You must make a customs declaration when you import goods into Bermuda. There are different forms, times and manners of making customs declarations. The customs declaration you make will depend on the nature of the goods, the way the goods are being imported and the customs procedure being used.
No customs declaration is required for temporary imports of vessels, aircraft and transport containers.
Accompanied personal goods
If you are clearing customs at the airport after arriving on a commercial airliner, you will use the dual channel (red/green) system to declare any accompanied personal goods.
If you have nothing to declare you should enter the green channel. If you have accompanied personal goods to declare, you must enter the red channel and present your completed
(CTD) to a customs officer. If you are arriving on a private aircraft, and you have accompanied personal goods to declare, you must present your completed CTD directly to a customs officer.
You should also complete and present a CTD to a customs officer if you have goods to declare and you are arriving on a pleasure craft or as a passenger on a cruise ship.
If you do not have goods to declare, no CTD is required.
In all cases, the CTD must be completed in accordance with the
Accompanied personal goods are exempt from wharfage.
If you are the master or a member of the crew of a commercial vessel arriving at Bermuda, your accompanied personal goods must be declared on the Crew Declaration (Customs Form No. 81).
If you are importing commercial goods, or goods that belong to another person, in your baggage you must declare those goods separately on a
. Your BCD must be completed and submitted to Customs in accordance with the instructions in
. If you have not previously completed a BCD, you may wish to engage the services of a customs clearing agent.
Goods imported by post
If you are importing goods by post, a Post Office customer service representative will normally prepare a
for your signature. You should tell the Post Office customer service representative if you wish to fill in this form yourself. You must provide invoices or receipts for any purchases.
Bona fide gifts to a value not exceeding $30 per postal packet are duty free. If you wish to claim any other duty relief, or if you are a commercial importer, you must first register for a CAPS ID number. Then you must make a
and lodge it with the Hamilton Long Room. Most duty reliefs are listed in the 5th, 6th and 7th Schedules to the
Your BCD must be completed and submitted to Customs in accordance with the instructions in the
.
Once you receive the customs release note for your goods, you may present it to the Post Office customer service representative to obtain delivery of your goods.
Goods imported by post are exempt from wharfage.
A processing fee of $5.00 will be charged on delivery of all dutiable postal packets.
Goods imported by a courier service
If you are importing goods by a courier service, the courier service will make the customs declaration for you.
Bona fide gifts to a value not exceeding $30 per courier package are duty free. If your goods qualify for some other duty relief, you must register for a CAPS ID number and provide it to the courier service. It is important that you tell the courier service as early as possible which duty relief to apply for. Most duty reliefs are listed in the 5th, 6th and 7th Schedules to the
Goods imported by air or sea cargo
If you are using a cargo consolidation service provided by a freight forwarder to import your goods, you may wish to employ the freight forwarder’s customs clearance service to declare your goods. Otherwise you must make a
and lodge it with the Hamilton Long Room.
If you wish to claim duty relief, you must first register for a CAPS ID number. Then you must make a
and lodge it with the Hamilton Long Room. Most duty reliefs are listed in the 5th, 6th and 7th Schedules to the
Your BCD must be completed and submitted to Customs in accordance with the instructions in the
.
If you are declaring goods invoiced in a foreign currency you will need to use the appropriate weekly exchange rate to calculate the Bermuda Dollar value of your goods.
Wharfage at the rate of 1.25% of the value is charged on most goods imported by air or sea cargo.
Cash and negotiable instruments
As a general rule, if you are importing or exporting accompanied personal cash or negotiable instruments in excess of BDA $10,000 you must make a
(CTD).
Your CTD must be completed and submitted in accordance with the
.
Where there is no customs officer in attendance at any place of departure, you must deposit the required declaration in the receptacle provided for that purpose.
If you are leaving for the U.S. on a precleared flight and you are exporting accompanied personal cash or negotiable instruments in excess of BDA $10,000, you must complete the currency reporting form required for precleared flights by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
If you are the master or a member of the crew of an arriving commercial vessel, and you are importing accompanied personal cash or negotiable instruments in excess of BDA $10,000, you must declare it on the Crew Declaration (Customs Form No. 81).
No declaration is required for accompanied cash or negotiable instruments of a value of BDA $10,000 or less.
If you are importing or exporting accompanied cash or negotiable instruments, in any amount, that is not accompanied personal cash, you must declare it on a Bermuda Customs Declaration.
All imports and exports of cash or negotiable instruments by post, courier service or air or sea cargo must be declared on a
.
Your BCD must be completed in accordance with the instructions in the First Schedule to the
(PDF).
Cash and negotiable instruments are exempt from wharfage.
Electronic submission of customs declarations
Most
to the Customs Automated Processing System (CAPS), or by using the browser based Web Trader service.
CTDs and BCDs for cash and negotiable instruments cannot be submitted electronically.
Updated 27 July 2023