Canadian grad student in the USA, Question about moving back to Canada

[Langdon Alger]

Hey,

 

I'm a Canadian grad student in the USA who just started this fall. I only brought the bare necessities for the first few months (I drove there), but now I'm home for the holidays and want to bring some more things down there.  I'm there for another 2 years but was worried about customs and declaring items when I come back. I want to bring down my movie collection and some guitars and other items but am worried about them thinking I bought them all there and then tax me on it when I come back to Canada. I know there are forms I can find to fill out and claim some larger items like a guitar, but it would be a pain to itemize and claim every single blu ray or book I bring down. Has anyone had any experience with this? Also, if we're there on a student visa do we have more than the usual $800 tax exemption we get for being in the USA for a few days?

[MathCat]

Commenting so I can find this later. I hadn't thought about this before, and I might be going to the US.

[TakeruK]

Hi there,

 

I am in your shoes too, but I moved in 2012. The short answer is that yes, you can bring all of that stuff without worrying about being taxed because of NAFTA. There is a lot of fine print but generally the items that belong to you for more than 1 year and are for your own personal use only (i.e. not importing products to resell in USA) are okay under NAFTA. You technically do have to declare them all on the itemized list but they will rarely check unless you are bringing something major down.

 

For example, when we moved in 2012, we had a U-Haul pod full of stuff. We had to submit an itemized list--we probably went a bit more detailed than necessary (better safe than sorry was our thinking, especially since we were not traveling with the pod). So we had a 13 page itemized list, with things like "203 books" and "21 forks" etc. You can be pretty general (i.e. no need to list all the DVD titles, just the number of DVDs -- and we probalby could have said "102 pieces of kitchen utensils" instead of breaking it down into forks/spoons/knives).

 

We moved almost everything we owned this way. But like you, we came back and brought random other pieces of things we owned later on. For example, just last month, we went home and my spouse's mom gave us her own sewing machine. We took it down to the States without any problem -- we did declare it at the US Customs though (although we almost forgot, they had to ask us what was in our checked baggage). But we didn't write it down on a form or anything, just verbally said it. In 2013, I also brought my guitar down in this way -- just verbal declaration at Customs when they ask "anything to declare?"

 

No, we do not get more than $800 max exemption. So, if you are bringing back stuff from the States that will remain in Canada, then you need to make sure the total amount is less than $800 in value. However, again NAFTA is important because it allows for certain things to not count towards this $800 limit. For example, some items made in Canada, United States or Mexico do not count. If you are bringing into something that you purchased in the USA but will take back with you to the USA (e.g. a laptop you bought down here and just want to bring so that you can use it in Canada), it does not count since you are not leaving it there. It sounds like you have already done this, but definitely look carefully at the Canadian Border Agency website for official information -- I'm not qualified in any way

 

So, if you are just going back to visit Canada, the only thing you really have to worry about exceeding the limit are gifts for your Canadian friends/family. Remember that the limit is 60 CAD per item and the total limit is 800 CAD. Last month, we bought back about $300 worth of gifts (no item exceeding $60 though) and that was fine. If you are worried about bringing new Canadian items back to the US, the limit is about the same, I believe (your old Canadian items are covered by NAFTA as mentioned above).

 

Eventually, if you do move back to Canada for good, you don't have to worry about the $800 max exemption because, again, under NAFTA, you can move all your personal belongings across the border without having to pay taxes.

 

Hope that is helpful

[Langdon Alger]

Wow thanks so much for that thoughtful and detailed response! 

 

For that itemized list, did you show it to them before you moved out of Canada for them to approve and confirm you brought them from home on their end? Because you can easily just make up a list of items (including new stuff bought in the USA) and just add it to your list? Just a little confused on that part. 

[TakeruK]

No, I did not physically show anyone my list. I just included it with my shipping paperwork since the U-Haul pod traveled separately from me (I paid UHaul to take it for me). It is very likely that no one actually looked at the list at all. In theory, if they decided to check my shipping pod, they would audit that list and even potentially ask me to open the pod at a special warehouse to go over the contents with them. This is not unlike getting pulled over for additional inspection when driving across the border. That is, whether it happens is somewhat random and is not something you would normally expect to happen.

 

Yes, in theory, you can always lie about your list. Just like if you are crossing the border, you can omit some things when you declare. But this is not legal and you will get in trouble if you get caught! 

 

I do not expect anyone will cross-check my list of things I brought into the US with the list of things I will bring back into Canada when I move back home. Anything I bought in the US for personal use and owned for more than 1 year is fair game to bring back into Canada under NAFTA anyways, so the two lists do not even have to be the same.

[Langdon Alger]

Thanks again for the info. Definitely wasn't planning on lying, just brought it up because it seemed like the system was too easy.

 

Also for anyone else reading along, for higher value items (musical instruments, higher end electronics), you can fill out something called a Y38 form "DOCUMENTATION OF GOODS FOR TEMPORARY EXPORTATION". Basically right before you cross the boarder, go into the Canada customs office and you can fill this out for those items. You can put a serial number for the item and they sign off on it.

 

More info can be found here: http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-6-5-eng.pdf