Split gift spirits keep duty-free status for one bottle

A gift parcel arriving from outside the European Union keeps its import-tax reliefEmta when a private individual sends it to another private individual free of charge, occasionally, for personal or family use, and the parcel stays within the value and quantity limits. The allowances include goods worth up to 45 euro per parcel alongside up to 50 grams of perfume or 0.25 litres of toilet water, up to 500 grams of coffee or 200 grams of coffee extract, and up to 100 grams of tea or 40 grams of tea extract. Tobacco products stay within their own limits of 50 cigarettes or the proportional equivalents. Alcohol keeps a combined allowance of 6 litres of beer and 2 litres of fermented drinks, plus one of three further options: 1 litre of spirits above 22% volume, 1 litre of other alcohol up to 22% volume such as vermouth or liqueur, or 2 litres of still wine other than sparkling wineEmta. Beer, fermented drinks and wine carry no single-package condition and may travel duty-free in several retail packages within the stated quantitiesEmta.

The point of the change is the 1-litre spirits allowance. The allowances of up to 1 litre of spirits above 22% volume and up to 1 litre of other alcohol up to 22% volume must each sit in one retail packageEmta. Splitting the permitted 1-litre quantity across several retail packages, for example two 0.5-litre bottles, no longer destroys the relief entirely: the relief is denied for the whole quantity but applies to one of the retail packages instead. A recipient who previously lost the exemption on both half-litre bottles now keeps one of them duty-free and pays excise duty on the otherEmta. Customs may verify the declared details, and where the parcel exceeds the limits the declarant pays import taxes on the excess, so a split consignment should be declared with each package's volume stated.

The companion rule for a single oversized package is unchanged in substanceEmta. Where the alcohol in one retail package partly exceeds the value or quantity limit, for example 1.5 litres of liqueur in one bottle, excise duty falls on the entire contents of that retail package, not only on the excess over the limit. The same all-or-nothing treatment of one package stands in contrast to the new split-package rule, which salvages the relief for a single package.

The legal basis is one closing sentence: Käibemaksuseadus § 17 lõige 1 punkt 10 exempts qualifying person-to-person consignments from VAT, Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 Articles 25 to 27 grants the customs-duty relief within the 45 euro and Article 27 quantity limits, and the detailed single-package condition is stated in the Maksu- ja Tolliamet Kingitused guidance.