crossing the border.. citizen but not a resident resident, citizen, crossing, border, not

cinderelly

A friend of mine is a Canadian Citizen but has since moved back to HK for about 3 years now.
She will be back for a short visit and we plan to head down to the USA to shop and return within the same day.
My question is that will she need to pay duties and taxes when we declare our purchases at the border even if she is not a resident?

i checked with the canada border services agency's website but i couldn't really find any info on that. it only mentions that if you're away from canada for PART of the year.. then yes, you'll still need to pay because the other country treats you as a visitor.
but in my friend's case she's actually a visitor to canada cuz she lives and works in hk. she's not a resident of canada

does anyone know..? thanks in advance =)

cinderelly

hm. is it possible to enter the US with a canadian passport, and return with a HK passport?? she'll need to apply for a visa to enter the US then, am i right..?

cinderelly

im really not trying to fool or trick them!
cuz i know my friend will be buying quite a lot. so we just wanted to know for sure whether she's exempt from being taxed cuz she's a non resident. she doesn't even have health care anymore so i find it unreasonable if she's getting taxed cuz she's not benefiting from it at all..
i wasn't even thinking of buying stuff and then tell the border officers that it wasn't my stuff..!

but anyhow, i ended up calling the office and the lady on the line told me that it would be a great idea if my friend could bring along some proof to show that she is indeed living in HK permanently and therefore is a non-resident of canada. but she also said it's actually entirely up to the officer to decide whether she'll need to be taxed or not =\ each officer has his/her own discretion.. is what she told me

and thanks~ everyone for their input =)

cinderelly

in case anyone was wondering, (i remembered cuz someone brought up the issue regarding tax exemption~)
my friend did NOT get taxed at the end and her total was $350.
when she got off the plane at yvr she asked the customs officer and he told her just tell any officer that she's not a resident. and there shouldn't be a problem.
and so we did, she brought along her employment record from HK as well just in case. but the officer at the peace arch border believed us (he did not ask for proof as well) and didn't question us anymore~ =D