Swiss customs: necessary when travelling from France to USA via GVA?
I'm a USian planning a summer trip to France. I've already bought my tickets to arrive in Nice and leave from Geneva. I will be travelling thru France mostly via car which I plan on returning to the French side of GVA.
My last stop in France is Burgundy, and naturally, my partner and I are planning on buying and bringing home a good amount of wine (perhaps 12 or 15 bottles each). However, from what I've read about Swiss customs, travelers passing thru must still declare alcoholic beverages, and thus pay import duties and possibly VAT. Is this so even if I am only visiting Switzerland insofar as the Geneva airport, which lies on the border? Does one need to go through Swiss customs at all at this point? This confuses me, as I thought Switzerland was part of Schengen, but perhaps that doesn't apply here.
A related question would be: do I need to go through this if I wanted to spend a few nights in Geneva first? I assume I would, and thus am thinking I will just drive to the airport straightaway and visit Switzerland another time.
I apologize if this is specific but I have tried to research this on my own and have found no definitive answer. I don't believe I'm the only one who has encountered this as Geneva is the closest major airport to Burgundy. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Best Answer
You may use the transit facility of Swiss Customs. This is probably the most easiest way to transit with wine without problems.
Alcoholic beverages that exceed the allowances and are destined for transit through Switzerland must be declared upon entry (see also Alcoholic beverages). The same applies for tobacco goods (see also Tobacco goods). A transit receipt is issued upon entry for this purpose.
You need to pay a deposit, which is refunded by the customs office of exit if all of the goods are re-exported. The deposit amounts to roughly the equivalent of the import duties (see also Alcoholic beverages and Tobacco goods). If the deposit is paid in cash (CHF, EUR, USD, GBP), it will always be refunded in Swiss francs. It can also be paid by credit card; the sum is credited to the same credit card upon re-exportation.
Source: http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_privat/04342/04359/04362/index.html?lang=en
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Answer 2
I'd go with what LaurentG has written. Declare it, pay the deposit (by credit card! Anything else will result in a for you completely useless CHF refund with according fees if you change it to USD) and get refunded upon leaving.
There are flights departing from either secor, the French and the Swiss. Therefore, depending on where your gate lies, you might still have to cross the border. I quote from the website: "For some airlines flying to destinations other than France, check in and go to the international transit area." So it depends on your flight whether you have to cross the border or not. (official website in English: http://www.gva.ch/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-60/ ).
To what amount do you estimate the wines you want to buy? There's a certain amount per person (!) which you can import for free. It was 5 liters last time I checked, which is about 8 0.75l bottles (again: per person, so for two people it doubles to 16 bottles).
Furthermore: When buying stuff over 175 Euro in France as for an exportation certificate. This paper you get stamped at the French border upon leaving and then you can reclaim the VAT which is almost 20% of the price you paid.
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