Importing Bikes and Parts to Canada

good info!

Posted by southp at May 23, 2007 09:50 PM

I appreciate your article. Being in Montreal I've been annoyed by the fact that a lot of good parts have to come in from the States. What the hell is NAFTA all about anyways? It's surely not helping us Canadians.

How old is this information?

Posted by Alan at May 19, 2010 02:45 PM

Is this the latest information?

Importing

Posted by Bryn at May 19, 2010 02:57 PM

I haven't updated it in a while but there haven't been any changes as far as I know. Once all the HST rules are posted though I'll go back and review things as best I can.

Taxes on imported "used" frame?

Posted by harryH at Aug 31, 2011 01:01 PM

Do you know if these import taxes will be charged when importing a "used" frame ?

Cheers.

used vs new

Posted by Bryn at Aug 31, 2011 01:05 PM

All they care about is the dollar value, there is no real difference as far as they are concerned for new or used. Brokerage fees in particular will be charged no matter what.

If you are bringing things back across the border yourself and the amount owing is less than $20 they generally just wave you through.

Tools

Posted by Moonunit at Sep 12, 2011 09:21 AM

Great article! It really took the sweat off, when ordering a frame from the states.
Any idea what the tariff classification is for bicycle tools (eg. truing stand, bottom bracket tools, torque wrenches?) from US to Canada?

Thanks!

Depends...

Posted by Bryn at Sep 12, 2011 09:26 AM

It will definitely depend where the tools, etc were made. If you're buying Park Tools stuff for instance, it's made in USA and therefore I BELIEVE will be duty-free under NAFTA (though you still have to pay the HST/GST). Essentially NAFTA says that anything made in North America won't have any import duties when moving across the border, though sales tax is its own issue.

No rhyme nor reason

Posted by HarryH at Sep 29, 2011 09:42 AM

Over the past month, I've been ordering parts for a new bike. All parts have been imported from the UK, delivered by Canada Post and so far the taxes I have had to pay are:

Wheelset - 5% GST + $8.50 handling fee
Gear Shifters - 12% HST + $8.50 handling fee

I have purposely been ordering a small (in value, under $100) number of items at a time (just enough to qualify for free shipping) and so far, all other deliveries have been tax and fees free. I still have some items to receive so I hope that this continues...

Originally, I had planned to buy a new bike, ordered from the UK, until I saw what the duty\taxes were that would be levied : 21.5% + 12% which made me decide to build my bikes from the frame up...

Typical...

Posted by Bryn at Sep 29, 2011 09:44 AM

That's actually pretty typical of the way they handle things unfortunately. Sometimes things show up with zero due when there should be money owing, so it's definitely not applied super consistently.

The handling fee is a new one for me - never seen that from Canada Post before, but generally I've been ordering from the US.

Tax on wheels

Posted by Cameron at Dec 28, 2011 12:21 PM

Small correction: Bike wheels are 6.5%

Here is a link to the CBSA list:
http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/[…]/ch87-2012-eng.pdf

Updated!

Posted by Bryn at Dec 28, 2011 12:22 PM

Thanks! Corrected.

Semi built bike

Posted by Cameron at Dec 28, 2011 12:21 PM

So, does this mean everything can be installed on the bike except wheels and you only pay 5% on the frame?

Customs Discretion

Posted by Bryn at Dec 28, 2011 12:26 PM

It's up to the discretion of the customs officer in the end - I don't think there's really a hard and fast rule as there's just so many different categories. If there's no wheels on it though it's clearly not "assembled" since you couldn't ride it, so you wouldn't have much issue arguing it if they tried to asses the 'complete' bike rate on you.

Revised rates

Posted by Kevin in Kits at Jan 15, 2012 07:10 AM

http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/[…]/01-99-t2012-eng.pdf

Complete bikes are 13% not 21.5%

Thanks

Posted by Bryn at Jan 15, 2012 07:12 AM

Thank you, I've updated the post with the new rates. :)

Duty on frame

Posted by Eric at Mar 20, 2012 09:46 AM

You make the following statement: "There are two different categories on the tariff labeled "Other" and I think it's more or less up to the customs agent to determine what category things fall in to. Remember a customs agent doesn't necessarily know anything about bikes and they're probably going to just run down the form until they find the first category labeled 'Other' - this one is "Frames and Forks, and Parts Thereof - Other'. I honestly can't think of ANYTHING that would fall in to this category as practically every part of the frame and fork has already been accounted for."

After reading the thread, as someone comments, isn't it the frame itself that falls in this "Other" category attracting 5% duty?

Frame Duty

Posted by Bryn at Mar 20, 2012 09:47 AM

Yeah, I'd read it that way too.

Duty white lie

Posted by Chris at Apr 16, 2012 08:46 AM

What would happen if I bought a complete bike in the UK - got it shipped to my parents house, then got them to send it to me as a gift, but put the value at $100? Would I just pay the duty/taxes on the $100 or are they going to see right past it and put a dollar amount on the bike themselves?

