Whatever you buy across the border travels back with you as baggage, and each country decides how much may come in free of tax. That ceiling is the traveller’s allowance. It is not one number: it varies with the country you enter, how you arrive and what the goods are, and customs revises it from time to time. For that reason this guide gives no figures. It explains how the system works and what to confirm before a shopping trip.
The rule that counts is the one where you arrive
Paraguay does not limit what you buy in its shops. The check is made by customs in the country you take the goods into: Argentine customs if you return to Argentina, Brazilian customs if you enter Brazil. If you come back from Ciudad del Este to Puerto Iguazú by road, you also pass through Brazil with your purchases on board. Ask both customs services how that transit is treated.
Foreign visitors have one more border to think about: the one at home. Goods bought here count towards your own country’s allowance when you fly back.
What the allowance depends on
- Means of transport. The limit for arrivals by land or river is commonly different from the one for air passengers.
- The traveller. Resident or visitor, adult or minor: the rules may treat them differently.
- The goods. Alcohol, tobacco and similar products usually have quantity limits on top of the value limit.
- Frequency. In border areas there may be rules for people who cross often.
- Quantity. Many identical items stop being baggage and are treated as goods for resale, under a different regime.
Ask as well whether purchases in a duty-free shop are counted separately, as at the Puerto Iguazú Duty Free Shop.
If you go over
Exceeding the allowance is not forbidden. You declare the goods and pay the tax due on the excess. Trouble comes from not declaring: the goods can be held and a fine may follow. Keep every receipt, in your name and with the product described. Receipts prove what you paid and you will need them for the warranty.
Goods with their own controls
Value aside, some products are checked under separate rules. Fresh food, plants, seeds and animal products belong to the agricultural health authority. Medicines, weapons and replicas, and drones may have specific requirements. Cash above a certain amount has to be declared, and each country sets that amount.
Travelling with your shopping
- The allowance is personal. Ask whether a family may combine theirs.
- If you leave the country with an expensive laptop or camera, find out whether it is worth declaring it on the way out to avoid questions on the way back.
- On a private transfer customs may inspect the vehicle, and each passenger answers for their own goods. The driver does not declare other people’s purchases.
- If you expect to return with large boxes, say so when you book so that we choose a vehicle with enough boot space, such as a minivan.
What is worth buying is covered in our guide to Ciudad del Este.