'smuggler' operating within EU. The meaning of that article is that they cannot do anything once duty was paid in EU. Any seizure or fine must be illegal !!

lord lucan · 11-02-2011 2:46pm

rob1970 wrote: »

So what's the risk if one brings 50 boxes from eg Latvia? Ireland and Latvia are part of EU and duty was paid in Latvia. Can officers at the airport prosecute you and impose a fine for transporting goods bought in EU even in large quantities? Can they actually size your cigs? 50 boxes is difficult to prove that they are for own personal use and officers definitely will have queries but I am not sure they have any rights to prosecute a 'smuggler' operating within EU. The meaning of that article is that they cannot do anything once duty was paid in EU. Any seizure or fine must be illegal !!

I won't try and address the legal aspect as only Customs can say how that would be enforced but one thing they would look for in that case would be that they're all the same brand. If you came through with say 10,000 Marlboro,you could easily point to them being for personal use. If you came through with 2,000 Marlboro,2000 B&H,2000 Camel,and 4,000 Silk Cut Purple for example,they would rightly enquire why you have so many different brands for personal use.

This happened to a friend of mine. He had 10,000 of one brand from Poland and was stopped. Customs seemed satisfied that they were all for his own use and the duty had been paid and was allowed through.

raz86 · 15-02-2011 11:08pm

How many cigarettes or kgs of tobacco am I allowed bring home from Europe? I'm going to Italy (don't know if that matters).

It's my first time buying tobacco products abroad. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

BeerNut · 16-02-2011 10:57am

You're in the EU, so there's no strict limit. But once you go above 800 cigarettes or a kilo of loose tobacco the Customs officers may start asking questions. If you have several different brands, they'll probably suspect you're a smuggler.

Mods: any chance of a sticky with all this in it? It comes up a lot.

The Hill Billy · 16-02-2011 11:34am

It gets posted to often enough that it doesn't drop of the front page.

HB

Muahahaha · 30-04-2015 11:59pm

Anyone know what the current prices of a pack of 20 is in Estonia & Latvia? Thinking of taking a jaunt there soon and stocking up. Also is the EU personal use bar still set at 3,200?

larryolaoi · 01-05-2015 7:16pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone know what the current prices of a pack of 20 is in Estonia & Latvia? Thinking of taking a jaunt there soon and stocking up. Also is the EU personal use bar still set at 3,200?

The EU have placed restrictions on All those specific countries since Jan 14 as far as I know. I quit smoking and started vaping since Aug 13, that's a better choice for definite... will see if I can find some info

larryolaoi · 01-05-2015 7:20pm

larryolaoi wrote: »

The EU have placed restrictions on All those specific countries since Jan 14 as far as I know. I quit smoking and started vaping since Aug 13, that's a better choice for definite... will see if I can find some info

EU member states are permitted to impose these types of restrictions where cigarettes have been bought “duty-paid” in a country that has not yet reached the EU minimum levels of tobacco products tax on cigarettes.

These countries include:

Bulgaria
Croatia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Romania

Anyone with cigarettes in excess of that quantity must declare them to a Revenue officer and pay the appropriate excise duty from 1 January. The measure does not apply to other tobacco products brought in from these member states as long as those products are for personal use and not for commercial purposes.

Revenue said this restriction will be removed as each of the member states in question achieves the minimum level of tax required and they have until 31 December 2017 to do so.
Read: Two women sentenced to prison over seized cigarettes>
Read: Cigarettes worth €20,000 seized in raids on Dublin houses>
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Wanderer78 · 01-05-2015 8:17pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone know what the current prices of a pack of 20 is in Estonia & Latvia? Thinking of taking a jaunt there soon and stocking up. Also is the EU personal use bar still set at 3,200?

how much do you save by doing this?

larryolaoi · 03-05-2015 9:59pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone know what the current prices of a pack of 20 is in Estonia & Latvia? Thinking of taking a jaunt there soon and stocking up. Also is the EU personal use bar still set at 3,200?

viinarannasta.ee/articlesr.php?sid=21&gid=17

Check if Estonia is not on that list..I used to buy 10,000 a go in this place..very handy

€35 for a carton of Marlboro

Muahahaha · 04-05-2015 10:10pm

Thanks for the info larryolaoi, its Estonia I'm flying into but Latvia I'm flying out from. From what I gather they're €3 or so a pack in Estonia right now so I'll stock up there and make sure to get a receipt in case Customs stop me coming off a plane from Latvia.

mariosuarez · 04-05-2015 11:16pm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

how much do you save by doing this?

