Shopping in the USA / Declaring items

2smokewilleh

2smokewilleh

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Hey.. Was thinking about doing a little bit of cross-border shopping with the dollar being so strong. Never really done this before so I don't know exactly what's involved.

If i'm just going across for the day and while i'm over there, pick up a new fishing rod, some sunglasses, and the wife gets a pair of shoes and some clothes.. maybe 3-400$ total, what kind of taxes etc would I have to pay coming back across the border?

Not really interested in sneaking stuff across, so don't suggest it :)
 
It's all outlined Here. And though they say it is simple, figuring out the dollar amount in advance doesn't look too simple to me.

The quick tips are;

Buy stuff made in Mexico or USA while there (NAFTA)
Stay more than 48 hours ($400 of exempt goods)
 
One more quick tip, shop where the state taxes are lower. Pennslyvannia has lower taxes than New York. We went shopping in Grove City PA last weekend and brought back about $450.00 in goods, (half what we could have brought back). Paid $0.00 in duty because we were away for 48 hours. BTW two cases of Coors Light in cans is $30.00 at Duty Free. It is getting harder to find a reasonable rate on a hotel as it gets closer to Black Friday and Christmas.
 
Declare everything and have your receipts with you when crossing into Canada. Have your stuff neatly organized in the trunk in case the border guard asks you too open your trunk.

I always declare everything, even the gas that I purchased across the border. not worth being blacklisted in the system. More then one occasion I have been coming back with approx $200 worth of goods and the border guard asks for the receipts, opens my trunk and just lets me go without paying duty because I am honest about it.

Dont buy any booze, just not worth the duty and if you delcare tobacco or booze, you are paying duty on that 100%.
 
Being honest works. They let my family pass through with $300ish after only 6 hours there.
 
^^ Yup...Show em receipts and be honest about it....so far of the 3 or 4 trips i made for one day, not once did they ask me to go in and pay the tax on em...

last trip we only bought 80 bucks worth of stuff (and the new tires mounted on the rims....lol, we didnt mentioned those) he asked us to open the trunk, nothing there but the declared stuff, handed me the passports and said "have a nice day"

done.
 
Red_Liner740 said:
^^ Yup...Show em receipts and be honest about it....so far of the 3 or 4 trips i made for one day, not once did they ask me to go in and pay the tax on em...

last trip we only bought 80 bucks worth of stuff (and the new tires mounted on the rims....lol, we didnt mentioned those) he asked us to open the trunk, nothing there but the declared stuff, handed me the passports and said "have a nice day"

done.
Click to expand...

so you say be honest about it,
then you post an example of how you lied....
 
no, whatever is in your car that is clearly just been bought....declare that. New tires on a car that cannot be determined when they were installed, as in which side of the border..come on...
 
Red_Liner740 said:
^^ Yup...Show em receipts and be honest about it....so far of the 3 or 4 trips i made for one day, not once did they ask me to go in and pay the tax on em...

last trip we only bought 80 bucks worth of stuff (and the new tires mounted on the rims....lol, we didnt mentioned those) he asked us to open the trunk, nothing there but the declared stuff, handed me the passports and said "have a nice day"

done.
Click to expand...

How are you being honest about it? your trying to cheat the system as well



Red_Liner740 said:
no, whatever is in your car that is clearly just been bought....declare that. New tires on a car that cannot be determined when they were installed, as in which side of the border..come on...
Click to expand...

You clearly aren't being honest about it lol...your just trying to beat the tax man = dishonest
 
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The wife and I have been going over every weekend for the last year. We get $120-150 of groceries and gas up in a under 2 hour trip and have never been pulled in for duty, I've even started bring a 12pk of beer back(declared) and still get waved through. Normally we've only been charged duty when the wife brings back to many clothes . I order my tires for the bike from the US and drive over and get them. Even then, it's been 50/50 for having to pay taxes. My last set for the VFR I was over for less than 30 minutes and was waved through after declaring the $200 set of tires(BT021s).


Red_Liner740 said:
no, whatever is in your car that is clearly just been bought....declare that. New tires on a car that cannot be determined when they were installed, as in which side of the border..come on...
Click to expand...

They don't have to prove you bought them in the US, YOU have to prove you didn't.
 
Lie.

