Quote:
Originally Posted by Rathji
Just to clarify, I have purchased items online before and they were shipped to me as a gift (and at a drastically reduced declared value) without my knowledge. In that situation, would I potentially be facing consequences, or do I need to be aware?
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I don't think there is an ongoing witch hunt on this matter, but if you didn't request it, it's kind of a grey area. Technically you still "need" to go fix the taxes owing, but no one is going to hunt you down (considering the stuff has already cleared, how would they ever know). I wouldn't sweat it.
I just don't recommend requesting such mis-statements, either a gift or a reduced value. It is NO different lying when shipping the goods versus making a false declaration at a border crossing. Sure, you might save $10 but it's sooooo not worth it.
In the OP's case, he's saving the duty value between $20 duty exempt limit and $60 gift exempt limit. So $40 x duty rate = savings. Is that worth the risk? I'd never do it.