Caught at Customs

S

slow

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So here's the situation. Long story short.

- I went to Buffalo with 3 others (another dude(driver) and 2 girls) for about 2-3 hours.
- Dude and myself didn't buy anything.
- Girls bought a purse each, did not declare
- Got pulled to the side and the girls, got caught.

Result

- Girls are forced to pay taxes or forfeit the bags, which obviously they paid.
- Officer said it was a warning.

Questions:

- What exactly does this warning mean? Do it again, you're screwed...and what would 'screwed be'?
- Plate was recorded (I saw). Car is probably blacklisted....but if it was warning...is it still blacklisted? If so, how long does this last?
- Besides seizing the purses, are they allowed to seize the car, impound...etc?
- Seize other things in the car that are clearly not new?
- Because I was with them and I was clean, am I too also blacklisted?
- Are they allow to say your purchase was (any value they want) and tax you on that? I believe this answer is yes, especially if you don't provide receipt. But I heard from a friend that they had receipts and they taxed them double of their total purchases (for example, if they bought $100 worth of stuff, customs would charge them for $200 worth.)


The obvious responses that won't be required.
- "Should've declared everything"
- "Find new friends"
- etc...
 
slow said:
So here's the situation. Long story short.

- I went to Buffalo with 3 others (another dude(driver) and 2 girls) for about 2-3 hours.
- Dude and myself didn't buy anything.
- Girls bought a purse each, did not declare
- Got pulled to the side and the girls, got caught.

Result

- Girls are forced to pay taxes or forfeit the bags, which obviously they paid.
- Officer said it was a warning.

Questions:

- What exactly does this warning mean? Do it again, you're screwed...and what would 'screwed be'?
- Plate was recorded (I saw). Car is probably blacklisted....but if it was warning...is it still blacklisted? If so, how long does this last?
- Besides seizing the purses, are they allowed to seize the car, impound...etc?
- Seize other things in the car that are clearly not new?
- Because I was with them and I was clean, am I too also blacklisted?
- Are they allow to say your purchase was (any value they want) and tax you on that? I believe this answer is yes, especially if you don't provide receipt. But I heard from a friend that they had receipts and they taxed them double of their total purchases (for example, if they bought $100 worth of stuff, customs would charge them for $200 worth.)


The obvious responses that won't be required.
- "Should've declared everything"
- "Find new friends"
- etc...
Click to expand...

Your a paranoid dude huh? lol

In all honesty though, your not gonan be blacklisted, worst case they give that car a lil moe hassle about what you bought and more likely pull it in for a while when they go over. Your not blacklisted at all!
The border agents can be *****, but i find if your civil with them, and at least declare a little, they let you off the hook.
 
That licence plate is flagged in their system. You yourself are not "blacklisted".

I don't know why your friend would be charged for $200 when they only bought $100....sounds like he's exaggerting a bit.
 
"Warning" means that if you try to pull something like that again, bad things can happen. It's like a cop catching you going 20 over and giving you a warning instead of a ticket.

Most likely your car isn't blacklisted and no record is kept of this incident, but if they wanted, they could seize the car (as an accessory used in smuggling).

I found a good deal on a scanner/printer combo online. It was on sale for $100, but shipping was only within the US. I had it shipped to Niagara Falls and went to pick it up. I didn't bring the receipts with me (my mistake) and declared it to the customs as $100. They came back to me saying that on the web it's now $200. After some questioning they told me that they will charge me tax on the current value (due to me not having the receipts) and let me go.
 
slow said:
Are they allow to say your purchase was (any value they want) and tax you on that? I believe this answer is yes, especially if you don't provide receipt. But I heard from a friend that they had receipts and they taxed them double of their total purchases (for example, if they bought $100 worth of stuff, customs would charge them for $200 worth.)
Click to expand...

It's likely a fine, not a tax and it's based on the under-valuation (if that's a real word).

If its a $300 purse and it wasn't declared then the u-v is $300 or if it was a $3000 purse and was declared at $500 then the u-v would be $2500. If you get caught then you get fined 55% (or maybe 45%.. can't remember exactly) of whatever the u-v is. If you u-v by $300 the fine would be $165. If you u-v by $2500 the fine is $1375.
 
ajaxguy said:
Your a paranoid dude huh? lol

In all honesty though, your not gonan be blacklisted, worst case they give that car a lil moe hassle about what you bought and more likely pull it in for a while when they go over. Your not blacklisted at all!
The border agents can be *****, but i find if your civil with them, and at least declare a little, they let you off the hook.
Click to expand...

Better knowledged than to get surprised next time.



fastar1 said:
Next time... strip search. Post pics.
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Female officer requested me to flip out all my pockets...but my butt pockets don't flip out, so she patted me down lol.
 
CrazyKell said:
That licence plate is flagged in their system. You yourself are not "blacklisted".

I don't know why your friend would be charged for $200 when they only bought $100....sounds like he's exaggerting a bit.
Click to expand...

Apparently the officer said "I can say your purse is $1000 if I wanted to, don't f***ing lie to me and waste my time".

My friend told the officer the bag was 100 bux, which is was...so she got tax on $200 worth.
 
Well if you don't have receipts, they can say whatever they want to say "technically". But you could also appeal that decision which is more hassle than it's worth.
 
slow said:
Apparently the officer said "I can say your purse is $1000 if I wanted to, don't f***ing lie to me and waste my time".

My friend told the officer the bag was 100 bux, which is was...so she got tax on $200 worth.
Click to expand...

To save $13.. lol. Come on!!
 
If you rip off the packaging and tags and pretend it's your purse that you've been using before you entered US. How are they to prove that you bought it over there?
 
Isn't it the other way around when you are trying to bring stuff into the Country? i.e. You have to prove that you bought it here and not there?
 
LiNK666 said:
If you rip off the packaging and tags and pretend it's your purse that you've been using before you entered US. How are they to prove that you bought it over there?
Click to expand...

They might've been born at night, but it probably wasn't last night!
 
LiNK666 said:
They can suspect something is up, but how do they prove it?
Click to expand...

The onus is not on them to prove that you bought it. The onus is on you to prove that you didn't.
 
CrazyKell said:
The onus is not on them to prove that you bought it. The onus is on you to prove that you didn't.
Click to expand...

LOL gotta love our laws when the onus is on the average citizen. I assume they monitor sites like ebay and stuff. Probably get information from them about people purchasing so they have it on record and can catch you when you try to run over the border with it.
 
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