“Could have, could have, bicycle chain,” Arnold Schwarzenegger may have thought to himself after customs at Munich Airport let him go after two and a half hours on Wednesday. Because if Schwarzenegger and his luggage had made the detour and immediately marched towards customs of his own free will, he would have “only” had to pay the 19 percent sales tax on the purchase value of his watch. And according to the Munich main customs office, it would have been finished after half an hour, at least without criminal tax proceedings and with a proper tax assessment. As it was, he had to pay several thousand euros, as the “Bild” newspaper writes, for a luxury Audemars Piguet watch that had not been paid duty.
The amount paid, the amount of which the main customs office does not want to make any statement about, is made up of a levy in the course of the criminal tax proceedings initiated against him and a security deposit that he has to pay as a non-EU citizen.
Arnold Schwarzenegger landed in Munich on Wednesday afternoon to travel on to Kitzbühel. His watch was to be auctioned there on Thursday for a good cause as part of the “Special Dinner for Climate Action” of his organization “The Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative”. Schwarzenegger was “held” by customs for three hours, his initiative said on Thursday upon request.
“Everyone is equal here”
The main customs office sees “detaining” as “normal procedure”. The customs officials checked Schwarzenegger during “random” checks. It didn't matter that he was a celebrity, says Thomas Meister, spokesman for the main customs office. “Everyone is the same here, regardless of whether their name is Schwarzenegger, Müller or Meier.”
The actor and politician was led into the separate customs area so that his luggage could be examined. The officers found a watch that they identified as a “luxury watch” that required customs clearance. Only goods that remain in the EU and do not exceed a value of 430 euros are exempt from tax and sales tax. Arnold Schwarzenegger first went to the civil servants' office, where criminal tax proceedings were initiated. To do this, forms must be filled out and data collected.
“Answered customs officers’ questions conscientiously”
What was the mood in the customs office? The spokesman does not provide any information on this; Schwarzenegger's initiative is more informative. He “answered the customs officials’ questions honestly and conscientiously.” Schwarzenegger “cooperated,” even though it was an “incompetent investigation,” “a total comedy full of errors, which would have made a very funny police film.”
The main customs office rejects errors. Collecting a lot of data takes a certain amount of time. There was just a bit of a problem at the beginning when it came to paying the amount. Initially the card reader did not work properly and a replacement device was purchased. “That can happen.” Then Schwarzenegger could at least pay the import tax by card. However, he was unable to pay the remaining amount, i.e. the security deposit, with a card because “above a certain amount” the security precautions of the card machine do not allow card payment.
So Schwarzenegger was sent with an airport employee into the public area of the airport “to get cash.” But that didn't work. The spokesman does not want to comment on the reasons. Just this much: “Another solution was then found to obtain the outstanding cash amount.”
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