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BRINGING HOME CHEAP WINE AND FAGS

MANY Irish holidaymakers will be making their return trip home in the coming weeks and that journey can be a great opportunity to take back some cheap wine and cigarettes. Know exactly how much alcohol and cigarettes you’re allowed take back into Ireland however — otherwise, that bargain stash of wine or fags could be confiscated and you may even get hit with penalties.

You can bring 90 litres of wine back into Ireland after holidaying in the EU — as long as the wine is for your own personal use. That’s the equivalent of 120 standard bottles (assuming each bottle is 75cl). At 60 litres, the allowance is lower for sparkling wine.

Whiskey lovers can’t bring home more than 10 litres — the same applies for other spirits — from the EU. There is also a 110-litre allowance for beer.

You can usually bring home 800 cigarettes, 200 cigars and 1kg of smoking tobacco if travelling back to Ireland from within the EU. However, if you’re travelling from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, you can only bring home 300 cigarettes.

There are lower allowances for those travelling home from countries that are outside the EU — and from Gibraltar, the Canary Islands and the Channel Islands. You can bring home 200 cigarettes, four litres of still wine, one litre of spirits and 16 litres of beer if travelling back from such countries. These allowances apply regardless of whether or not you have paid duty or tax on these goods when buying them abroad. Customs duty, excise duty and VAT must be paid on any excess over these allowances.

When buying wine or cigarettes abroad (with the intention of taking them home), keep your receipts so that you can prove you have paid duty and VAT on them — in case you are stopped by customs.