Rete

That's where my engagement ring was bought and on a trip to Ottawa to visit Jim we went to pick out the wedding ring and I fell in love with one on the spot. They also have a great online catalogue.

Rete

Mrtravel

Sioneva wrote:
    > Lest I sound like an idiot, yes, I have been in and out of the country,
    > many, many times. As I recall, the amount of the exemption is fairly
    > high, at least entering into the US, as my engagement ring was well
    > under the limit for "items acquired abroad". If the cost of the ring is
    > going to cause problems, then by all means the original poster should
    > either pay the duty or buy the ring in Canada.

The free limit for US customs in most cases is only $400.

nickson

Mrtravel, read the memo again. Engagement rings are allowed 12 months in Canada.

Targaff

"Andy Platt" wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > "Sioneva" wrote in message
    > news:423900.1032882973@britishexpa-
    > ts.com    ...
    >> This might be a stupid question, but why would they even know that
    >> he's bringing an engagement ring across the border? Why would it
    >> really matter? So far as I recall, they don't ask at the checkpoint
    >> "Are you carrying an engagement ring for your fiance?" If he says
    >> that he's entering for pleasure, to visit a friend/girlfriend (which
    >> he is) then I can't see it being an issue.
    > There's a name for that ... smuggling

Why is that smuggling? He's not bringing anything in illegally. As for
his reasons for bringing it, there's lying and being economic with the
truth: if they asked what it was for and he said it was a gift, how is
that any different from them asking the purpose of his visit and his
saying he was visiting friends? Funny, but I see that advised quite
frequently in the "Help, can I visit???" threads, and apart from the time
I actually had a B1/B2 visa in my passport (which specifically stated i
was visiting "AmCit HRempel"), they never even blinked.

--

Targaff

Targaff

Rete wrote in news:424417.1032917888
@britishexpats.com:

    > Nothing simple about that at all. From experience sending birthday and
    > xmas presents to Canada to stepson and grandson, you have to pay duty.

FWIW, I have never, ever even once been asked to pay any duty on goods
sent as gifts to the US. Furthermore, I wasn't even asked to pay anything
when I had two bottles of whisky (that's 1.5l, folks, like, half again
the legal import amount) airmailed to someone in the US. Maybe I just got
lucky, but eh... if he's so bothered about it, why doesn't he just wear
the ring himself as he goes across the border?

I have to wonder about the customs and immigration bods at the Canadian
border if this is all they spend their time worrying about... I guess if
they had their hands full with all those Canadians wanting to immigrate
to the Land of the 'Free' their work would be a bit more meaningful, but
I can't see that happening somehow.

[I am now predicting *precisely* what is going to get said in reply to
this...]

--

Targaff

Targaff

Targaff wrote in
news:Xns9294678799D-
[email protected]:

Oh yeah, disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, nor do I have any desire to be. What
I am doing is telling it how it is in reality, kinda like the Alvena page
does but without the warnings. If you want to take that advice - or, in
fact, the advice of most of the people on the newsgroup - that's your call;
at the end of the day, if they ask you about it at the border, saying "but
they said I should do this on the newsgroup" isn't going to cut the
mustard, clearly.

--

Targaff

Rete

I know it sucks big time when we send gifts, wrapped in xmas and birthday presents, fill out the forms as gifts, list the items and even send the receipts to Jim's son to have when he picks them up and charge him duty on it. They allow one gift. Anything else is charged duty. We have found a round about way to do it so his sister mails it for us from Quebec province to NS.

Rete

Andy Platt

"Targaff" wrote:

    > > There's a name for that ... smuggling
    > Why is that smuggling? He's not bringing anything in illegally. As for

No, you are wrong. Bringing an engagement ring bought in the US across into
Canada as a gift without declaring *is* illegal and it *is* smuggling. There
is no other word for it. Smuggling, smuggling, smuggling.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.

mca

Actually, I believe it's the receiver of the gifts who pays the duties, not the sender. I paid duties on a few things that were sent to me in Germany, when I lived there, but the people who sent me the gifts didn't pay anything other than what it cost to mail it. Likewise, when I sent gifts to the US, I was never asked to pay any duties ... I don't know if the people I sent them to did.

Mrtravel

Targaff wrote:

    > Why is that smuggling? He's not bringing anything in illegally. As for
    > his reasons for bringing it, there's lying and being economic with the
    > truth:

You are required to report items that you are bringing into the country
that
will remain in the country after you leave... Failure to do so is a
crime.
Odds are you won't get caught, but that doesn't make it legal.

Mrtravel

Targaff wrote:
    > Rete wrote in news:424417.1032917888
    > @britishexpats.com:
    > > Nothing simple about that at all. From experience sending birthday and
    > > xmas presents to Canada to stepson and grandson, you have to pay duty.
    > FWIW, I have never, ever even once been asked to pay any duty on goods
    > sent as gifts to the US. Furthermore, I wasn't even asked to pay anything
    > when I had two bottles of whisky (that's 1.5l, folks, like, half again
    > the legal import amount) airmailed to someone in the US. Maybe I just got
    > lucky, but eh... if he's so bothered about it, why doesn't he just wear
    > the ring himself as he goes across the border?

