March 2013

Every year at Easter, Canadians travel to the United States and abroad to visit family and friends for the holidays. Every year, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) steps up enforcement at the border because there are more travelers. Every year, some travelers fail to declare some goods purchased or acquired outside Canada. Every year,

When a business sells its assets by way for a sale in bulk (or the Bulk Sales Act applies), it does not do so in the normal course of its business.  Usually, one of the preconditions to closing a transaction (one of the vendor closing documents in an asset purchase) is a certification from the

When a Canadian resident purchases goods outside Canada, they must declare the goods when returning to Canada.  When the individual is over the exemption limit ($800 for stays outside Canada exceeding 48 hours, $50 for same day), they must pay applicable customs duties, GST/HST, excise taxes and other imposts and charges.

Many individuals purchase big

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) takes the position that the Customs Act (Canada) grants them wide search and examination powers.  Section 98 of the Customs Act deals with search powers of the person. Section 99 of the Customs Act deals with examination powers respecting goods.  The CBSA draws a distinction between “search” powers in

Under Canada’s customs laws, the importer of record is responsible to provide the correct tariff classification of the commercial invoice and the B3 “Canada Customs Coding Form”.  While importers often rely on information provided by the exporter, they must do so understanding that they will have to pay the price for errors.  The Canada Border

Non-resident exporters/importers often are not aware of Canada’s many different sales taxes and sales tax rates (quite frankly, many Canadian companies cannot keep up with the changes). So, we put together a chart.

Canadian Sales Tax Rates Chart
As at March 1, 2013

Province/Territory

Provincial Sales Tax GST/HST Rate GST Included in PST Tax Base

On March 21, 2013, Canada introduced the 2013 Budget.  While the 2013 Budget was characterized as an austerity budget, it offered customs duty relief (hopefully translating into lower retail prices) on certain imported consumer goods.

The 2013 Budget permanently removed customs duties  on baby clothes and sports equipment (excluding bicycles, which I should note have

We thought it would be helpful to provide our top fifteen questions to ask and answer prior to importing goods into Canada. We started with a top ten list and then decided to give a 50% bonus.

1. What is the tariff classification of the goods to be imported (the answer can be simple or

On March 1, 2013, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-56 “Combating Counterfeit Products Act” in the House of Commons. Bill C-56 provides copyright and trademark owners with a Canadian legal process to stop the import and export of counterfeit goods and take those goods out of the commercial stream. This legal process