Hi all,

I'm looking to import a watch from Canada by mail and have to declare it. Does anyone know what percent on duty is for a speedmaster pro. watch is 6000 CAD plus dealer in Canada charged 12% tax. What do you declare in value?

 

Calculating duty accurately will not be easy, as it's based on things like case material, number of jewels, type of movement, etc. I have seen a duty calculator web site posted before but I don't have the link but you could try searching for it.

Now the real question is why would a Canadian dealer would charge you taxes? Sales taxes are only charged on sales to an address in Canada, so if the sell to address is in the US, they should not be charging you the 12%

I would be having a conversation with the dealer if I were you...

Cheers, Al

 

If the Canadian dealer charges tax and you take delivery in the US or otherwise get it out of Canada quickly I think you can file for rebate. It's been about five years since I was last in America's hat but I recall being given a form to claim tax rebate for any goods in took home provided the tax paid was a minimum amount.

 

Unless you are visiting Canada say from the US and taking delivery of the watch in Canada, no taxes should be charged, period. No refund is needed because Canadian sales taxes (GST, PST, or HST depending on the province or territory) should not be charged in the first place.

 

"and have to declare it."

Who says you have to declare it?

 

Sorry I left out some info. Dealer will only ship to Canada, and I have a relative he can ship to. The relative is in a province with 13% tax, so there's no avoiding the tax unfortunately. My relative would then have to ship to me and declare the price since it will be insured. I think he can declare it as a gift, but don't know how that works and don't want to do anything that may be illegal

 

Yeah bill and ship to your name at that address (even a care of notation if worried about delivery issues) then ship to US, turn it promptly and pay US customs you should qualify for a rebate of the Canadian tax.

 

When you go to send it off they will ask you a) what is in the box b) how much are the contents worth c) up to what value do you want it to be ensured - so you have to declare it by default. You could tell them there's a worthless rock in the box, but you're gonna get fined heavily if you failed to declare properly IF they happen to randomly select your box. The higher the declared value and the more insurance you have on the package, the higher the chances are that you're gonna 'audited' at the border.

The CAD is super low right now compared to the USD but after 13% provincial taxes and customs duties, you're not going to save a lot of money. The whole thing also isn't worth the headache of stuff possibly getting lost or stolen in transit.

My recommendation is, drop the deal ASAP. OR see if you can get the dealer to ship it to a third party "PO box" near the border and attempt to plan a day trip to Canada to pick it up and carry it over the border on your wrist.

 

Worth looking up antique,s and duty (if it's over 25yo) when it comes to declaring anything..... Plenty of funny little things when it comes to duty. Enough said PM if you need more

 

I've used www.dutycalculator.com which is accurate for imports to Europe and should be to USA as well.

Chris