Written question asked by Lord Marlesford (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Davies of Oldham (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 February 2008.

Duty-free Allowances

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:To what level the duty-free personal travel allowance will rise from £145; and on what date; and

Answer: On 1 December 2008, the tax-free allowance for travellers entering the EU by air and sea will rise to €430. This equates to about £290, which doubles the current allowance. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have around 4,500 officers who cover UK ports and airports. The officers are employed on a multi-functional basis, working on a wide range of duties, and not solely to enforce the duty-free personal allowance. It is therefore not readily possible to assess the direct impact of raising the personal allowance to £1,000, although any increase in the allowance would lead to an overall reduction in the administrative cost in collecting and accounting for duty. To enforce the current duty-free allowance, officers intercept and challenge passengers following risk-based profiles. They also accept payment from passengers at red points. As statistics are not currently collated in respect of activities in relation to personal allowances, figures relating to the number of travellers with up to £1,000 of goods stopped in the green channel in the last 12 months cannot be obtained except at a disproportionate cost. The total amount of revenue collected from travellers entering the UK in 2007 was £12.8 million. However it is not possible to differentiate between customs duty, excise duty and VAT except at a disproportionate cost.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 1594; 698 c165-6WA
Session: 2007-08
Subjects: Customs officers Enforcement Import duties Duty free allowances Staff Tax evasion Tax yields
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk