Who said that our governments only want our best - our money!? Well, the German Ministry of Finance might not be anything different but now he spent some money and created an app called "Customs and Travel" which explains Germans what's allowed to bring back from holidays and what's not allowed - or only at costs of extra taxes. Developed together with the German Customs, the app - which is available for Android and iOS - answers such questions like "Can I take 200 duty-free cigarettes, or maybe even 800 pieces? And what's about the Clock which is on holiday so much cheaper than at home? Or is it possible to take an animal back to Germany?". Questions over questions "Customs and Travel answers".

"The new app will help travelers to quickly and easily find out which goods are allowed to bring back to Germany, and from which they should rather keep their fingers away. A built-in quantity calculator also shows what can be brought back to Germany free of duty", "said the Federal Ministry of Finance Secretary Werner Gatzer, at the presentation today Munich.

And since the Ministry of Finance doesn't wants you to spend more money abroad than at home, the app is even not requiring an Internet connection, while the official wording is: "To avoid roaming charges, the app needs no Internet connection".

The official Bundesministerium der Finanzen "Zoll und Reise" app is now available free of charge, because it was already paid with your tax, from the Google Play Android Market and Apple iTunes. Oh, and since it's a German governmental-app, it's only available in German because we don't want to tell foreign visitors of Germany in advance what is allowed or not but want them "surprise" at customs! ;-) Anyway, kidding aside, quite a handy app, especially now where the holiday travel season has started.

Cheers ~ Arne