3200 = 160 packs
160 x €3 = €480
160 x €10 = €1600

Gross profit = €1120
Minus flight =€100
Minus otther costs = €100

Net profit = €920

larryolaoi · 05-05-2015 5:45pm

Better off going electronic, save your lungs

lord lucan · 05-05-2015 6:24pm

larryolaoi wrote: »

Better off going electronic, save your lungs

No need for the lecture, this forum is for smokers to escape the usual finger wagging and health nazis.

BoJack Horseman · 05-05-2015 6:28pm

lord lucan wrote: »

nazis.

Suggesting better alternatives doesn't make one a Nazi.

Its a remarkably ignorant comparison to make.

Faith+1 · 05-05-2015 6:30pm

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Suggesting better alternatives doesn't make one a Nazi.

Its a remarkably ignorant comparison to make.

It's a figure of speech.

BoJack Horseman · 05-05-2015 6:34pm

Faith+1 wrote: »

It's a figure of speech.

Aah.... OK.

Calling people genocidal fascists isn't a common phrase down my way!

lord lucan · 05-05-2015 6:35pm

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Suggesting better alternatives doesn't make one a Nazi.

Its a remarkably ignorant comparison to make.

But this is not the forum for suggesting better alternatives, there's other forums for that. We keep this forum deliberately free of holier than thou types/nazis or whatever phraseology you care to use.

Muahahaha · 27-05-2015 2:38pm

Just an update on this. Flew into Tallin last week and bought the limit of 3,200 costing a total of €440. (2.75 a pack) Brand was Chesterfield Blue which I'm fine with. The same thing here would have cost me close on €1400 so it was a good saving given I got return flights for just over €80 and a hotel there was pretty cheap.

Anyway I'm wondering does anyone know the EU limit for rolling tobacco for personal use? A mate is keen to do a similar trip

Faith+1 · 27-05-2015 3:06pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Just an update on this. Flew into Tallin last week and bought the limit of 3,200 costing a total of €440. (2.75 a pack) Brand was Chesterfield Blue which I'm fine with. The same thing here would have cost me close on €1400 so it was a good saving given I got return flights for just over €80 and a hotel there was pretty cheap.

Anyway I'm wondering does anyone know the EU limit for rolling tobacco for personal use? A mate is keen to do a similar trip

Any hassle in the airport?

TheMilkyPirate · 27-05-2015 3:14pm

I'm going to prague in August how many can I bring back legally?

Also I go to the canaries every year I was under the impression I could only bring back 200 is that correct?

Muahahaha · 27-05-2015 3:26pm

Faith+1 wrote: »

Any hassle in the airport?

Yes and no. I landed at 11.30pm Friday night thinking that Customs would be deserted- instead there was two sniffer dogs and about 8 Customs staff in high vis. The main reason they appeared to be there was because just before my flight a flight had landed from Chisneau in Moldova, which is outside the EU obviously. As I walked through they had at least 6 people off that flight and were checking their bags, one woman had 1000+ cigarettes on the desk which seemed to be confiscated. I strolled through without problems, I had all the same brand to prove they were for personal use and a receipt to prove EU taxes were paid so even if I was stopped I was covered.

Muahahaha · 27-05-2015 3:29pm

TheMilkyPirate wrote: »

I'm going to prague in August how many can I bring back legally?

Also I go to the canaries every year I was under the impression I could only bring back 200 is that correct?

The Canaries are duty free islands so the 200 limit is correct. Czech Rep is a full EU member so the limit is 3200 for personal use as they are not on the list quoted from a post above this one

Bulgaria
Croatia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Romania

Cigarette Run to Eastern Europe, where to go?

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