Each person, over the federal minimum legal drinking age of 21, is entitled to import one liter of alcohol into the U.S. duty-free every 30 days. One liter is equivalent to one bottle of wine. The wine must be for personal use or a gift to someone else. The wine must be declared on the Customs Service form along with its estimated value in U.S. currency to successfully clear Customs without paying tax.
All bottles of wine over the duty-free exemption are subject to duties. As of 2009, the CBP applies a 3 percent duty on the total estimated value of wine purchased over one liter as reported on your Customs form. The duty is collected when clearing Customs by Customs agents. The tax applies to all wine purchased abroad entering the U.S., even wine purchased from duty-free stores in airports and cruise terminals. The alcohol purchased from these stores is only free of duties for the country in which the purchase is made.
In addition, to the 3 percent duty applied to wine over the single liter, duty-free limit, an additional IRS tax is applied to each bottle. As of 2009, the IRS tax is 36 cents for each bottle of wine. This tax is also collected when clearing Customs.
