Does Azerbaijan charge customs on personal perfume collection

Question

I am currently living in Malaysia and will move to Azerbaijan, but I have a perfume collection of over 60 perfumes and raw materials as I am a collector and I do this as a hobby, will Azerbaijan customs stop me at the airport and charge me customs?

Answer 1

From information for travellers page of the Azerbaijani custom, we can find "Fiziki şəxslər üçün ümumi məlumat" (general information for individuals) pdf. Section 1.2 says, (my translation)

1.2. The usage purpose of goods crossing the customs border by individuals shall be determined by the customs authorities on the basis of their properties, quantity, as well as the regularity of crossing the border, taking into account all cases of the individual's visit. An individual shall have the right to move 2 (two) identical and (or) same-kind goods across the customs border without paying customs duties within the limits established by sub-item 2.2 for the purposes of personal use and consumption by himself and his family members. If the quantity of identical and (or) homogeneous goods crossing the customs border by an individual exceeds 2, the quantity of goods crossing the customs border without payment of customs duties shall be determined by the customs authorities on the basis of the features specified in this paragraph. Customs payments shall be made for the same and (or) homogeneous goods sold in excess of the specified amount, without taking into account the limits provided for in sub-items 2.2 and 2.4.

2.2. Limit of 800$ for one person for each calendar month when carrying stuff himself.

2.4. Limit of 300$ for one person for each calendar month when delivering via post.

So, in your case you have 60 perfumes. If custom officials determine that

• a) your have no more than 2 identical/same-kind items, and

• b) you can present a cheque showing that their total value is less than 800$

then you won't pay any custom taxes. But I wouldn't rely on custom officials, aka the bandits, agree with both a and b. I mean why would they? Their literal job is to steal your stuff and moni. You need to convince them somehow that non of your perfumes are for commercial use but I don't know how, given that they have identical/same-kind clause.

So, all the perfumes that they deem to be for commercial use, they will tax. Oh, and they will tax a lot. Here our thieving custom "service" has a page in english (wow!) that shows how much. Under "Essential oils and resinoids; perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations" → "Perfumes and toilet waters" → "perfumes", you can see 15% import tax + 18% vat.

I'm rooting for you so that you don't pay any custom taxes to our government (or any government in general). So, good luck.

Answer 2

It is mostly not based on the number of bottles but the amount (often mentioned in centiliters rather than liters) which you can import without having to pay tax on it.

Waiting till you pass through immigration and customs and only then find out what you can bring and how much you need to pay on the extra is not right. The worst will be going through 'nothing to declare' and selected for further inspection, as it is likely that you will have to pay a fine as well as not being allowed to bring any into the country.
If you declare it at entering the country you may still not be allowed to bring it in, you will not be fined on top of it. But as you do want to keep your collection it is still not be the best way of handling. It is well possible that you 'just pay the taxes' and are allowed to bring the parfum and ingredients in, but that amount of tax may be a lot if you have a lot. An other problem might be that the officers on duty do not have the right knowledge and my delay you or your collection and you may have to return on an other day to handle the rest of it.

If you have more than the allowed free amount, best search for how to import them officially and how to pay the required taxes on that load. It might be that sending by a courier or package company is better than keeping it in your luggage while flying.

I do not have numbers for you but this was getting too long for 'just a comment'.

As @jcaron points out in a comment, if the right procedures are followed, by moving countries you have different rules and costs/taxes as visitors and returning from travel citizens.