United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Direction: travellers bringing goods into the UK for personal use. Per HMRC: the goods you can bring without paying UK tax or duty are your ‘personal allowance’; you must declare all commercial goods (no personal allowances for goods to sell or use in business); before crossing the UK border you must declare goods where you go over your allowances, and goods that are banned or restricted; if you go over an allowance you pay tax and duty on all the goods in that category; goods can be declared online from 5 days (120 hours) before arrival; goods and vehicles may be seized, and travellers fined or prosecuted for breaking the rules. Allowance rules differ depending on whether you arrive in Great Britain or Northern Ireland. Personal allowance amounts (captured for travellers to Great Britain (England, Wales or Scotland) from outside the UK; you must transport the goods yourself and use them yourself or give them away as gifts): alcohol — you can bring in both beer 42 litres and still wine 18 litres, plus either 4 litres of spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol or 9 litres of other alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine, e.g. sparkling wine, fortified wine, cider), and this either/or allowance can be split between the two; tobacco — one of 200 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars, 250g tobacco or 200 sticks of tobacco for electronic heated tobacco devices, and this allowance can be split; there is no alcohol or tobacco allowance if you are under 17 (you can still bring alcohol and tobacco for your own use but you must declare it and pay tax and duty on the full amount); other goods up to £390, or up to £270 if you arrive by private plane or boat. You cannot combine your personal allowance with anyone else’s. These amounts are tax-free allowances, not a stand-alone declaration duty: a duty to declare arises only for commercial goods, goods over your allowances (tax and duty then apply to all the goods in that category — for other goods, to the total value of the goods, not just the value above the allowance) and banned or restricted goods. The amounts above are captured for arrivals in Great Britain from outside the UK only and must not be applied to Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland (Arriving in Northern Ireland page; the rules and allowances depend on whether you are travelling from the EU or another country). Arriving in Northern Ireland from the EU: you do not need to declare or pay tax or duty on any goods you bring into Northern Ireland from the EU as long as you transport them yourself, will use them yourself or give them away as a gift, and have paid tax and duty in the country where you bought them; these rules are the same as before 1 January 2021; if you are bringing in goods from the Canary Islands, the north of Cyprus, Gibraltar or the Channel Islands you must follow the rules for countries outside the EU. If a customs officer thinks you may be bringing in goods to sell, they may check your goods and ask questions to find out if the goods are for personal use. Although there are no limits to the alcohol and tobacco you can bring in from EU countries, you are more likely to be asked questions if you have more than the following indicative amounts, which are questioning guidance only — not legal allowances and not by themselves a duty to declare: cigarettes 800, cigars 200, cigarillos 400, tobacco 1kg, 800 sticks of tobacco for electronic heated tobacco devices, beer 110 litres, wine 90 litres, spirits 10 litres, fortified wine (for example sherry, port) 20 litres. Arriving in Northern Ireland from outside the EU (you must transport the goods yourself and use them yourself or give them away as a gift; you cannot combine your personal allowance with anyone else’s): alcohol — you can bring in both beer 16 litres and still wine 4 litres, plus either 1 litre of spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol or 2 litres of other alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine, e.g. sparkling wine, fortified wine, cider), and this either/or allowance can be split; tobacco — one of 200 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars, 250g tobacco or 200 sticks of tobacco for electronic heated tobacco devices, and this allowance can be split; there is no alcohol or tobacco allowance if you are under 17 (you can still bring alcohol and tobacco for your own use, but you must pay tax and duty on them before you arrive in the UK); other goods up to £390, or up to £270 if you arrive by private plane or boat. If you go over your allowances you must declare all your goods and pay tax and duty on all the goods in that category, and for other goods you pay tax and duty on the total value of the goods, not just the value above your allowance; you may also have to pay customs duty if you exceed your allowance, and import VAT may apply on the total value of the goods plus duty at the current UK VAT rate; your goods could be seized if you do not declare them. Travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland is governed by separate rules and the arrival allowances above must not be applied mechanically to that route: you do not need to declare your goods if both of the following apply — you are a UK resident, and you have already paid both VAT and excise duty (alcohol and tobacco only) on the goods in Great Britain; you may need to declare your goods if you are not a UK resident, if you are taking in alcohol or tobacco over your allowances for Northern Ireland on which excise duty has not been paid in Great Britain, or if you are taking in goods worth more than £390 and you have not paid VAT on them in Great Britain. If you are taking a vehicle into Northern Ireland from Great Britain you will need to declare the vehicle if all of the following apply: you are taking it to Northern Ireland permanently (for example, you live there and you are taking the vehicle back with you); you bought it in Great Britain for your own personal use or to give as a gift; the value of the vehicle, together with any other goods you are bringing in, exceeds £390; it is already registered with DVLA; and you have not paid VAT on it in Great Britain (for example, you bought the vehicle from a person or dealer not registered for VAT). Travelling from Northern Ireland to Great Britain (England, Wales or Scotland) you do not have to declare any goods, but you will need to pay Import VAT on any goods you buy in Northern Ireland from shops that offer tax-free shopping under the VAT Retail Export Scheme. Cash: separately, you must declare cash of £10,000 or more to UK customs when carrying it between Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and a country outside the UK; for families/groups the £10,000 is aggregated even if individuals carry less; the earliest you can make a declaration is 72 hours before you plan to travel (this timing line sits in the page's Great Britain section). Cash (Northern Ireland, per the same page's Taking cash in and out of Northern Ireland section): you must declare cash of €10,000 or more if you carry it between Northern Ireland and any non-EU country (either direction); you must also declare cash of €10,000 or more if you're arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain, while you do not need to declare any amount of cash when travelling the other way, from Northern Ireland to Great Britain; the Great Britain section of the page adds that if you're travelling to Northern Ireland and carrying €10,000 or more (or equivalent) you must follow the rules for taking cash into Northern Ireland; for families/groups under the Northern Ireland rules, €10,000 or more in total still requires a declaration even if individuals carry less; customs authorities may ask you to fill in a cash disclosure form if you send cash by freight, post or parcel between Northern Ireland and any non-EU country — this includes if you send cash from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Types of cash (same page): you must declare notes and coins, bearer bonds, travellers' cheques, and cheques (including travellers' cheques) that are signed but not made out to a person or organisation; if you are carrying cash in or out of Northern Ireland you must also declare money orders, gold coins, bullion or nuggets, and prepaid cards. Method (page-level How to declare cash section): if you're leaving the UK you must declare cash before you go; if you're coming to the UK you must declare either before you travel or at customs when you arrive (follow 'goods to declare' or 'red channel' signs); you can declare online or by phone and will get a reference number — the online service covers cash you're carrying into or out of Great Britain and cash you're carrying into or out of Northern Ireland, the latter including cash carried from Great Britain into Northern Ireland; if you cannot use the online service you can phone the Customs and International Trade Helpline on 0300 322 9434 (24-hour service). Penalties (page-level): if you do not declare cash that you should have, all the cash you are carrying can be seized by a Border Force officer and you may have to pay a penalty of up to £5,000 to get it back; any cash can be seized if customs authorities have reasonable grounds to suspect a crime and kept for 48 hours, after which they need a court order. Boundary notes: the Northern Ireland obligation line runs to any non-EU country, not to a country outside the UK as the Great Britain line does; the page does not address cash carried between Northern Ireland and EU countries, and states no separate earliest-declaration window for Northern Ireland (the 72-hours line sits in the Great Britain section) — both residuals are recorded as unresolved.