How to Fill Out and Submit Bahamas Customs Form C17

Every traveler entering The Bahamas must complete Customs Form C17, the country’s Accompanied Baggage Declaration. The fastest way to submit the Bahamas Customs Form C17 is through the free Exempt app or the web portal at exempt.gov.bs, where you can itemize your goods and generate a QR code before you land. Paper copies are still handed out on inbound flights and at major ports of entry, but the electronic route feeds directly into the customs system and moves faster at the counter.¹

Who Needs to File a C17

Returning Bahamian residents must submit a C17 through the Exempt app whether they have anything dutiable or not.² Visitors carrying items beyond their personal effects also have to complete one. The Exempt landing page states that “everyone traveling to The Bahamas” needs the form, so if you are unsure whether your situation qualifies, file it.³

Filing Through the Exempt App

Download Exempt from the Apple App Store or Google Play, or open exempt.gov.bs in a browser. Sign-up asks for a username, your country of citizenship, your country of residence, an email address, and a password.³ Before you can submit a form, complete your profile by scanning the information page of your passport; the app reads the machine-readable zone and fills in your personal details.

Once the profile is set, you can start a C17 declaration at any point in your trip — from your hotel, while shopping, or at the gate. The Customs website hosts separate walkthrough videos for residents and visitors on its Exempt tutorials page.¹ When you finish, the app produces a QR code. That code is what you present to the officer on arrival.

What the Form Asks For

The C17 collects three groups of information.

Travel and Personal Details

You enter your passport number, flight number or vessel name, date of arrival, and the number of bags you are carrying. If you scanned your passport during setup, most personal fields fill in automatically. Check that your arrival details match your itinerary, because officers compare the form against airline manifests.

The Goods You’re Bringing In

List every item you acquired abroad that is coming into The Bahamas. Each line needs a brief description, the quantity, and the purchase price in Bahamian or U.S. dollars (the two trade at par). Used personal clothing and effects that you took out of The Bahamas on the trip are exempt from duty and don’t need to be listed as new acquisitions.⁴ New purchases, gifts, and commercial samples all go on the list.

Keep your original receipts and invoices. Officers use them to verify the values you declared. Goods intended for sale, business use, or charitable distribution are treated as commercial regardless of quantity and carry separate documentation requirements.⁵

Currency and Restricted-Item Disclosures

If you are carrying cash or negotiable instruments worth B$10,000 or more, you must declare the amount on the C17. This requirement comes from the Travellers Currency Declaration Act, which names Form C17 as the vehicle for arriving passengers.⁶ Failing to declare can lead to seizure of the funds and criminal prosecution.⁷

Additional checkboxes cover plants, animals, firearms, and other regulated items. Mark them honestly. An unmarked box for an item an officer finds in your bag is treated far more seriously than a properly declared restricted item.

Duty-Free Allowances

Your allowance depends on your status.

Returning residents get a $500 exemption on dutiable goods, available twice per calendar year. It is not cumulative and not transferable, and it does not cover goods for sale or business use or items shipped separately as cargo.²
Visitors get a $100 exemption per trip on dutiable articles.⁸

On top of those dollar exemptions, every adult traveler — resident or visitor — can bring in up to 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, or one pound of tobacco, plus one quart of spirits and one quart of wine, without duty.⁸ Anything above these limits is dutiable. Families cannot pool exemptions; each person’s allowance is their own.²

Long-Term Returnees

Residents who have been living abroad for at least 24 consecutive months and are returning permanently for retirement, employment, or after finishing post-secondary education can apply for a larger exemption: up to $10,000 on household and personal effects and $30,000 on one vehicle. It requires prior approval from the Ministry of Finance and is available only once every five years.²

How Duty, VAT, and Fees Are Calculated

Duty rates in The Bahamas vary widely. Many electronics and personal-care products come in duty-free, while other goods run from 5% to 65%. A few common anchors from the official rate schedule:⁹

Computers, tablets, cameras, watches, and perfume: duty-free
Cell phones: 10%
Clothing and shoes: 20%
Household furniture: 25%
Televisions, microwaves, blenders, toasters: 35%
Mattresses: 60%
Vehicles: 65%

Duty is calculated only on the value above your exemption. A returning resident declaring a $600 television applies the $500 exemption and pays 35% on the remaining $100, which is $35 in duty.⁹

Two more charges follow. An environmental levy is assessed per item, from a few dollars up to several hundred depending on the product (a television carries a $5 levy). Then a 10% VAT is applied to the combined total of value, duty, environmental levy, and any other charges. For that same $600 TV, the total bill lands at $54: $35 in duty, $5 for the levy, and $14 in VAT.⁹

Restricted and Prohibited Items

Some goods require special permits, and some are banned outright. Getting this wrong can mean seizure, heavy fines, or criminal charges.

