How do I import my US vehicle which is currently in Canada?

[hmenard]

Hi there,

I moved to Canada approximately 18 months ago and still waiting on the final permanent residency process to be completed. At the time I moved to Canada I brought my vehicle in and it was admitted under a temporary status and I was allowed entry as a visitor. I'm now married and trying to become a full time resident of Canada with my spouse and would like to import my vehicle which has been sitting in storage. There is no registration or insurance on the vehicle and it is paid in full. I want to get this registered in British Columbia and use once my PR is processed. Does anyone know approximately how much it will cost if any in taxes? Will they tax me on the original invoice or finance price? Or current value of the vehicle? It is a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. I know I need to bring it to the border and get the right forms from RIV and have it inspected. I saw a fee of $195 I believe and then $100 for air conditioning fee? I also saw there is a 5% GST tax. Just trying to get an idea of the price. My financing at the time was well over $30,000 but as you know, cars do not keep any sort of value, it's maybe worth $7,000 Canadian now. Please help

Thank you!
Heidi

 

[saria1]

Hi there,

I moved to Canada approximately 18 months ago and still waiting on the final permanent residency process to be completed. At the time I moved to Canada I brought my vehicle in and it was admitted under a temporary status and I was allowed entry as a visitor. I'm now married and trying to become a full time resident of Canada with my spouse and would like to import my vehicle which has been sitting in storage. There is no registration or insurance on the vehicle and it is paid in full. I want to get this registered in British Columbia and use once my PR is processed. Does anyone know approximately how much it will cost if any in taxes? Will they tax me on the original invoice or finance price? Or current value of the vehicle? It is a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. I know I need to bring it to the border and get the right forms from RIV and have it inspected. I saw a fee of $195 I believe and then $100 for air conditioning fee? I also saw there is a 5% GST tax. Just trying to get an idea of the price. My financing at the time was well over $30,000 but as you know, cars do not keep any sort of value, it's maybe worth $7,000 Canadian now. Please help

Thank you!
Heidi

I've spoken with two separate CBSA officers at the border. One was at the Calais ME border. We went in and an officer took a lot of time to talk with us about the landing process and moving settlers effects into Canada. He said the value of a car (Kelly Blue Book) over 10k would be taxed.

Then the other day we interviewed for our Nexus cards at the Champlain NY border and the CBSA officer got into a long conversation about moving to Canada (it's amazing when you mention your moving to Canada how nice the CBSA officers become). She said so long as my husband (who will be the one landing) is on the titles, then he won't have to pay taxes on the car because it's a settler effect and settler effects are not taxed.

So I would love to hear from those who exported cars into Canada as a settler, if they had to pay taxes for cars valued over 10k.

 

[rhcohen2014]

So I would love to hear from those who exported cars into Canada as a settler, if they had to pay taxes for cars valued over 10k.

as long as it's listed on the B4 form for a returning canadian or new pr, there will not be a tax. there is a conveyance section on the form. the car must be listed on the declaration form (either goods with you or goods to follow), otherwise it is subject to taxes.

basically the car import is taxed when the person importing it is not returning to settle as a canadian or settling for the first time as a pr.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Both Officers were correct, saria1. It's all about context!

New immigrants may bring in household items (regardless of value) duty and tax free as long as they owned, used, and possessed them prior to the first time they enter Canada intending to live there for at least 12 months (may coincide with landing or be after landing, depending on circumstances). Returning Canadians may also do this with two constraints: (i) any item they did not previously export from Canada has a per-item limit of $10k; above that the returning Canadian is subject to duty and tax on that item; and (ii) items have to have been used at least 6 months unless the returning Canadian has lived abroad 5+ years.

The detailed instructions are available on CBSA's website at http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5113-eng.html

Whoever imports the vehicle would need to declare it on their Personal Effects Accounting Document (form B4 / B4-A). If both of your names are on the title, you either both need to be present or the person not present needs to provide the one who will be importing the car with a notarized letter authorizing the import.

Here's two posts I wrote a while back that may help you plan
Process to importing your car. Note that there's one change - you need to pre-register the car for export from the US at least 72 hours prior to export, either yourself through AES Direct or via an agent (see details on CBP's website here and click on the link under "Export Car to Canada" in the resources box. For some reason the forum isn't liking all the spaces in the url.)
Items to consider as you decide when to import your car

Don't hesitate to ask further questions

 

[saria1]

Both Officers were correct, saria1. It's all about context!

New immigrants may bring in household items (regardless of value) duty and tax free as long as they owned, used, and possessed them prior to the first time they enter Canada intending to live there for at least 12 months (may coincide with landing or be after landing, depending on circumstances). Returning Canadians may also do this with two constraints: (i) any item they did not previously export from Canada has a per-item limit of $10k; above that the returning Canadian is subject to duty and tax on that item; and (ii) items have to have been used at least 6 months unless the returning Canadian has lived abroad 5+ years.

The detailed instructions are available on CBSA's website at http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5113-eng.html

Whoever imports the vehicle would need to declare it on their Personal Effects Accounting Document (form B4 / B4-A). If both of your names are on the title, you either both need to be present or the person not present needs to provide the one who will be importing the car with a notarized letter authorizing the import.

