Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek Sutton
The limit is 24 beer or 1 liter of hard alcohol/ person. Duty is paid based on alcohol content. Brand name beer is about 3-4% so the duty is not worth the paper work most of the time. Is works out to about $3 or $4 per 24 pack. This will let you know how much you could be charged, they can also charge you with a "retailer equalization fee" or some BS charge.
http://www.canadiandutycalculator.ca/ |
I haven't paid duty on beer yet, but any time I was there for the day and bought a case they told me the duty would be more than what the beer costs here. I have always replied with "Yes, I know. It's beer I can't buy in Canada so I'm willing to pay for it." So far no officer has ever called me on it. I'd be curious to know how much that retailer eq fee is.
The only time I was close I had my beer on the same receipt as about $200 worth of groceries. The officer commented that there was more junk food than groceries (I guess implying GST) and I said something along the lines of one person's junk is another person's groceries. As he scanned the 3 foot long receipt up and down he must have realized how much effort it was going to take. Most officers say something nice like "I'll give you a break" or "have a good evening", this guy stuffed the receipt into my passport and pretty much flung it at me and said "just go."
I wasn't sure if I should be happy or a little scared.