Every single time I've been honest and actually declared my purchases, I've been interrogated by customs. On my last trip to the US (Philly last spring), I lied through my teeth and they just nodded and let me through.
 
The taxman is out to screw me, so i wiggle and fight any way possible...

"He without sin cast the first stone"

None of you better be throwing anything my way, otherwise i'd be yelling "Hypocrisy"

Truth is, if they wanna give u a hard time at the border, they will. In that case you better prove that everything and anything in the car or bolted to the damn chassis wasnt bought there.....a suitcase full of receipts ought to do it.

If you have a brand new shopping bag that says Sears on it and you say you didnt buy anything, hes gonna give u crap just for insulting his intelligence. A couple crosses the border on a weekend for a few hours and comes back and says they didnt buy anything. What else did u do down there but shop?!

Last time i went down and picked up a frame i made a point of stopping and buying stuff just so i can present some receipts to the border guard...

frekeyguy said:
How are you being honest about it? your trying to cheat the system as well





You clearly aren't being honest about it lol...your just trying to beat the tax man = dishonest
Click to expand...
 
I've been over twice this week. I usually carry a small carry on suitcase in my car in case I need a change of clothes and want to freshen up. Sometimes I will buy clothes and put it in the suitcase and tell them that I was bring extra clothes just in case.

I brought my girlfriend over today and got her winter tires installed and drove back over. I only keep half my receipts because I only declare the big ticket items. As long as you say you spent less than $50 on a day trip, you should be fine.

We left at 6am this morning and got to the shops at 8am. We came back around 12pm and the line up to cross the board was at least 2-3kms long!!!! Good thing we left early.
 
woobie said:
I order my tires for the bike from the US and drive over and get them. Even then, it's been 50/50 for having to pay taxes. My last set for the VFR I was over for less than 30 minutes and was waved through after declaring the $200 set of tires(BT021s).
Click to expand...

The last time I checked on the Canada Customs web-site motorcycle tires were duty-free; however, auto / truck tires are not. They would still be subject to the 13%HST, thanks again Dalton.
 
Red_Liner740 said:
The taxman is out to screw me, so i wiggle and fight any way possible...

"He without sin cast the first stone"

None of you better be throwing anything my way, otherwise i'd be yelling "Hypocrisy"

Truth is, if they wanna give u a hard time at the border, they will. In that case you better prove that everything and anything in the car or bolted to the damn chassis wasnt bought there.....a suitcase full of receipts ought to do it.

If you have a brand new shopping bag that says Sears on it and you say you didnt buy anything, hes gonna give u crap just for insulting his intelligence. A couple crosses the border on a weekend for a few hours and comes back and says they didnt buy anything. What else did u do down there but shop?!

Last time i went down and picked up a frame i made a point of stopping and buying stuff just so i can present some receipts to the border guard...
Click to expand...

it has nothing to do with casting the first stone...
its called living with reality... i don't preach "BE HONEST" then lie and claim in honest....
 
Fingolfin said:
it has nothing to do with casting the first stone...
its called living with reality... i don't preach "BE HONEST" then lie and claim in honest....
Click to expand...

you also apparently live with selective reading. I clearly said, be honest about the bought goods that are can clearly be identified as bought in USA. that is all...i never said be honest and declare everything and then go on to say how to hide items from the border guards.
 
Malks said:
The last time I checked on the Canada Customs web-site motorcycle tires were duty-free; however, auto / truck tires are not. They would still be subject to the 13%HST, thanks again Dalton.
Click to expand...

Sorry for not being clear, It was just the PST and GST on the tires :(. Still worth the trip though. Crossing over with an empty tank and filling up at smokin Joe's doesn't hurt either, BTW 5 cents/gallon discount if you pay cash. Filling up the wife's truck or even my car will pay for the trip.
 
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Reasonable family purchases shouldn't be taxed at all. We supposedly live in a free market economy.


How can you be charged sales tax on something you didn't buy in the province or country!!!!!???? That's theft IMHO.
 
Hey guys, I'm getting bicycle parts shipped to the US side of niagara falls, and I was wondering if I could just go over with a throwaway bike on a bicycle rack, pick up the parts/assemble the other bike, then bring that one back? I could also tell them that I'm just riding around niagara falls. Would I get away with it? Or should I just declare it? It's gonna be a couple hundred in tax, so I'd obviously rather try to avoid it.

TIA
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