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
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
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
but ... as long as it is TAX related .. they are smart ass ! (oops.. ass anyway )
My parents and brother come here with british passport, and just using that, not even bring their Canadian passport anyway ... same as when going to US, then back to Canada .. no tax at all, however need to pay $10 US or something like that ...
( then no tax in seattle, since I am albertian! lol )
This is true for any boarder crossing/dealing with custom officers.
It's same bad if you screw up with US custom and will be search and questioned every single time.....
how did your friend declare non-resident? did she report it on her last tax return, return her driver license &.... I mean did she declare non-resident officially or she just left canada and didn't file tax return. she doesn't need to pay any duty if she is an official non-resident. if not, they may question her.
my friend got question when she came back from hk and they marked down all the valuable items that she has and make sure she would take them with her when she left canada.
they questioned her when she came back from the state, but she didn't require to pay taxes on the stuffs she brought.
發表於 2009-9-23 11:28
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