Liquor allowance from US

[bomabound]

I was looking at the personal exemption limits on the Government of Canada website and it shows “1.5 litres of wine or 1.14 litres of alcohol” for trips of 7 days or more, and it mentions that if any more than this is brought back that duties and taxes will be owed.  What I can’t seem to get a clear idea of is how much that would cost (specifically in BC).  Has anyone exceeded the limit and paid to bring back extra?  Sometimes it is nice to bring home a bottle of something from a port and the exemption limit is so low.

[Fouremco]

As long as you declare it, duties and taxes for small amounts above your exemption will often be waved. Current duty rates are here: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/edrates/excise-duty-rates.html#_Toc527013621

[bomabound]

3 hours ago, Fouremco said:

As long as you declare it, duties and taxes for small amounts above your exemption will often be waved. Current duty rates are here: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/edrates/excise-duty-rates.html#_Toc527013621

Thanks.  Yes, I saw that part about the duty, but didn’t see where to find the tax part.  I imagine each province is different and didn’t want any surprises.  I will dig a bit harder but was hoping somebody might have first hand experience.  That’s good to know they might waive one extra bottle.

[broberts]

7 hours ago, bomabound said:

Thanks.  Yes, I saw that part about the duty, but didn’t see where to find the tax part.  I imagine each province is different and didn’t want any surprises.  I will dig a bit harder but was hoping somebody might have first hand experience.  That’s good to know they might waive one extra bottle.

 

There are two sales taxes in BC. Federal GST is 5%. Provincial PST is generally 7% but alcohol is 10%.

 

[neeuqdrazil]

As long as you're not bringing back cases of booze, and as long as you're declaring it, you should be ok. I've never been dinged for taxes & duties, even when exceeding my allowance. (We went to Scotland a few years ago and brought back 5 bottles of scotch between the two of us.) 

[Brian V]

Like @neeuqdrazil said, as long as you are honest about it with CBSA, they are likely to wave you through rather than do the paperwork for a few dollars of GST / PST.

We came back from Europe last fall with about $400 over our exemption and payed nada...ymmv 🙂

[Magicat]

I've been pulled aside twice over many crossing exceeding my exception limit.  No big deal, never even had to open my bag.  Told them what I had, they had me pay about $6 and off I went.  Can't say it took more than 15 mins.  Always declare! 

[rodndonna]

we used to live in NB about an hour from the US border and would cross a few times a year to shop. At times we would bring back liquor (or wine) and it always seemed an unwritten rule " 1 extra was OK" but not always. I do recall when we paid tax, it was more just that hassle of having to pull over and go in and do it (maybe 10 minutes). The cost (when having to pay taxes) never amounted to more than it would have cost us in Canada.

 

Have all your receipts handy and be honest ... 

[1kaper]

I‘ve never been able to get a clear answer. Anytime we’ve ever brought extra back (like an extra bottle each) they never made us pay when we declared it. 

[Magicat]

On 5/14/2023 at 4:44 PM, 1kaper said:

I‘ve never been able to get a clear answer. Anytime we’ve ever brought extra back (like an extra bottle each) they never made us pay when we declared it. 

https://travel.gc.ca/returning/customs/what-you-can-bring-home-to-canada

 

Here is the official website from the GOC which will detail what you need to declare and your exemption limits. In reality it depends on the CBSA agent whether to send you to secondary or not. I know for sure it is 1.14 litres of alcohol and 20 kgs of cheese. 

[1kaper]

20 minutes ago, Magicat said:

https://travel.gc.ca/returning/customs/what-you-can-bring-home-to-canada

 

Here is the official website from the GOC which will detail what you need to declare and your exemption limits. In reality it depends on the CBSA agent whether to send you to secondary or not. I know for sure it is 1.14 litres of alcohol and 20 kgs of cheese. 

 

i know how much you can take home. 
my question was how much extra you have to pay for stuff to know if it’s worth it to bother taking extra home. 

Edited May 16, 2023 by 1kaper

[Magicat]

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/dte-acl/est-cal-eng.html

 

There are many threads to follow to find the information you are looking for.  This link is for items that you exceed your personal exemption on non food items.

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-3-6-eng.html

 

The above link refers to a publication detailing alcohol.  Check it out and let us know what you find.  Today we are returning to Canada with 4 bottles of tequila, I will report back tomorrow if and how much duty I had to pay.

