Question about duties…

Hi all. I’m preparing to move to Ireland next month and have a question about bringing alcohol duty-free. I’ve read numerous times all of the posted information about alcohol limits, but have a question about an example they gave because it is not a good one.

It says one may bring 1 litre of alcohol that is over 22% abv, OR 2 litres of alcohol that is under than 22% abv. It also says one may mix on a fractional basis, for example, one may bring 0.5 litre of an alcohol over 22% abv, AND litre of alcohol that is under 22% abv. My question is about how these fractional differences are split.

Could I bring one 750 ml bottle of whiskey (over 22% abv) and two 750 ml bottles of liqueur that are less than 22% abv? That would be 3/4 of my whiskey limit, and 3/4 of my under-22% liqueur limit. OR is it that I could only bring 250 ml of liqueur (1/4 of the under-22% limit) if I brought the 750 ml bottle of whiskey?

In other words, does the fraction rule mean one may divide the allowed limits by the same fraction (i.e. bringing 3/4 of my limit for both) OR does the rule mean my fractions must add to 1 (bringing only 3/4 of the one kind and 1/4 of the other kind). Perhaps is this obvious to some, but I can’t find any information, and one can’t tell by their example because they used 1/2, and in that case, it is the same. I hope that makes sense.

TL;DR, could I bring one bottle of 750 ml whiskey that is 50% abv AND two 750 ml bottles of liqueur that are each 20% abv? Thanks,

Hello Patrick,

Thanks for taking the time to ask your question here, we will try to help with the explanation!

The best people to ask would be the Revenue Office as they are the ones that administer the rules. They can be contacted through email using their contacts page.

The fractional split in allowances that you mention is basically a 50% of each of the individual totals. So, instead of 1 litre of spirits or 2 litres of non-spirit for example, it is 50% of spirit allowance and 50% of the non-spirit allowance.

Therefore, in your last example, it would be 500ml of whiskey and 1000ml of non-spirit liqueur.

I hope this helps and that you settle in with us on the island of Ireland.

Martin

Hi Martin, thank you for reply directing me to revenue. From there I was able to find the email that deals with import policy queries, and received this clear response this morning:

Hi Patrick,

The fractional/percentage basis must add up to 1 so therefore: 200ml of whiskey and 1.6litres of liqueur
i.e. 1/5 of  1 litre for the whiskey and 4/5 of 2 litres for the liqueurOr700ml whiskey and 600ml liqueur
i.e. 70% of 1 litre and 30% of 2 litres

The example you have given below is incorrect, if you have 250ml of liqueur you can bring  875ml whiskey i.e. 1/8 – liqueur and 7/8 – whiskey. I hope this has made it a little bit clearer for you.

Regards,
Victoria F.

Thanks again.

Hi Patrick,

It's great to hear that you got sorted with the correct measurements. 😊 

Thank you also for sharing them with us as they may come in handy in the future!

Good luck with the move. ☘️ 

Best,
Aimee