GPT?

Posted by Tony Kangrui Liu at May 07, 2012 09:39 AM

In header 8712.00 (complete bicycle), it says on the right column (Applicable Preferential Tariffs) "GPT: 8.5%". China and Taiwan, among others, are eligible for the General Preferential Tariff (GPT) which is listed in the first few pages of the 1700-page PDF. Does that mean a bicycle assembled in China for example would only be dutied 8.5% ?

Seems so

Posted by Bryn at May 07, 2012 09:48 AM

From what I can see it sounds like you are right - which means that the original intent of the legislation has been completely torpedoed. :(

GPT?

Posted by Rye Fry at Jun 20, 2012 05:30 AM

if shipped direct from either of those nations. If it is shipped to the US first and then brought up, it does not apply in terms of duty reduction.

duty on Trikes

Posted by Vince in TO at Sep 19, 2012 12:45 PM

Am picking up a Performer from RBR in State College, PA at the end of the month, so naturally the threads of discussion in this forum greatly interest me. a couple of things have not been mentioned and I thought I'd dwell in it. Please correct me if I am wrong:

If the Trike is dutiable, the tariff schedule clearly says the ad Valorem is 13% of Invoice face value, including the foreign taxes on top. However, following may come into play and would effectively reduce the fianl price I can expect to pay for the trike, granting that:

1) I have a Personal exemption for absence of 48 hours or more - The duty & HST ( in this case Ontario) would be based on the excess amount after your exemption of $800.00

2) The duty of 13% may effectively come down to 7% under Special duty rate of 7% under the Most Favoured Nation Tariff, in addition to the personal exemption. Conditions are the trike must accompany me, do not qualify under NAFTA and values are worth CAN$300 more than your CAN$800 exemption (48 hours/7 day. taxes still have to be paid at going rate.

So, on my return after 48 hours, if my Invoice price is CAN$1700 (including foreign tax), Duties I shall expect to pay would be CAN$56.00, and sales tax would be 111.28 ( 13% of $800 + $56). The total impported price of the Trike would then be CAN$1867. @ 13% duty and 13% HST, this amount would have been CAN $2170.73.
Now, I wonder what my savings would be if I delcared them as bike parts as earlier suggested?

In Person

Posted by Bryn at Sep 19, 2012 12:49 PM

I've had tons of experience bringing bikes back with you in person. If you've been away for the 48 hours you most likely are going to just get waved through. At MOST they will charge you the HST on the portion in excess of the personal exemption, ESPECIALLY if the trike was made in USA (as NAFTA waives the duty on that). If you are declaring a bunch of booze and smokes at the same time though all bets are off.

We just brought back 20+ bikes across a dozen or so people last weekend. One of my friends had the bulk of the $$$ value in his trailer and was travelling alone - he ended up paying HST on the last $600 of the declared value, so $72. Not too bad. Another group of us had 4 of us travelling together and brought through about $2K worth of stuff - no taxes needed to be paid.

Just make sure you have your declared value written down - even if it is not an actual receipt. They want to see that you're not just pulling numbers out of your head.

duty on Trikes

Posted by Vince in TO at Sep 20, 2012 10:28 AM

Hmmm. Thank you for sharing your experience bhughes. I think it would end up that way since my declared value may be less than my personal exemption, given that I'm travelling with a companion under whose exemption might fall the other half of the intended value. We would then declare them as trike parts.

Let's see what happens.

Shared Exemption

Posted by Bryn at Sep 20, 2012 10:31 AM

They definitely will split the total across both of you if you are travelling together, no worries there. I wouldn't even bother trying to declare it as parts or anything.

I was actually just looking through my book where I write down everything I'm hauling across the border - there's over 50 bikes in my book and I've only ever had to pay HST once, on a trip where we came back the same day as we went down and had nearly $1K worth of stuff coming back. Just make sure there's no apples in your cooler!

duty on Trikes

Posted by vince at Sep 21, 2012 05:35 AM

Cool!. thanks Again!

shared exemption

Posted by Vince in TO at Oct 03, 2012 01:11 PM

Just confirmed the experience with border customs. Witht eh combined exemption of $3200 ( there were 4 of us), the customs gentleman ( indeed he was truly a gentleman)waived us through after having asked for and looked at the invoice. I guess the wanted to confirm 2 things - that the amount was consistent with what I said when asked verbally and the date the trike was purchased.

thank you for the tip. It made the experience easier.

customs import

Posted by Rye Fry at Jun 20, 2012 05:30 AM

I am currently employed by a Customs Brokerage house and would be willing to assist, where I can. I get items shipped to one of our locations near the border and have our in-house courier service bring the items up. If shipping, for example, is free or reduced, as some sites do, for domestic shipping, it costs me ~$5.00 CDN to have it shipped to our CDN office. No brokerage fees on top of expertise in the customs industry equates to smooth cruising. Usually, if you put in a larger order for parts or consolidate with a group of folks, most sites/shops will be willing to negotiate on either final pricing or the shipping costs, as has been my experience.