 

[lx200gps]

As an aside, has anyone used the NEXUS system to re-enter when they were over your personal exemption. It's my understanding that if you are bringing back alcohol over your limit, you have to use the "regular" lanes and not the NEXUS lanes.

[ByThePond]

1 hour ago, lx200gps said:

As an aside, has anyone used the NEXUS system to re-enter when they were over your personal exemption. It's my understanding that if you are bringing back alcohol over your limit, you have to use the "regular" lanes and not the NEXUS lanes.

Correct. If you declare that you are not over your personal exemption but really are, and are caught by an inspection, you will likely forfeit NEXUS. 

[lx200gps]

15 minutes ago, ByThePond said:

Correct. If you declare that you are not over your personal exemption but really are, and are caught by an inspection, you will likely forfeit NEXUS. 

I don't think it's "likely" you will lose NEXUS, I expect it's a certainty.   We make a point of always staying within our exemption if we plan to use NEXUS, but it would be nice if they would allow honest declarations of overage. That being said, the last 3 or 4 times we've returned home and used NEXUS, the lines at the non-NEXUS terminals have been much smaller than the NEXUS lines.

[*Miss G*]

5 hours ago, lx200gps said:

As an aside, has anyone used the NEXUS system to re-enter when they were over your personal exemption. It's my understanding that if you are bringing back alcohol over your limit, you have to use the "regular" lanes and not the NEXUS lanes.

 

Yes, you just have to declare everything.  I’ve done it a few times.

[rodndonna]

On 5/16/2023 at 9:47 AM, 1kaper said:

 

i know how much you can take home. 
my question was how much extra you have to pay for stuff to know if it’s worth it to bother taking extra home. 

 

I don't think it's ever "worth" when you have to pay, only when you are lucky and they just permit the bottle or 2 extra (which is fairly common). 

 

The purpose of paying duties and taxes is to equalize and cover the additional to what we would be paying in our province for the product(s) we are bringing in outside of our exemption.

[sebas030]

On 5/16/2023 at 9:57 AM, Magicat said:

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/dte-acl/est-cal-eng.html

 

There are many threads to follow to find the information you are looking for.  This link is for items that you exceed your personal exemption on non food items.

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-3-6-eng.html

 

The above link refers to a publication detailing alcohol.  Check it out and let us know what you find.  Today we are returning to Canada with 4 bottles of tequila, I will report back tomorrow if and how much duty I had to pay.

 

And who is eligible for duty free ?

 

Are my two teens (17 and 14) eligible for 1.14L of alcohol each ? 

 

I didn't see anything about that on the GOUV web site.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

 

[broberts]

13 minutes ago, sebas030 said:

And who is eligible for duty free ?

 

Are my two teens (17 and 14) eligible for 1.14L of alcohol each ? 

 

I didn't see anything about that on the GOUV web site.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

 

 

I do recall seeing something about tobacco.

 

In order to bring something into the country it must be legal for the person to own the item.

[LHT28]

48 minutes ago, sebas030 said:

And who is eligible for duty free ?

 

Are my two teens (17 and 14) eligible for 1.14L of alcohol each ? 

 

I didn't see anything about that on the GOUV web site.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

 

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/bgb-rmf-eng.html

 

You must meet the minimum age of the province or territory where you enter Canada. Minimum ages are established by provincial or territorial authorities: 18 years for Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec and 19 years for the remaining provinces and territories.

The CBSA classifies "cooler" products according to the alcoholic beverage they contain. For example, beer coolers are considered to be beer and wine coolers are considered to be wine.

[rodndonna]

2 hours ago, sebas030 said:

And who is eligible for duty free ?

 

Are my two teens (17 and 14) eligible for 1.14L of alcohol each ? 

 

I didn't see anything about that on the GOUV web site.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

 

 

 

[broberts]

1 hour ago, rodndonna said:

 

 

 

A reference would be good.

[rodndonna]

1 minute ago, broberts said:

 

A reference would be good.

 

They have been provided buy others in the responses above 

[Fouremco]

25 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

A reference would be good.

Here's a link: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-3-1-eng.html

 

A direct link to this document hasn't been provided in previous posts, but the link can be found in one of the earlier mentioned documents.

[Magicat]

Sorry for the late update, returned to Canada on Tuesday night (midnight) and declared all four bottles of liquor DW and I were hauling.  Never gave us a second glance, collected our luggage and went home.