Here's two posts I wrote a while back that may help you plan
Process to importing your car. Note that there's one change - you need to pre-register the car for export from the US now (I'll come back with the link to those instructions)
Items to consider as you decide when to import your car

Don't hesitate to ask further questions

as long as it's listed on the B4 form for a returning canadian or new pr, there will not be a tax. there is a conveyance section on the form. the car must be listed on the declaration form (either goods with you or goods to follow), otherwise it is subject to taxes.

basically the car import is taxed when the person importing it is not returning to settle as a canadian or settling for the first time as a pr.

Both of you gave me best news I could absolutely hope for, thank you! I think we're free and clear of taxes, both cars will be older than 6 months when we move and I haven't lived in Canada since I was a toddler.

 

[saria1]

Both Officers were correct, saria1. It's all about context!

New immigrants may bring in household items (regardless of value) duty and tax free as long as they owned, used, and possessed them prior to the first time they enter Canada intending to live there for at least 12 months (may coincide with landing or be after landing, depending on circumstances). Returning Canadians may also do this with two constraints: (i) any item they did not previously export from Canada has a per-item limit of $10k; above that the returning Canadian is subject to duty and tax on that item; and (ii) items have to have been used at least 6 months unless the returning Canadian has lived abroad 5+ years.

The detailed instructions are available on CBSA's website at http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5113-eng.html

Whoever imports the vehicle would need to declare it on their Personal Effects Accounting Document (form B4 / B4-A). If both of your names are on the title, you either both need to be present or the person not present needs to provide the one who will be importing the car with a notarized letter authorizing the import.

Here's two posts I wrote a while back that may help you plan
Process to importing your car. Note that there's one change - you need to pre-register the car for export from the US now (I'll come back with the link to those instructions)
Items to consider as you decide when to import your car

Don't hesitate to ask further questions

Got a question for you, OhCandiana. The CBSA officer was also explaining we can mail off our title to the CBP export office to have the titles stamped for export, long before we move. I can't seem to find a time limit on how long that export stamp is good for, and if I will run into any issues with a title stamped for export which is still insured and and registered in the US for 6-8-10-12 months after the stamp on the title. Have you heard of anyone submitting their title and clearing the USA side for export and still using their cars for a while before they actually import the car into Canada? Or is the export/import something which is better to complete altogether?

The more bureaucratic hoops I can jump through before the big uproot, the better off we are. Thank you!

 

[borealis]

Thank you for all you've written on this, OhCanadiana! Helpful.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Got a question for you, OhCandiana. The CBSA officer was also explaining we can mail off our title to the CBP export office to have the titles stamped for export, long before we move. I can't seem to find a time limit on how long that export stamp is good for, and if I will run into any issues with a title stamped for export which is still insured and and registered in the US for 6-8-10-12 months after the stamp on the title. Have you heard of anyone submitting their title and clearing the USA side for export and still using their cars for a while before they actually import the car into Canada? Or is the export/import something which is better to complete altogether?

The more bureaucratic hoops I can jump through before the big uproot, the better off we are. Thank you!

CBP will actually stamp the title when you are at the border and the CBP Officer walks to the car and checks the VIN physically on the car at the moment you actually are exporting the car (at the border post).

As a precursor to the actual export, you need to send specific information to the border post ahead of time. That info you usually need to send to the border at least 3 days ahead of time (in some posts, 3 working days, in other posts 3 calendar days) and some border posts allow you to do so significantly ahead of time (yes, months and even a year).

I highly encourage you to get the specifics for the port you will use directly from them and follow those specific instructions (not all border posts process vehicle exports) and the requirements do vary (e.g., some want the physical title mailed to them ahead of time and will keep it for you forever until you pick it up; others just want the VIN and ITIN from AES e-mailed to them; others want a copy of the title e-mailed too). It depends on the specific border post's process to clear the car for export. As an example, take a look at http://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports/buffalo for Buffalo ... you'll see a number listed specifically for the Vehicle Export Information Hotline.

 

[saria1]

CBP will actually stamp the title when you are at the border and the CBP Officer walks to the car and checks the VIN physically on the car at the moment you actually are exporting the car (at the border post).

As a precursor to the actual export, you need to send specific information to the border post ahead of time. That info you usually need to send to the border at least 3 days ahead of time (in some posts, 3 working days, in other posts 3 calendar days) and some border posts allow you to do so significantly ahead of time (yes, months and even a year).

I highly encourage you to get the specifics for the port you will use directly from them and follow those specific instructions (not all border posts process vehicle exports) and the requirements do vary (e.g., some want the physical title mailed to them ahead of time and will keep it for you forever until you pick it up; others just want the VIN and ITIN from AES e-mailed to them; others want a copy of the title e-mailed too). It depends on the specific border post's process to clear the car for export. As an example, take a look at http://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports/buffalo for Buffalo ... you'll see a number listed specifically for the Vehicle Export Information Hotline.

It seems the only issue I see with exporting the cars months before we're ready to move, is driving both cars to the border for VIN verification. The Buffalo and Champlain borders are our closest borders, and we're looking at a 7-8 hr drive each way. Completing that task in separate cars sounds like a huge waste of our time. Thanks for the information, at least it allowed us to make an informed decision!