buying tires in the US - duty?? tax???
 

any one kno what tax/duty you have to pay when brining tires back across the border??

If the tire is made in the USA do I still pay duty or just GST?

any info would be great

thanks

its really random depending on which border guard you get. sometimes i've gone through with out paying a thing but if the tire is actually made in the us you only pay the tax. if its made in japan you have to pay a 7% duty on top of the tax.

There aren't many tires made in the USA. But if they are, you pay GST and PST.

If it is made outside of the NAFTA, you pay 6.5% duty AND GST and PST.

so expect to pay duty and taxes, if the CBSA let you go that is your luck.

depends if you are replacing your current tires (no need to declare) and if you are getting an additional set (ie. winter tires)
i've gotten a second set before and decalred but never taxed

depends on the border guard.. you do have 50$ spending exemption per person
but you can't combine your exemptions. also if you spent more than 50$, u will get fully taxed.

If you visit the US for a week, u get like 750$ exemption or so.

I never get dinged for duty other than GST PST for the sets of tires I've purchased for my fleet over the years.....

None of them are made in USA. I think the rule is that because it's purchased through a US company (discount tire direct) they assume the duty was paid at port entry

If you are caught with your new tires, you may be dinged for not declaring them (as you did not purchase them in Canada and you will be using it in the "Canadian market")

Regardless of your place of purchase, if the goods are made outside North America, duty has to be paid. Just because US charged duty for them, that doesn't mean Canada has charged it yet. So you still pay duties. But those are usually under the discretion of the officer who greeted you.

^

except the chance of getting busted having a new set of tires is like 0.0000000000000000000000001, the chance of getting strike by lighting.

You could of say that you got new tires before you enter US property, or do some mad burnt out.

either way they cant do shit to prove that you just bought it

what if you got new breaks installed? they gonna take it about ur caliper just to see if u have new pads? or new exhaust?

It has happened before that if they suspect that you installed new tires and you claimed you got them installed before hand, they will make you pay taxes right there but it will be refundable once you provide the receipts.

Having said that, just have some common sense and wash away the shiny grease. The chances of them catching you is small.

^

exactly, its really hard for them to catch you for installing new tires

Armorall tire shine? ;)

I purchased and transported new tires across the border in my trunk and declared them. Just had to pay the usual sales tax and no duty was applied. My friend did the same thing. Both occurrences were this year.

At Pt. Roberts, I've always been taxed, and a few times charged duty on my tires. It all depends on the person and if they are nice, they will not charge you the duty.

I use Blaine now because most of the time they don't charge me duty even if they do charge me tax but there has been a few times where they didn't charge me any tax.

Replacing your current tires is NOT official grounds for not declaring your purchase. They CAN make you pay duty on your tires, even if they did replace your old ones.

Just to clarify, you DO NOT get a $50 exemption for being in the US for < than 24h. If you are in the US for less than 24h, you are legally entitled to being back NOTHING.
<24h = $0
24h = $50
48h = $400
7 days = $750

Anything above those numbers is grace given by the border guard.

if u drove back to the border with new tires, don't have to declare, just slap some mud on it to make it look used

True.. there are a number of things you could do, I just didn't want anyone driving back and explaining to the guard that the new tires replaced their old ones, and then they get busted anyways.

nope, you're wrong, you have to declare that

you shouldn't have to pay duty, only tax (pst + gst), as when a good is imported into mexico, or hte US, the duties should be paid then at which point it becomes a NAFTA harmonized good, meaning it can be sold to US, Canada, Mexico with no additional duties

many border guards do not know this, and consider you as importing it directly from the country of origin - you, at this point, need to educate them on how NAFTA work - its amazing how they don't seem to get it (its worked for me, i learnt about this in my econ undergrad, has saved me $$$)

JUST READ THIS POST, and erase all the other ones off your brain.

to add, i would buy spend a weekend in portland and install it on sunday (but that limits you to only walmart and firestone because most tire places close on sundays)

the tax savings will pay for your 2 nights stay in portland.

i have bought all my tires in the states. it's about half the price buying down south.

This is interesting.. do you have any links that can provide a little more reading on the topic?
Maybe they use different terminology now, but I googled "NAFTA harmonized good", and there were 0 results found.

not entirely true. I was told that if you for to change out your tires or did any kind of vehicle maintenance while in the USA due to safety issues, you could theoretically get off w/o paying. aka, you blew a tire or found it was unsafe to use due to it's low tread. or if your brakes were squealing and you needed new pads to safely get back to Canada.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/new-neuf/...09-28-eng.html

Actually, you don't if its less than 24 hours.

Ship to Point Roberts. Pick up. Drive back across border. Profit on the dollar.

Mounting:
Just rub off the coloured dots on the sidewall.
Find some gravel, drive on it. Get those bitches real dusty, and drive back.

If you want, you can pull off those little rubber tips that stick out from the tread on a new tire.

What I did was drive straight down to Bellingham, got the tires done, continued on my trip to Seattle, and drove back. It looked used by the time I got back.


Not Mounting:
- Pt Roberts
- Drive it back
- PAy duties and whatever fees are incurred.
- You still save at least $50. I've saved about $200 on one set. I recently hauled a bunch of tires in my friends truck. We saved like $500? Tires are CHEAPPP in the States.

That's not true. I'm a commercial importer and goods made outside of Canada, US, and Mexico that are dutiable do not qualify for NAFTA benefit, even where the point of entry is in Washington State.

Heck, even goods that are made in US/Canada are subject to content analysis and audit by the folks at CBSA trade compliance division.

CBSA officers at borders usually don't bother with duty for personal imports, and they often find the most general tariff classification that are non-dutiable. It depends on your luck.

do you have any links to information on this - the whole idea of NAFTA is to increase the ease of trade within north america, I had a NAFTA specialist from Washington DC teach this course, and this is exactly how he laid it out

As others have said, it all comes down to the border guard. Some charge you duty. Some won't. Almost always you'll be charged tax though.

As for those who say get the tires installed in the US and don't declare, yes the risk is small you'll get caught. But if you're caught, you'll wish you paid the duty and tax. It's not worth the risk, in my opinion.

I've heard rumours that tire shops in Washington will tip report cars with Canadian plates getting tires installed. No idea if it's true or not, but still.

Personally I've been stopped and when they searched the car, the guy shined flashlights on our shoes to see how new they were. Some border guards are crazy.