Switzerland is outside the EU customs union, and since January 2025 the value limit is CHF 150 a day - low enough that a single shopping trip crosses it.
- The tax-free limit on goods is CHF 150 per person per day, halved from CHF 300 on 1 January 2025 to blunt cross-border shopping. That is not a lot: one jacket bought in Milan and the whole purchase becomes declarable at the border.
- Going over means VAT of 8.1 per cent on the whole value, not on the excess. CHF 160 of shopping is CHF 12.96, not 81 centimes. Declare and pay in the QuickZoll app before you cross; the reduced 2.6 per cent rate on food is only available at a staffed crossing or by written declaration.
- Alcohol is 5 litres up to 18 % plus 1 litre above it, and tobacco is 250 cigarettes or 250 g. Both apply from age 17.
- Meat and dairy have their own quota, because Swiss agriculture is protected - the limit is measured in kilograms per person and the border shops on the German and French side exist entirely because of it.
- There is no cash declaration form, but customs may ask what you are carrying if it reaches CHF 10,000, and refusing to answer is the offence.
- Every land border is a customs border. The crossings look open and mostly are, but the checks at Basel, Chiasso and Geneva are real and random.
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