Topic: Question about customs and taxes for BTC. - page 2. (Read 2220 times)

I once had a customs officer ask me if I bought a watch I was wearing on a cruise I was disembarking.  Bitcoin and watches are both property.  I wouldn't be concerned bringing a laptop, but I would be cautious about having bitcoin on it.  I don't think they're going to go looking for a wallet, so you could have the app with little-to-no coin and a separate wallet stored elsewhere to restore if needed, but you could also just declare it instead of trying to sneak around.  The real question you need to ask in order to make a good decision for yourself is what happens when you go into any country and declare what you are legally supposed to declare in terms of money/value.  I don't know the answer to that, and I don't think this forum is a good place to get it.  If I were going to be travelling to the US, and I thought I might have more than $10,000 in property on me, I would e-mail US customs and ask them what would happen when I declared it (is it going to be taxed? am I going to be denied entry? is it going to be anything other than a record of the event?).  If the answer was acceptable, then I would check with my home country's customs regarding my return trip because I would want my declarations to match both ways (to the extent that it wasn't legally spent/traded) in case it was ever questioned (you went to the US with $20,000 and came back with less than $10,000; why?).  Most likely, only new property needs declared on the return so it can be taxed, but again, I'm really not sure because I've never travelled brought back more than is allowed duty-free.

tldr: When it comes to law, this forum is full of idiots.  If you're travelling to the US and back (or to any other country and back for that matter), talk to the relevant customs departments about your concerns (specific property declaration requirements, effects of making declarations, etc) before you leave your homeland.

I agree, encryption is a red flag for law enforcement always. I don't share the view, but it can give you a lot of trouble. Having said that, Truecrypt is great.

However, I don't see the need to uninstall bitcoin software. Bitcoin is widely accepted and it is no crime to have them. My concern would be security, but apart from that I see no reason. In fact, with the recent IRS ruling that bitcoin is property and not currency, I understand there is no risk of being accused of introducing more money that the declared amount.

If they attempt to search your laptop and find that the whole drive is encrypted... they will ruin your trip to America, especially if you refuse to provide the password.

I think that it would be smarter to leave your bitcoins at home and uninstall all bitcoin software from your computer.

Oh.
I have one more question also.
What is the best way to encrypt laptop hard drive?
True-Crypt, bitlocker?

They CAN search into your laptop but I've never seen them do it. I've traveled to the US around 30 times in the last 3-4 years, always with a laptop, and I have never been searched. Nor I have heard of it happening outside of the news. Most laptop searches are related with child pornography, not with Bitcoin.

Anyway, if you are going to be travelling with your laptop maybe it would be a good idea to not carry all your BTC always with you. I assume you have the wallet encrypted and backed up, but still I don't see the need

I don't think anyone really knows so why don't you do it and get back to us with the results?

Just kidding but really, I don't think anyone has dealt with this one yet.

My $.02.

Hi everyone.
Tell me pls. if I'll plane to visit US. Can I take my laptop with me?
I mean is custom service or police looking at content of laptops from people not-residents of US?
I'm talking about arrival to airport. For example NY.

Are they in charger to ask me - show them what I've got on my laptop? And further question, if they found bitcoin wallet on my laptop, what whey can ask to do, or what they will do?
Do I need to declare that I have BTC wallet on my laptop?

Thank you very much for answer.

P.s.
I'm planing to visit NY and just wondering is it worth to take my laptop with me or not ( in such occasion)?