Why shouldn't Canada be concerned about people not paying duty?
After all, if the ring had been purchased in Canada, then Canada would
have
gotten the duty from the commercial importer. There is no difference
here.

Mrtravel

nickson wrote:
    > Originally posted by Mrtravel:
    > > Sioneva wrote:
    > > > This might be a stupid question, but why would they even know that
    > > > he's
    > > > bringing an engagement ring across the border? Why would it really
    > > > matter? So far as I recall, they don't ask at the checkpoint "Are
    > > > you
    > > > carrying an engagement ring for your fiance?" If he says that he's
    > > > entering for pleasure, to visit a friend/girlfriend (which he is)
    > > > then I
    > > > can't see it being an issue.
    > >
    > > Have you never visited a foreign country or returned to the US and
    > > been
    > > faced with Custom's forms, or other declarations of what you are
    > > bringing into the country?
    > > You don't get to bring in whatever gifts you feel like bringing. You
    > > may
    > > not get caught, but that doesn't make it legal.
    > >
    > > So, you fill out E29B for the ring.
    > > At the POE, you get 15 days to bring the ring back to the US.
    > > This period can be extended up to a year.
    > >
    > Mrtravel, read the memo again. Engagement rings are allowed 12 months
    > in Canada.

I did read the memo.
It says you need to file the paper to bring them in.
It further says this is good for 15 days.
It then goes on to say you can extend it for up to a year.
Yes, they can be kept in Canada for a year, with paperwork...

Which memo did you read?

Chris

*nod* it is the receiver that pays the duty, which is completely rediculous
when you're trying to send a gift. Sending a gift that has to be paid for
is just rediculous, I wish they would just send the duty bill to the sender
or charge it when it's being sent, it would make life much easier. (and make
more sense.. but hey, since when has -any- gov't made sense *grin*

Chris.

"mca" wrote in message
news:424908.1032965391@britishexpats-
.com...
    > Originally posted by Targaff:
    > > FWIW, I have never, ever even once been asked to pay any duty on goods
    > > sent as gifts to the US. Furthermore, I wasn't even asked to pay
    > > anything when I had two bottles of whisky (that's 1.5l, folks, like,
    > > half again the legal import amount) airmailed to someone in the US.
    > > Maybe I just got lucky, but eh...
    > >
    > Actually, I believe it's the receiver of the gifts who pays the duties,
    > not the sender. I paid duties on a few things that were sent to me in
    > Germany, when I lived there, but the people who sent me the gifts didn't
    > pay anything other than what it cost to mail it. Likewise, when I sent
    > gifts to the US, I was never asked to pay any duties ... I don't know if
    > the people I sent them to did.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Targaff

"Andy Platt" wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > No, you are wrong. Bringing an engagement ring bought in the US across
    > into Canada as a gift without declaring *is* illegal and it *is*
    > smuggling. There is no other word for it. Smuggling, smuggling,
    > smuggling.

Eh, y'all are weird ;p So sue me, it's the first time I've heard of a
country doing that and to be quite frank I think it's pretty daft.
Requiring payment on that basis is no different in principle to people who
work in multiple countries getting hit for double taxation here, which
equally sucks. If you can get something cheaper elsewhere, then it should
be available to everyone at that price if they can get it. That applies
doubly so to gifts...

--

Targaff

Targaff

mrtravel wrote in
news:[email protected]
net:

    > Why shouldn't Canada be concerned about people not paying duty?

Market forces? Them's the breaks. It's no different from someone here in the UK,
say, buying a CD or game from Amazon and having it shipped over here because it's
cheaper to do that than to go to the local HMV and get it there instead. Similarly,
I don't think that you should be taxed on that if you get more than ~ 3 CDs, which
is where it is at the moment. By and large, the taxes imposed aren't protecting the
country they're imposed in, they're protecting the interests of the people who
impose them; if that's what's required to maintain an artificially high pricing and
taxation level, it reveals far more about the country making the imposition than the
person who tries - or indeed needs - to get around them.

When it comes down to it, sales has always been about barter, and money is just a
nominally accepted method of representing that trade. It's only with the
introduction of bureaucracy that those additional costs are imposed - costs that
could by and large be avoided on both parts if the same bureacracy weren't involved.

Maybe that sounds somewhat idealist, but ultimately, I just find it really - how to
put this - unsavoury that people who for whatever reason do find themselves with
business on an international scale, right the way from the individuals like those on
this newsgroup up, get ripped off at pretty much every turn, through no fault of
their own. If the guy wants to get an engagement ring and finds the one he wants at
a reasonable price, good for him; if I want to work in a different country for
personal or professional reasons - and both of those apply - then neither should I
be punished for that. You pay your fees in the location they're due and that's it -
the exchange is done and it's no-one else's business any more.

Pff, I'm rambling... 2am syndrome.

--

Targaff