i sent my dad a birthday present from the UK. a hand made, hand painted tagine pot i had picked up in morocco. he likes cooking different foods, and he wouldn't find one of these in his set.
he went to the post office to collect it--they asked for 16CDN in duty. keep in mind that the stated value was only 50CDN, and it was marked 'a gift.' he pointed out that they've never paid duty on anything i've sent over before, and the woman laughed, 'ah well, guess you got lucky this time!'
when they got it home and opened it, it was in a couple dozen pieces!
so either a) he was charged to recieve a bunch of broken ceramics, or b) they shoved an intact object back in teh box without wrapping it properly and it got smashed. either way i'm livid.
how do i get my money back from ccra? i need to order him a new one, from a canadian website this time. (i can't afford a le crueset or emile henri!!)
How unpleasant.
I wouldn't hold out much hope of getting any refund or compensation from CCRA. But if you are determined to get your dad a tagine pot, you should be able to buy one from a kitchenware shop in Canada. If he lives in (or visits) a major centre he could pick it up himself.
happy 60th dad... drive 5 hours to pick up your gift!!
nah-i'll mail order it. if it doesn't have to go through ccra, it should be fine, haha.
Not sure why you're mad at CCRA. Gifts are not duty exempt, so the $16 is what it is.
Your only beef is with the person who packaged it for shipping. They did a crappy job.
Better luck next time.
Cheers,
Terry
terry, how does one pay $16 on an item with a total value of $50? hst doesn't come close, and it's not exactly something bizarre or valuable--buying one in canada wouldn't be any more expensive (unless i go with a gourmet model).
why isn't it applied consistently? i send gifts back to canada 5-10 times a year. never paid duty yet.
also, it's extremely cheeky to ding me (and my parents) money but not take any care with the item. they can bloody well pay me back if they've broken what belongs to me. they had to have done a crap job--i had wrapped it in a little bit of padding and clothing, put it in a backpack surrounded only by clothing--two sets of baggage handlers managed not to smash it.
>>> how does one pay $16 on an item with a total value of $50?
Customs revenue is a quagmire that no one understands, least of all the Customs officials. Paying 32% sounds steep, but there's lots of items that run considerably higher than that. Simply read the section of the Customs Act that they're using to calculate the duty so you can see for yourself. (It'll be quoted on the receipt.) Many times the duty is negotiable, even after the fact.
>>> why isn't it applied consistently? I send gifts back to Canada 5-10 times a year. never paid duty yet.
Thank God it's not applied consistently! Small shipped items slip through all the time. Consider yourself lucky to this point.
>>> they can bloody well pay me back if they've broken what belongs to me.
Unfortunately, you're likely screwed. It's up to you to package the item so it's bomb-proof. They won't accept any liability.
Cheers,
Terry
hmmm... as I recall... (but my memory is getting worse)...
$5 is a Canada Post processing fee...
and you must pay taxes on the $50 value... (on items valued over $25)...
assuming 7% PST + 7% = $7 total tax...
which leaves an imposed duty of $4...
the fact that it was delivered broken is a different issue...
and not a CCRA problem.
if you had insured it and if properly packaged... that would cover you.
I doubt that you did pay duty.
You will have to pay GST on everything. That is $3.00.
Then you have to pay a brokerage fee on pretty much everything that comes from another country and has a declared value. There will be a minimum fee applicable. That likely accounts for the rest of the $16.
it WAS properly packaged. i'm pretty anal about that, having learned the hard way years ago. it was improperly REPACKAGED.
TP--post office lady called it Duty, and she's been there for yonks. i've been sending gifts and personal possessions home from all around the world for 9 years and this is only the second time duty has been charged--the other was a $100 mail order of clothing from the states.
i've never paid a processing fee either.
it may be insured--i honestly can't remember and won't be home to check for a couple of weeks. i doubt it, as it was so very carefully packed and wasn't especially expensive--i usually get it for expensive stuff.
this is not the first time a customs official has ruined a package, and both of the other occurences were sheer laziness (cutting open a bag of flour in one case, and not bother to put tape over the hole, and not putting the lid back on the airtight container the bag was in!). these happened outside of canada, so i blithely assumed ours were better trained. too bad me.
Gifts ARE duty-exempt and tax-exempt if their value is under $20 CDN. Check it out.
Postal Program - Duty and Tax Exemptions
This happened to me a while back, though the item wasn't damaged. Customs managed to do a bang up job of destroying the wrapping, though, right where the packaged was labelled GIFT in HUGE, black, unmissable letters. I complained at my branch and they gave me an address I could write to at Customs. I wrote, sent in the wrecked packaging as well as the packaging info, and a copy of my bill, and I received a full refund about 6 weeks later. Just a gov't issued cheque.
Write and complain, or have your dad do it, and make sure you send them all the applicable info and keep copies for yourself.
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