# Whom are duty-free shops in airports for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660 "2016-12-26T19:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/41 "2016-12-28T18:47:01Z")
In Europe a foreign passport holder can pay the VAT at the store in town ( which may offer discounts) but present your receipt and products at the airport to the refund centre and they return your tax in cash, (If my memory serves me well) One of the benefits of holding dual nationality ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/42 "2016-12-28T19:52:48Z")
In this day and age, duty-free is useful in that it lets you carry home a couple full bottles of the local liquor, packed separately in their own carry-on bag. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/43 "2016-12-30T08:31:53Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > In Japan, foreign tourists can make purchases at many stores outside of airports without paying sales tax. The expectation is that you will be taking these goods out of the country with you, but it doesn’t seem to be vigorously enforced. Last time I was there I bought a new laptop computer in downtown Osaka for my mother-in-law, whom I was visiting in Japan. I got out of paying about $80 in sales tax on it by presenting my US passport at the time of sale. When I left the country, the Nagoya airport customs area had a box you were supposed to throw your tax-free receipts into, which I did - but no one ever checked those receipts while I was there, and no one asked me if I was carrying that laptop out of the country with me. Yes, on my last visit to Japan I bought a camera lens duty-free in an ordinary store in Okayama, used it for about a week, packed it back in the box that it came in, and showed it and the documentation to the customs people at Kansai Airport as I was leaving. It went fine. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/44 "2016-12-30T12:45:05Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Yes, on my last visit to Japan I bought a camera lens duty-free in an ordinary store in Okayama, used it for about a week, packed it back in the box that it came in, and showed it and the documentation to the customs people at Kansai Airport as I was leaving. It went fine. Were you required to show the physical item to the customs people? Given that your checked luggage is already checked (possibly even on the plane) when you pass through customs enroute to the gate, what happens if you tell them the item is in your checked luggage? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/45 "2016-12-30T17:10:10Z")
I bought a couple of watches in Thailand. I didn’t have to present the watch at the tax reclamation office, only the form the department store gave me. On the other hand when I bought my MacBook Pro in Hong Kong, I kindly asked the Apple Store clerk if he’d throw the box away for me, as I didn’t want to be randomly selected to pay 20% duty and/or a large bribe/fine when reëntering the mainland. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/46 "2016-12-30T17:51:43Z")
Yes, another benefit of duty-free in this day and age is that you can purchase items that would not normally be allowed through security. The duty-free also is a throw-back to the days before a much more open free-trade regime, when there was a painful import tax on everything, and even worse on “sin tax” items and small luxury goods like perfume and makeup - which still seem to constitute the majority of duty-free shop merchandise. The idea was that because they were being taken out of the country, these goods were sold without the typical burden of local taxes; and since most countries had a moderate duty-free allowance for travelers returning (i.e. Canada’s 1.14L of alcohol, or 40oz.) if you bought a small amount, you would not pay duty at the arrival end either. As mentioned above, the classic example nowadays is cigarettes, which may have up to a 200% sales tax for health reasons. I should point out that there are also some duty-free shops along the Canada-US border, both sides, with the same concept. You buy your duty-free items and then pick them up as you drive across the border (i.e. can’t turn around and drive back to source country). These are more of a bargain for Canadians than Americans. Our high taxes on liquor and cigarettes go to help pay for our free health care. Did I mention we have free health care in Canada? The duty-free shops’ prices are about the same on the American side as the regular stores, it seems. A funny thing I noticed in stores near the border- the price for a 40-ounce bottle of liquor (vodka, rum, etc.) is only a few dollars less than the much bigger size (65oz?). So the price on a border-legal bottles is elevated a bit because they know you have no choice. Or you could be like the Russian tourists we saw at Sharm el Sheik, and drink your bottle(s) of duty-free vodka before boarding the flight. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/47 "2016-12-31T20:30:30Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Were you required to show the physical item to the customs people? Given that your checked luggage is already checked (possibly even on the plane) when you pass through customs enroute to the gate, what happens if you tell them the item is in your checked luggage? I don’t remember if they actually looked at it, but I did carry it onto the plane. I’m not sue what happens if you put it in your checked baggage. But you don’t go through customs leaving Japan: I had to find the customs office at Kansai Airport to show them my paperwork. Again, I’m not sure what happens if you don’t: maybe they catch up with you next time you enter Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/48 "2017-01-01T00:30:03Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I see. The mistake of listening to middle-school English teachers. Easily corrected with a search that includes the following terms: end sentence preposition myth. Where’s it at? Don’t end a sentence with a preposition. Okay, where’s it at, **asshole**? 😃 I’ve also not had my bag of duty free booze counted against my carryon, IOW, I had my carryon & an extra bag of bottle of booze. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > As a US-based person I’ve never seen duty free shops anywhere that had better prices than Costco. In many places prices are higher than my local ordinary corner liquor store. Try PA sometime; where they’re just now coming into the late 20th century in terms of alcohol sales. :rolleyes: Scotch was much cheaper in Germany than in the US, ¼ - ⅓ less. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660/49 "2017-01-01T01:04:34Z")
Years ago I was on my way to Burma from Thailand. I stopped at the Duty-Free Shop at the airport in Bangkok and bought one bottle of Black Label Johnny Walker Whiskey and 2 cartons of 555 cigarettes. One bottle of liquor and 2 cartons of cigarettes were the limit to bring into Burma duty-free. The total price came to about $20 US. After arriving in Rangoon, the taxi driver bought the 3 items from me for the equivalent of $70 US with Burmese Kyats. It was important to bring in exactly what the demand was as far as the brands of liquor and cigarettes were concerned. I was told not to bring in _red_ label Johnny Walker and only 555 cartons of cigarettes. I was rich in Kyats. Seventy dollars worth of Kyats went a long way during a week in Burma. I had enough left over for a nice lobster dinner at the old British built Strand Hotel on my last night in Rangoon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whom-are-duty-free-shops-in-airports-for/775660.md?page=2)