I am in USA. I want ship a rc tank to Canada to a friend. he told me that if I SAY it is a gift, there will be no tax to him. but I want to send it insured. will the insurance value be considered the base for tax when it arrive in Canada?
what is the best way to send it to avoid tax and duty? it is a Gift. I do not want he spend money on it.
thanks,
If you claim its a gift, it may be held by Customs for inspection for a month or two.
Whenever I order anything from the US, it arrives a month later, and when tracking packages, it claims its being held by customs.
[xx(]
so what do you do? still claim as gift, should I buy insurance?
does it mean it will arrive fast if I do not claim as gift?
thanks,
Just pay the insurance. It will run you a few dollars and the package will get there quicker.
Just specify that its a hobby kit and hopefully the custom boys wont bother with it.
Edit: dont claim it as a gift, because it makes the package “personal” which they will hold and inspect.
[:)]
Talk about long waiting periods. I bought a metal barrel from an Ebay seller in Toronto and it took almost 4 weeks to get to Indy from the day he shipped the package. No idea as to why it took that long. Maybe some of the customs inspectors on both sides are model builders and like to drool over the kits and stuff… [:D]
Don’t claim it as a gift, pay the insurance, and when shipping specify in detail what’s inside. It’ll help the process along. Even still, it all depends on what kind of delivery options you chose. GL.
please tell me what is the best delivery option?
Tom - no matter how you mark the package, whether it be a gift or an item sold, Canada Customs will probably levy fees and taxes. From my experiences anything over $25 will be subject to the possibility of these costs. Devalueing the item is also not suggested as Canada Customs may apply their own best guess to the item and still will apply the fees.
The best method of transport that I have used is simply USPS. Air or ground doesn’t matter much as it usually is only an end difference of about 2 days. Couriers such as UPS are not advised as they will apply a brokers fee to the item and before you know it the item will end up costing the person twice as much as the original price.
Just some of the pains of shipping to Canada.
As a Canadian here’s the facts:
Model stuff & RC stuff doesn’t have duties applied. Thats for wierd stuff like booze & jewelry.
Anything valued up to $20 Canadian is not taxable, if classed as merchandise. Anything up to $60 Canadian is not taxable as gift, but be ready to back it up with special wrapping inside (birthday, X-mas, whatever) and perhaps a card.
Remember Customs understands the value you write in that " value" box as the value from the originating country… You write $20, they assume $20 US, ~not~ Canadian.
Over these values, the Goods & Services Tax (GST) applies (7%) and any relevant Provincial Sales Taxes (PST - varies) as well as a Customs assessment fee of $5, which is NOT refundable unless you can prove it was incorrectly assessed, and was not applicable for ANY taxes.
Needless to say, you never can tell what is going to be inspected. I’ve had big boxes come through uninspected, despite having a value listed over $60 Cdn. The flipside is having Customs misread a small box, and charge me taxes on $50 US when the value was clearly $20 (I got my $ back though)
It all depends: does your friend want to “go cheap” and risk the parts being lost or damaged, or is he willing to pay the taxes and have his item fully insured? There are ways to get both… but I’m not going to elaborate online.
HOw about “go cheap”? look like the ice is melting.
Go Cheap, is it?
Well, then you have two options:
-
say its worth $15 USD, call it ‘used model parts’ & ‘merchandise’, and hope if Customs inspects it that no-one knows the real value.
-
say its worth $45 USD, call it ‘used model parts’ and ‘gift’, ( and don’t orget the 0.99 cent card and wrapping) and hope if Customs inspects it that no-one knows the real value.
thanks for the effort, and the war is over.
why $15 or $45? you just gave an example?
or for a reason?
Why those values? Do the math Tom:
$15 US is just shy of $20 Cdn, $45 US is just shy of $60 Cdn.
Don’t try to be precise, the $ exchange rate when it reaches the border won’t match whatever ya look up online, at a bank or currency exchange when you post it.
Those were the two ~legitimate~ examples. The not-so-legit ways won’t be posted.
it would be nice if you can send me email about those not-so-legit ways. you know my email. that will sealed the end of the war.[party]
Tomzag;
As a former Canada Customs Inspector, here’s my [2c]
- Declare the item as a MODEL KIT (These a Duty exempt but not tax exempt)
- Declare the value as $40.00 U.S. (It should squeak by the tax threshold)
- Package it well and securely and mark the address/return address clearly
- Mark which way is up on the box and mark all sides “FRAGILE”
- Always Insure the item and obtain a tracking number
- Use the United States Postal Service Surface is cheap and fairly fast
- Do not include the cost of Postage, Insurance, Packaging in the declared value
- Mark the Declaration sheet/sticker as a Gift not Merchandise.
Regarding # 7 & #8 the amount you put in as the declared value and the “type” (gift/merchandise) is usually taken at face value by Canada Customs. If the Customs Inspector knows that the item(s) are Duty exempt (Model Kit) he/she is going to calculate the amount of tax that would be generated on the item. For a $40.00 item it is just not cost effective to process for tax as it would result in about $2.00 worth of tax and a $5.00 “handling” fee being applied so it should pass through without a hitch. Canada Customs is more interested in finding the illegal items coming through the mail, Drugs, Weapons, Pornography, Alcohol, Tobacco etc. So send your package and it will work out fine.
Anything else required let me know.
Cheers;
Gregory
Gregory:
Cost effectiveness has nothing to do with it lately. Its hit or miss if they inspect, large or small. I say this as within the last year I’ve had large ones with model kits ~clearly~ tagged over $300 US come through with NO inspection, and as I noted above, have a small $20 US one incorrectly assessed at $50 US and ended getting the Tax on $30 back ( the refund was 8 Cdn & change) Both were clearly labelled as ‘model kits’.
Most of the RC tankers know my Canadian Customs ‘horror’ story: A package valued at $60 Cdn & ‘Gift’ was assessed at $1,450.00 Cdn (no joke - taxes came to $330 Cdn) The box was half-crushed when I refused it at the PO, and due to a PO staff mistake, they refused it to Sender, not back to Customs for re-assessment. It went back to him, and because Customs had failed to repack it properly (I had sender’s word it’d been filled with peanuts) 50% of the contents were lost. I called Customs, they claimed they do not re-seal inspected packages, Canada Post does, which is a bold-face LIE. Anyone wishing to see the box as it arrived back at the sender’s, I still have it…
Labelling it ‘Fragile’ on a Canadian ‘Expedited Service’ forms generally voids any chances of getting any insured value back (read the back of the form sometime) This information from Canada Post staff directly, but thats a package originating in Canada.
Whatever you do, you’re going to be taking a risk of ~something~… so be prepared for the results of that risk.
Just the bare and honest truth.