Firearms and Ammunition

Firearms, ammunition, and weapons are not permitted in The Bahamas without a Bahamian gun license. Possession without one carries up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. Declaring a weapon with your airline does not authorize you to bring it into the country.¹⁰

Boaters have a narrow exception: if you arrive by vessel, you may declare shotguns and handguns at the first port of entry, providing the manufacturer’s name, serial number, and exact ammunition count. The weapons must stay locked on the boat for the duration of your stay and cannot be removed.¹⁰

Drones

All drones must be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas before use. For drones over 249 grams, you also need a copy of your home country’s drone registration certificate. Apply online at caabahamas.com with your passport photo page, travel dates, the island where you plan to fly, and your drone’s make, model, weight, and serial number. Standard processing takes five business days and costs $30; expedited processing is $50 for two business days.¹¹ Authorization runs from arrival through departure. Declare the drone on your C17 as well, since customs may have separate requirements at the port.

Prohibited Imports

These are banned from entry entirely: food unfit for human consumption; any article bearing an imitation of currency or banknotes in use anywhere in the world; indecent or obscene printed matter and photographs; sodium fluoroacetate (compound 1080) and LSD or related compounds; underwater firearms other than a Hawaiian sling; and diseased cattle, sheep, or other animals, along with their hides and horns.¹²

At the Customs Counter

If you filed through Exempt, your declaration is already in the system when you land. Enter the Exempt lane at the customs hall and scan your QR code at the inspection counter. The officer reviews the electronic submission and processes your form.³ If you filled out a paper C17, hand the signed form directly to the officer.

Officers may physically search your luggage to verify that your bags match what you declared. They compare receipts against the actual items, so keep those where you can reach them, not buried at the bottom of a suitcase. A discrepancy — an undeclared purchase or a value that doesn’t match the receipt — leads to secondary questioning and a closer inspection.

If you owe duty, you can pay at the cashier counters by cash, debit card, credit card, or manager’s cheque.¹³ Once the form is processed and any duty is paid, you are cleared to exit.

Penalties for Inaccurate Declarations

Consequences scale with the offense. Simple errors or omissions — a misclassified item, an accidental underpayment — result in a notice requiring you to pay the greater of $50 or 5% of the unpaid duty.¹⁴

Deliberate fraud is different. Intentionally evading duty by hiding goods, falsifying values, or conspiring with someone else to defraud customs revenue is a criminal offense under the Customs Management Act, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.¹⁴ Fines up to three times the value of the goods may also be imposed.¹⁵ Undeclared cash or negotiable instruments can be seized on the spot. A $35 duty payment on a television is not worth the risk. Declare everything, keep your receipts, and let the exemptions do the work.

When the C17 Isn’t the Right Form

Two situations call for a different form, not the C17. If you are bringing professional equipment, trade-show materials, or other goods in temporarily, you need a Temporary Bond and Form CB7 (Bond for Re-Exportation), together with an approved application from the Ministry of Finance on Form C41. A 10% import tax applies for every 90-day period, plus a processing fee of 1% of the item’s CIF value (minimum $10, maximum $500), and processing takes 2 to 24 hours once documentation is submitted.¹⁶

Baggage arriving separately from you — shipped boxes, freight, items sent ahead — uses Form C18, the Unaccompanied Baggage Declaration. The C18 requires a full description, quantity, condition (used or unused), and value for each item, with invoices and packing lists.¹⁷ The same duty-free exemptions apply, but the exemption cannot be split; it covers your C17 or your C18, not both.

1
The Bahamas Customs Department. Exempt – Tutorials and How-Tos
2
The Bahamas Customs Department. Arriving
3
Exempt. Exempt – Multipurpose Travel App
4
The Government of the Bahamas. Fourth Schedule – Exemption From Duty
5
The Bahamas Customs Department. General Customs Procedures
6
Waterway Guide. Travellers Currency Declaration Bill, 2014
7
U.S. Embassy in The Bahamas. Customs Concerns
8
The Bahamas Customs Department. General Traveler’s Questions
9
Bahamas Customs and Excise Department. Frequently Imported Items Processing Environmental Levy and VAT Fees
10
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Traveling with Firearms
11
Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas. Drone FAQs
12
Bahamas Customs and Excise Department. Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports
13
The Bahamas Customs Department. FAQs
14
The Government of the Bahamas. Customs Management Bill, 2011
15
The Government of the Bahamas. Customs Management Chapter 293
16
The Bahamas Customs Department. Temporary Imports
17
Bahamas Customs Department. Unaccompanied Baggage Declaration