moosemeadows

Hey everyone. Just been working my way through the wiki and all the info on Goods To Follow lists and I'm in a bit of a quandary. We are emigrating to Canada via the Self-Employed route, as photographers. As such, we own numerous cameras, associated computers, and we also own quite a lot of lab equipment for processing photographic film. Some of the lab equipment is fairly large and heavy. Much of the equipment is very hard to come by and so it's not an option to leave it in the UK and buy replacements in Canada. I understand the basis of the Goods To Follow process but I am unclear on exactly how I would classify quite a lot of our items, given that items used for commercial purposes can't be brought in as personal effects. My problem is that even if we weren't establishing ourselves as photographers in Canada, I would still be bringing in all these items mentioned above...every item is used commercially by us but also when we're out taking photographs for personal enjoyment...For example I can't say my cameras are for business use only, because as a photographer I'm always going to have a camera for personal use too. The same goes for the computers...I would always have those computers for personal use, but I also use them for business. The same again for the lab equipment...we use it commercially but it's also used for every personal photo we take and if I no longer operated a business in this field I would still be using all the equipment.

I have looked up the classification of all the various photographic equipment and as it happens, they are all classed as 'Free' in terms of the import tariff. So that seems to be good news. What I am not clear on is how to find out what goods tax rate could be due on the items...and indeed, where things stand given that all items are both personal as well as commercial.

Does anyone have any experience with regard to what seems like a grey area? And also how I can find out realistically what tax might be due? If it comes down to valuing the items, do I have to present original purchase receipts or can I 'guestimate'? While I'm keen to reduce/eliminate import/goods tax, I also don't want to cause undue stress in 'hoping for the best'...I'd rather know what I'm doing is legit!

Sorry, I know there are a lot of questions in one post!

Former Lancastrian

Basically if CBSA decided to charge taxes it would be based on a fair market value of the goods in Canadian dollars and assess HST or GST/PST (approx 15%) on goods they don't deem to be personal in nature.
The tricky part is determining which are personal/dual use and which are solely used for commercial purposes.
Basically present the list with approx values and hope you get a CBSA officer who will use good judgement as to the use of the items.
You won't get a definitive answer on this site.