US Customs Duty-Free Allowance for Travelers (2026)

The allowance, as CBP states it

Figures below are taken from CBP's customs duty information page (last modified December 30, 2025), not from a 2026 proclamation and not from a subsection of 19 CFR part 148 that this page did not re-read. If the officer's card and that page disagree with this summary, they win.

• $800 every 31 days. CBP states the personal exemption at $800, available every 31 days.
• 48 hours. CBP states that the traveler generally must have been beyond U.S. territorial limits for at least 48 hours, and it states an exception for the U.S. Virgin Islands. The same page's wording on contiguous countries is easy to misread. Confirm that test on the page or with the officer rather than treating a paraphrase as the rule.
• $800 or $1,600 for a returning resident. CBP states both figures. The $1,600 figure is the higher returning-resident exemption on that page (including travel that involves an insular possession). Do not treat every trip as $1,600.
• Family declaration. CBP describes a joint declaration for family members traveling together. The page gives a family of four a combined $4,000 figure for flat-duty merchandise. That is the figure on the page; it is not four invented gift exemptions.
• Unaccompanied articles. CBP describes goods sent separately from the traveler: up to $1,600 duty-free when they are from an insular possession, $800 from a Caribbean Basin Initiative or Andean country, and an additional amount up to $1,000 at a flat 3%. The form named on the page is CBP Form 255.

Mailing a shipment to yourself is not this accompanying-baggage exemption. With commercial de minimis suspended, expect a commercial or informal entry and a carrier bill.

Alcohol, tobacco, and what the dollar cap does not cover

CBP's same page states quantity limits next to the dollar exemption. Alcohol that may enter free of duty and Internal Revenue tax, for personal use and within the exemption, is 1 liter, and the traveler must be 21. Tobacco on that page is 200 cigarettes and 100 cigars, and the tobacco exemption also requires age 21. Amounts over those limits can owe duty and excise tax even when the dollar total is still inside the exemption.

Food, plants, weapons, and goods that need another agency's clearance are not duty-free because they fit in a carry-on. Declare them.

What Happens When You Go Over

You declare the total value of goods acquired abroad (price actually paid). CBP applies the exemption to the goods that qualify. Duty is assessed on the remainder. There is no honest version of 'they never check.'

This site will not invent a flat overage percentage. Some traveler overages are assessed at the HTS rate for each item; CBP can also use a simplified collection method on a small remainder. If the overage is large — a watch, jewelry, or a second suitcase of apparel — expect item-level classification. Use the personal import duty calculator and the HTS lookup to ballpark the commercial rate; the traveler booth may still be simpler, but the ceiling is the same law.

Keep receipts. 'I don't remember' is how a $400 jacket becomes a $400 argument.

Travelers vs. Shein, Temu, and FBA

Three different facts that get sold as one:

1. A package from Shein or Temu is a commercial shipment. De minimis is gone. You will see a carrier duty bill. See why you got a customs bill.
2. Inventory sent to Amazon FBA is a commercial import. The traveler exemption does not apply. See Amazon FBA import duty.
3. Goods in your luggage that you bought on the trip, for personal use, declared at arrival, are the traveler exemption.

If you are carrying commercial quantities — 40 identical hoodies, a suitcase of resale sneakers — CBP can treat that as a commercial entry even though you walked through the airport. Personal use is a facts-and-circumstances test, not a font on the declaration card.

Returning Residents vs. Non-Residents and Crew

The $800 / $1,600 structure described here is the returning resident personal exemption. Non-residents have a different, usually smaller, allowance for gifts and personal effects. Crew members have still different limits. If you are not a US resident returning home, do not use the $800 figure.

Foreigners bringing a car or household effects are in a different chapter of 19 CFR 148. That is not this page; start from the first-time importer guide or a broker.

Refunds, Dividends, and Airport 'Helpers'

Paying duty at the airport on a traveler overage is not an IEEPA entry and is not in the $166 billion CAPE pool. Do not hand your passport or card to someone in arrivals who offers to 'file your tariff refund' or collect a 'processing fee' for a $2,000 check. No consumer tariff dividend has been approved by Congress. IEEPA refunds, when they exist, go to the importer of record on a commercial entry via ACH after a CAPE declaration — see how to claim an IEEPA refund.

This page is explanatory, not legal advice, and not a substitute for the CBP officer in front of you.