CANADA IMPORT TAX / gift to son on student visa

Scammie

Hi, hope this is the correct area to post, grateful for any advice.

We have just sent our son a watch for his 21st birthday. It cost £1000 and was sent direct from retailer. DHL have now emailed to say we owe over £100 equivalent in Canadian dollars in import tax. Son is there working as a language assistant as part of his degree course so is a non resident and watch will obv be coming home with him. Is there anyway to claim this tax back?

DullGreyGuy

Scammie said:

Hi, hope this is the correct area to post, grateful for any advice.

We have just sent our son a watch for his 21st birthday. It cost £1000 and was sent direct from retailer. DHL have now emailed to say we owe over £100 equivalent in Canadian dollars in import tax. Son is there working as a language assistant as part of his degree course so is a non resident and watch will obv be coming home with him. Is there anyway to claim this tax back?

You'd be better off asking on an equivalent forum in Canada as it comes down to their tax law and processes. How long is he going to be in Canada? In the UK you can do a temporary import but you have to inform HMRC before importing and often have to pay a deposit which is only returned when you show you've exported the items again within the time limits. 

I assume you realise he will need to declare the item when returning to the UK and pay the appropriate duty and VAT on importing?

Brie

You can try to track down something like the tax refund that was given to visitors to the UK when they left with things they had purchased.  I've tried but can't find anything official (looking at gc.ca websites) and don't recall ever seeing anything when leaving Canada where you can claim anything.  

I did find a commercial site that stated something about import tax exemption for items up to $200 so that leaves your situation out.

Part of the complication may be that there is not one tax in Canada like VAT.  There is a federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is currently 5% for imports.  Then there is the provincial sales tax (PST) which varies depending on the province.  So if son has received the watch in Ontario it may be subject to an 8% tax as well.  Other provinces it will be less or more.  There would then be the usual admin fees on top.  

sheramber

Scammie said:

Hi, hope this is the correct area to post, grateful for any advice.

We have just sent our son a watch for his 21st birthday. It cost £1000 and was sent direct from retailer. DHL have now emailed to say we owe over £100 equivalent in Canadian dollars in import tax. Son is there working as a language assistant as part of his degree course so is a non resident and watch will obv be coming home with him. Is there anyway to claim this tax back?

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/dtytx-drttx-eng.html#:~:text=Any%20item%20mailed%20to%20Canada,the%20goods%20in%20Canadian%20funds.

Scammie

DullGreyGuy said:

Scammie said:

Hi, hope this is the correct area to post, grateful for any advice.

We have just sent our son a watch for his 21st birthday. It cost £1000 and was sent direct from retailer. DHL have now emailed to say we owe over £100 equivalent in Canadian dollars in import tax. Son is there working as a language assistant as part of his degree course so is a non resident and watch will obv be coming home with him. Is there anyway to claim this tax back?

You'd be better off asking on an equivalent forum in Canada as it comes down to their tax law and processes. How long is he going to be in Canada? In the UK you can do a temporary import but you have to inform HMRC before importing and often have to pay a deposit which is only returned when you show you've exported the items again within the time limits. 

I assume you realise he will need to declare the item when returning to the UK and pay the appropriate duty and VAT on importing?

Just wanted to update - as appreciate everyone’s replies. As we paid the UK duty before sending the watch , the watch company are paying the Canadian duty. So shout to Nomadic watches - pretty decent of them . Thanks again for your replies