A customs officer at the Kotoka International Airport, Comfort Omari, has revealed that items bought abroad or on arrival as gifts for family members who did not travel with you attract customs duty, regardless of the relationship.
Speaking on GRA Connect on GRA TV, Omari, addressing a common misconception among passengers, said Ghana’s baggage concession law applies strictly to the traveller and not to family members waiting at home.
“The law gives concession only to the traveller and not the family members at home who didn’t travel with him or her,” she said.
Omari said many travellers are caught off guard by this, especially those who assume that anything bought for a spouse should also be exempt from duty.
“People think that if I’m a man and I’ve travelled and I’m buying something for my wife, it should be free. No, it’s a gift to your wife, so it is dutiable,” she said.
Citing Ghana’s Exemptions Act, 2022 (Act 1083), Section 17(1), the Senior Revenue Officer explained that baggage exemptions cover only items accompanying a passenger for personal use, and specifically exclude goods brought in for resale, barter or as gifts.
“As a passenger, the baggage you are carrying, your personal effects and other things, in addition to what this concession talks about, pertains only to you, not the items you have bought for family and friends. So if you buy anything for your family, your child, your wife, your mother, your aunties, they are all dutiable, and it’s a gift,” she said.
She added, “Since your daughter or your child didn’t travel with you, and you went out and bought one or two items for your child who is in the country, then it is a gift, and here we say gifts are dutiable.”
Asked how customs determines whether an item is a gift, Omari said this is typically established through the oral declaration process at the customs desk, where officers ask travellers about their trip and the contents of their luggage.
“What do you have in your bag? I have this, I have that. And what other things? Oh, I have phones and I have other items as gifts for my mother or my father. So from what you tell us, we know that,” she said.
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