We will soon be travelling to Japan. We will bring a camera, portable dvd player, cam coder and personal cd player with us. Is is prudent to "declare" these so we don't have to pay taxes when we return. If so how do we do this?

Thanks.

i do not tink that type of thing needs to be done anymore, but if you feel uncomfortable just stop by the customs office at your american departure city (needs to be an international airport) and they will fill out the form for you---oh i forgot this is 2004, they will give you the form to fill out....go early to the airport as this is probably not in the area of the departures....

Why don't you read what US customs say about this subject yourself?

http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/trave...ation/faqs.xml

While customs never even asked me to show them, I always bring a receipt with me just in case.

I have never had a problem, and I've never heard of any of my frequent-travelling family members having such inspection.

Customs officers are not idiots. They know what's new, valuable, and not available in the US. If your gear is all standard stuff you can buy at Best Buy, and all look somewhat "used", they won't bother you. However, for example, if you're taking a new grey-market Canon 300D with you, then I'd definitely take a receipt, as that Canon isn't officially imported to the US (we call it the Digital Rebel), has been on the market for a few months, and it's $999 - definitely above your tax-free allowance. Therefore, U.S. Customs will have a strong case that you just bought it in Japan. Same with other new-model electronics, especially if they're Japanese-only model.

Electronics are simple for any customs in any country. Any bigger ticket electronic device has a country specific serial number. So all a customs officer has to do is to compare the serial number with the list in their database and they will know where the item was sold (not made, SOLD). No receipts needed. High end watches also fall under this category.

If you are taking some high-end custom jewelry then maybe you should consider registering it. I'm not talking about a $500 gold bracelet, I'm talking about a few thousand $ diamond bracelets.

That said, just like reported in the previous post, it doesn't happen that often.