Canada, Taxes/customs and export fee question. 1 1

[Ryan Vandal]

I am sending a rather large valued order to CGC in the next week or two.

My question is, these 25 books are valued around 40-60k or so, do I have to fill an additional form out for customs at all? The books going TO cgc will be valued at a low number (since I have secondary insurance, and I dont even need to note it when I ship them) but coming back from CGC, I think they have to declare the full value of it (Unless I am wrong here? Since my alternate insurance would cover it.... can anyone clarify this?)

Will I have to pay taxes on this as well when it ships over the boarder? I live in Manitoba, if that makes a difference. Any assistance in this matter would be amazing. Thanks!

[Lightning55]

I am not sure this is much help to you in total, but maybe one area.  On the submission form, you would be  putting your estimate of the Declared Value of each comic, and then selecting the tier. I would think CGC would use that value throughout the process - as an insured value while with them, customs value going out.  They really don't have any other numbers to work with, so the DV is convenient for them to use.  They don't insure international shipments, and you mentioned that you have your own, so that's not a factor. 

I hope you get some feedback regarding taxes.  Just an opinion here, but technically CGC is just returning goods that belong to you, not something you purchased (except the grading service and holders).  A friend of mine in Germany sent me some comics on DVD to view and return, and he did whatever he had to do for regulations in Germany.  When I shipped back to him, along with some comics I was selling him, I listed the comics on the customs form and values, included an invoice.  As for the disks, I just put them in the package with a note attached that said 'returning recipient's property", and put them on the customs form as $0 value.  When he got the package, he paid taxes on the comics only.

[bababooey]

On 2/25/2021 at 8:57 AM, Ryan Vandal said:

I am sending a rather large valued order to CGC in the next week or two.

My question is, these 25 books are valued around 40-60k or so, do I have to fill an additional form out for customs at all? The books going TO cgc will be valued at a low number (since I have secondary insurance, and I dont even need to note it when I ship them) but coming back from CGC, I think they have to declare the full value of it (Unless I am wrong here? Since my alternate insurance would cover it.... can anyone clarify this?)

Will I have to pay taxes on this as well when it ships over the boarder? I live in Manitoba, if that makes a difference. Any assistance in this matter would be amazing. Thanks!

An old post on docs @ link above.

At that value and if it's reasonably close, I'd probably try to get the export docs stamped in person by Canada Customs. 

Depending on carrier, if not postal, I'd ask them for clearance/brokerage costs to import into USA (there's no duty to US but it may require a formal entry) which means some costs w/UPS/FedEx - asking the questions and anticipating the need will get their counter service people to help you or steer you to the right parties.  I'd suggest choosing an air service through either carrier, then you know your shipment will arrive through Louisville/UPS or Memphis/Fed..  I don't think I'd personally trust the post office on a shipment of this value but I'd recommend declaring reasonable value either way & I can't really offer any advice on US bound postal clearance.. 

[Ryan Vandal]

2 hours ago, bababooey said:

An old post on docs @ link above.

At that value and if it's reasonably close, I'd probably try to get the export docs stamped in person by Canada Customs. 

Depending on carrier, if not postal, I'd ask them for clearance/brokerage costs to import into USA (there's no duty to US but it may require a formal entry) which means some costs w/UPS/FedEx - asking the questions and anticipating the need will get their counter service people to help you or steer you to the right parties.  I'd suggest choosing an air service through either carrier, then you know your shipment will arrive through Louisville/UPS or Memphis/Fed..  I don't think I'd personally trust the post office on a shipment of this value but I'd recommend declaring reasonable value either way & I can't really offer any advice on US bound postal clearance.. 

Thanks for this. So I actually don't have to declare a value on the comics at all, my secondary insurance that I have with Hughwood would take that info. So if I go overnight fedex for example, I can tell them the books are worth 100 dollars in total or whatever, which might make it less suspicious or whatever to customs and maybe less likely to get flagged? 

Definitely not going to go post office, too risky that something might fail or get lost, i'll leave it to the big boys for the extra amount.

CGC also told me that they do not declare the value of the books when sending them back to Canada, so really, there is no proof that these packages have a large amount of value, if that makes sense. Not sure if that contributes to the mix here.

I also have to break up the shipment into 4-5 packages, as that's the only way my insurance will cover the value of them, and I have to ship them on seperate days, guess its less risky if something happens that way. Shipping is going to cost a fortune, but again, these are some expensive books.

[bababooey]

4 hours ago, Ryan Vandal said:

Thanks for this. So I actually don't have to declare a value on the comics at all, my secondary insurance that I have with Hughwood would take that info. So if I go overnight fedex for example, I can tell them the books are worth 100 dollars in total or whatever, which might make it less suspicious or whatever to customs and maybe less likely to get flagged? 

Definitely not going to go post office, too risky that something might fail or get lost, i'll leave it to the big boys for the extra amount.

CGC also told me that they do not declare the value of the books when sending them back to Canada, so really, there is no proof that these packages have a large amount of value, if that makes sense. Not sure if that contributes to the mix here.

I also have to break up the shipment into 4-5 packages, as that's the only way my insurance will cover the value of them, and I have to ship them on seperate days, guess its less risky if something happens that way. Shipping is going to cost a fortune, but again, these are some expensive books.

No, you do have to declare a reasonable value.  It's not being sold so there's no transaction to disprove your value but slapping a hundred bucks on as the value isn't recommended and I'd suggest using an Overstreet from within the last few years as a reasonable (ie- defensible) methodology.  In today's  market that might get you under $100    

On the way back, full value should be declared to according to Cdn Goods Abroad Regs but you should only need to pay taxes on value added, GST and PST for MB (re: PST, a comic is a periodical w/advertising and is subject to retail tax, doesn't qualify for book rebate & postal customs gets this wrong half the time)