Canadians Bringing things back from the US HELP

DavesDaewoo · Post by **DavesDaewoo** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 5:17 am

Hey guys, Ive found some rims from a friend in the US ( im from canada obviously) wondering what issues ill have to drive down on steelys and bring my rims back? would i need to declare a value if they are given to me? perhaps i can put the rims on and say i bought the steelys becuz of the low #s of woos up here i wanted the steelys from a friends parts car for free ? would they justify that for driving almost 4 hours? wondering what issues / taxes / duties and fees i may have to pay for brining these back if its really worthwhile not

thanks for ANY help anyone can give me

Dave

kinkyllama · Post by **kinkyllama** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 1:47 pm

I went to Canada for my work (lumber yard) a few years back and had two bring back about 3 different samples of wood about one square foot each and we had to fill out all these fourms which took about 45 mins and had to pay around $40 US

daewooluvr · Post by **daewooluvr** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 3:01 pm

Just put the new rims on, put the steelies in the trunk, and say they're spare tires

DavesDaewoo · Post by **DavesDaewoo** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 5:23 pm

lol thats another option i was thinkin, is just sayin i brough it to a car show but didnt want to drive on the rims from the weather lol, i dunno yet what i cando will the believe 4 spare tires lol, not to mention they may no fit in my hatchback trunk

dave

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 am

As I have some experience with this subject I just want to say that they aren't stupid.... they will know the real story the second you drive up to the window..... These guys spend all day every day talking to people.... they know when you are trying to bullshit them.

If you are trying to lie to them they will get pissed and rip your car apart from one end to the other..... trust me.... I know a guy who spent 10 hours at customs because he was stupid enough to think he could get through the border without declaring a laptop he had hidden in his bag in the trunk of the car.

They even cut up his seats looking for illegal stuff..... when you bring something accross without declaring it you are a smuggler and they can charge you with a federal offence if they feel like it.

If you are honest and be up front about it they will be really nice to you.

Be up front and pay the GST...... and yes..... that's all you need to pay if the rims were manufactured in the USA.

The free trade agreement got rid of all duties between Canada and USA.

You need to show them your reciept and have absolute proof that they are from the USA.

If they were from Japan and brought into the USA you will have to pay duty plus GST. ( typically something like 6% to 10% depending on country of origin....... Korea is 6%.... so this is the duty you pay on Daewoo parts brought accross the US/Canada border ... plus 7% GST )

When you get to the border tell them straight up that you have purchased the rims from a friend and they will tell you to pull around the side and go into the office.

You go inside and wait in line.... then they will ask for your reciept and some identification.

Then they will tell you how much you owe and send you to the cashiers desk.

You pay the GST and away you go... that's it.... nothing scary.... nothing expensive..... simple and easy.

If you lie and try to devalue the rims.... such as tell them you paid $50 they will look at you like an idiot and tell you the value will be based upon market value..... so they might say you need to pay GST on $1000

My opinion is to get your friend to write up a proper bill of sale for $385 USD and pay the GST on that amount.

Trust me when I say paying $70 in GST is way better than spending the whole day at the customs office.

( $384 X 1.30 = $500 CDN -----> GST =$70 )

You can allways phone up Canada customs and ask someone there..... they will tell you exactly how much you will have to pay.

DavesDaewoo · Post by **DavesDaewoo** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 1:49 am

I truely appreciate your insight on this, So basically be completely honest lol I was hoping to say i bought the steelys but Ive been thinking and your probably right, it is better to be completly honest with the

thanks alot

Dave

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 1:02 am

I'd just hate to see you go down there.... try to sneak past customs and have them come down hard on you.....especially when it's just to get out of paying $50

I can imagine they might even make the value $1500 and force you to pay the GST on that amount....they would give you the option to pay the taxes on this amount or remove your rims and leave them in the USA.

As well they have the right to fine you if you try to sneak on past.... I can't remember what the deal is but it's some percentage of the difference in price. (don't quote me on this)

So theoreticly they could force you to pay GST and on top of that pay a fine for a percentage of their opinion on the value of the item.

For example... if you said you paid $100 and they think you are full of crap and tell you the value is $1000.... they could fine you on the difference of $900

I wouldn't be surprized if your name would go into some type of database for future reference.... in their eyes you have tried to commit "tax fraud" so they might pull you over and do anal cavity searches every time you cross over the border

kinkyllama · Post by **kinkyllama** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 1:14 am

Erfinder wrote: I wouldn't be surprized if your name would go into some type of database for future reference.... in their eyes you have tried to commit "tax fraud" so they might pull you over and do anal cavity searches every time you cross over the border

ahahahahaha, oh thats pricless

asam · Post by **asam** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 2:43 am

So why don't you have to do that when you buy stuff in Canada and bring it back to the US. I buy all kinds of stuff up there and come back and I don't have to claim anything. They never ask. They just ask to see ID (sometimes) and where I live. Thats it.