That being said, waiting for a new beach cruiser as we speak, rather a frame and some parts to throw on the frame.

Happy cruising!
<~rYe~.

driving a load into Canada

Posted by worried at Nov 22, 2012 02:01 PM

I have about $1800 worth of parts (frames, forks, bars, stems, cranks, etc.) waiting for me to bring back from North Dakota..mostly ebay stuff and some bmxmuseum stuff..none of it from a store, so as far as I see it's like yard sale purchases..do I have to pay tax and duty on this stuff?..there's no way I'd pay tax at a yard sale..

How Long Away

Posted by Bryn at Nov 22, 2012 02:15 PM

They don't really care where you bought it - yard sale, bike shop, some guy with a trenchcoat... All that is important as far as the border guards are concerned is that you are importing it in to Canada. If you can prove that the items CAME from Canada then you can get an exemption, but that's about it.

That said, let's look at the actual numbers!! I'm going to assume you will at least be away overnight for your trip - you get a $200 credit for the first night you are away, and that goes up to $800 after two nights. They don't count hours, they count "dates", so leaving at 11PM on a Friday and then coming back at 9AM on a Sunday would count as "48 hours", so you would get an $800 exemption.

If you've got a friend with you, they also get the same exemption. They don't really care so much who got the items in question, they more look at the total spend divided by the number of travellers. So if you bring a friend and are away for 2 nights, you've got a $1600 credit between the two of you. Not too shabby!!

At that point, you probably won't end up paying anything. Generally speaking they do not bother to have you pay if the amount owing is less than $20-50 depending on the agent. I'm not sure which province you are coming to/from, but if you are from any of the "non-HST" provinces then you would usually pay only GST. So if you are from Alberta, Manitoba or Saskatchewan you would pay 5% on the remaining balance, so all of $10. They won't bother to collect that from you as it costs them more than $10 in employee time to do the paperwork!

Worst case scenario - you are driving down from Ontario and plan to come back the same day. You have zero exemption at that point. You'd pay HST @ 13% on the full total - $234. That amount they definitely would have you pay. So if it were me, I'd bring a buddy and stay for a couple of nights - I'd rather spend my $$$ on beer and hotel costs than paying sales tax!

Point Roberts

Posted by Mark BC at Jan 22, 2013 08:20 AM

Ouch, I just made some orders and had them shipped to a holding company in Point Roberts, which means that if I went down for a couple nights I'd have to sit around in Point Roberts and not be able to go anywhere...

It's some hefty purchases -- a $1800 complete bike, another separate order for $550 of parts, and a different order from a different company for $550 in parts. So I guess I'll get hit with the full 13% tax then? I probably should have sent them to Blaine so I could spend a night or two down there.

BC HST

Posted by Bryn at Jan 22, 2013 08:25 AM

Here in BC you'd be paying 12% rather than 13% (the above example was for Ontario). Not MUCH better but yup, you are going to get hit with the full 12%, or $348 on the $2900 total you list above. They absolutely will ding you for that. Still cheaper than getting it shipped to your door as you would have had to pay brokerage fees on top of the HST though.

The Point Roberts guys also know that a lot of people head down there just to pick up packages so they are watching for you!

HST

Posted by Mark BC at Jan 22, 2013 09:32 AM

But that 12% would only be applied to the complete bike, right? The other orders of miscellaneous parts would be taxed at 0% or 5% as described in the OP?

HST, PLUS Duty

Posted by Bryn at Jan 22, 2013 09:42 AM

No, you would see 12% HST on everything no matter what. HST is charged regardless of what category the item is.

HST is a sales tax, not a duty. Duty is a specific extra fee based on the category of the item whereas HST is a general sales tax that applies to absolutely everything.

The 12% "complete bike" duty may be charged in addition to the 12% HST, but it is not too common to see the border agents charging duty when you bring items up yourself. Generally they will only worry about the HST unless you are bringing in say a whole truck load of bikes brand new in their boxes.

There are also country of origin rules around duties... If the bike was made in the USA then it is "duty free" under NAFTA (but you still pay HST). If it is from one of the countries identified above in the comments under the "Preferential" category then it will be "duty free" but again you still pay HST. No matter what you do, you're on the hook for the HST.

I think they don't worry about the other duties too much with individuals since the hassle of sorting out country of origin and the specific tariff categories for a bunch of small random single items again exceeds the revenue they would actually get from them. A truck load of 1000 identical bikes? Definitely worth their while. An individual without much documentation on what they bought and 12 individual items all made in different places? The agent could be tied up for an hour and a half easily.

New Forums

Posted by Bryn at Jan 22, 2013 08:41 AM

Hey everyone!!

I've also reposted this over in our Forums as that is a bit better suited to back and forth discussion. I'll leave this post here along with its comments as there is quite a lot of good information, but if you have questions, etc please jump on to the forum instead. You can find the posting here:

http://vancruisers.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21

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