-Alex

TheGreatAndPowerfulOz · Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:54 am

I have been to Canada twice; neither time did they ask me about anything I had in the car, nor did they ask to look in the car. The first time they asked for my driver's license and vehicle registration. The other time, it was raining, so they just waved me through. Although, that was almost 10 years aog.

LOL

Cliff

kinkyllama · Post by **kinkyllama** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:04 am

The two times i went to Canada they asked us if we brought anything back several times. . . but then again we did tell them we went there for business so thats probably why

Brian5475E · Post by **Brian5475E** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 5:59 pm

U.S. Customs agents are ASSHOLES!!, I went up to Detroit in June to deliver a package in my company truck. Well after the delivery I wanted to go over the bridge to Canada, because I have never been out of the country. So I go over and eat and look around for about an hour and a half. Well when comming back the Customs agent asked me my business in canada, I told him I just went to eat and check it ouitI have never been there. He asked if I had anything in the van. I told him no because I dropped off in detroit and decieded to check out canada on the way back. That fuck didn't believe me. I told him he could look in the van, there was nothing in their. So I have to go to the inspection station. Next thing they were tearing the van apart, I was in a room being questioned. The funny thing is the office was full of arab and orientals. I told them that this was Bullshit, that I'm an american citizen, was born and raised here. That I shouldn't be treated like some forenger from another country. I was comming back into my own country. Finally they let me go. I told them I would be calling my state rep. What a bunch of bastards. If it is like that everytime you try to get back in the US. then I'm never leaving again!

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 6:54 pm

If you guys think that is bad, don't ever go to Vienna. I had a connecting flight through Vienna to Sarajevo, Bosnia when I went on vacation in 1998. All we were supposed to do was land and get on another flight within the hour and be out of there. But the Vienna customs Nazis were not that lenient. They basically strip-searched me and cut off the soles of my shoes to check if I was carrying drugs or something...The bad part, I was only 13 years old!!! Then when we were coming back, we were carrying some "tokens" of our trip in the shape of artillery round shell casings (yes, we Balkan folk are very war-like) that were polished and engraved. The U.S. customs agent almost shit a brick. I was like "Uh....it's a...vase?", but he...failed to buy it.

Moral of this story, never go to Vienna and don't attempt to bring war trinkets back from Bosnia.

Damir.l

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:09 am

You guys are talking about US customs..... but we are talking about Canadian Customs (as we are both Canadian Residents).

It used to be very common for people to go to the USA and pickup stuff to bring to Canada..... but then the exchange rate got crazy and stuff in Canada was cheaper.

Now that Bush is back in office the US/Canadian exchange rate is the best it's been in a long long time.

Not too long ago the exchange was $1.58 CDN = $1 USD

As of today its $1.19 CDN = $1 USD

Now things are getting cheap again.... so Canadians will start buying US stuff again.

At one point we had a major problem with people buying both new and used cars and driving them over the US border and selling them.

For example.... an average difference between the US price and CAN price for most import cars was about 1.38 at the time.

So if you bought an import in Canada you could haul it over to the USA and sell it for less than the USA dealerships cost for the car. ( as such many USA dealers simply imported cars from Canada to sell instead of purchasing from the manufacturer)

Eventually the manufacturers put a stop to this by threatening to pull the distributor rights from any USA or Canadian dealership that took part in cross border trading.

For example.... say you have a car that was worth $45,000 Canadian it would sell for roughly $32,600 in the USA.

But if you took that $45K CDN car down to the USA and sold it for $30K USD you would get $47,400 CDN back ( $30,000 X 1.58 )

So that's a profit of $2400 and you just undercut the US dealer by $2600!!!!

On something like a Subaru WRX STi you could easily get the dealers full retail price and make about $5000 cash

I knew a guy that did this for a living... he typically made about $300,000 a year...... his primary vehicle of choice was the GMC Yukon GT because it sold for the same price in $USD as it did in $CDN

So he would buy one here for $15,000 CDN... haul it accross the border, change out the spedometer to miles instead of kilometers and sell it to a dealer for $15,000 USD

His profit was about $8500 per truck.... he bought a car hauler truck and drove back and fourth between Alberta and California

Now that the exchange is lower it's cheaper to buy a car in the USA and bring it back to Canada.