Bringing beer back from the states.

[JerCraigs]

Well, anecdotally speaking the EASIEST way to get through is to have your friends Mom drive to Buffalo to come get you, then go through customs with her son passed out in the passenger seat declaring "I just came down to get these two drunkies." in a delightful Scottish brogue, while you are in the back seat eating chicken fingers. But that may not work for everyone...

[Kel Varnsen]

they're pretty quick to wave you through - even more so with kids.

hmmmm..... I see an opportunity

http://whois.net/whois/rentaborderkid.com
Still available

I can vouch for the kid thing working pretty good. Since my daugher was born back in 2010 I don't think I have ever been hit with duty on day trips. Then again I am usually only bringing back at most 24 beers. Most of the time we just tell them that most of the stuff we bought was baby stuff (which it usually is) and they seemed to be more concerned with making sure our daughter actually is ours. I think there was one time when she was sleeping in the car seat and the guard just looked over, saw she was sleeping and waived us through.

[JeffPorter]

and they seemed to be more concerned with making sure our daughter actually is ours. I think there was one time when she was sleeping in the car seat and the guard just looked over, saw she was sleeping and waived us through.

We have a blended family and different last names, so this comes up a lot too. They're more interested in the travel consent letters of our kids' other parents.

I guess the moral is, while you're being honest, a distraction seems to be the most helpful thing - Yes, you're bring back 48 bottles (or "two cases") but hopefully you've got a few other things as well, so it doesn't look like you just went to load your car up with stuff from Premier.

[TheBeeraholic]

I've been quite lucky. Only ever doing three cross border shops. Next one to be this August. But I never claim the full amount or dollar value of anything ever brough across the border. Driving or flying. Last trip to Buffalo, spent Saturday night drove home Sunday. Went to Southern Tier spent $100.00 and anoher $400 at Premier on stuff that I hadn't had yet. List was shown on Buffalo Haul forum or whatever. When at the border on the way back. Asked if we, my girlfriend and I, had anything to delcare. I showed the Southern Tier receipt and the hotel. Waved us on. Also supports the couples theory. When in Las Vegas I went nuts with my beer purchases. There's a video on YouTube of that hual. But I had to purchase two extra suit cases, plastic bags, and bubble wrap to make sure they didnt break with airport staff throwing around your suitcases and what not. It was even easier as you get asked what your declaring before you go and get your suitcase when you come back into pearson. That time I just said I had brought back two bottles of whiskey and sunglasses (duty shop in las vegas). If you don't get searched or ask to drive over shopping for beer across the border can save you a lot, depending on where your driving to and from ofcourse.

[Derek]

"$230 in beer?!?!"

Yeah, they'll definitely pull you over because it sounds like you're WAY OVER any personal exemption (even if you were out of the Country for a long period of time). They're picturing a dozen or so 2-4's in your trunk!

As already suggested, it's good to buy other stuff... cloths are good because they won't know what you paid unless they actually check the receipt.

If you said you spent $230 on some cloths and a case of beer, there's a MUCH greater chance they would've just waved you through!

[TheSevenDuffs]

When in Las Vegas I went nuts with my beer purchases. There's a video on YouTube of that hual. But I had to purchase two extra suit cases, plastic bags, and bubble wrap to make sure they didnt break with airport staff throwing around your suitcases and what not. It was even easier as you get asked what your declaring before you go and get your suitcase when you come back into pearson. That time I just said I had brought back two bottles of whiskey and sunglasses (duty shop in las vegas). If you don't get searched or ask to drive over shopping for beer across the border can save you a lot, depending on where your driving to and from ofcourse.

IMO that is terrible advice. Never blatantly lie. Never. If you round down by a couple of bottles or fail to disclose the size of the bottles voluntarily, you can always claim ignorance. But if you outright lie and you get caught, not only can they confiscate the beer (and they likely will) but you will be black flagged and searched EVERY TIME you cross any border. Not worth it IMO.

You got lucky in this instance. And you will be lucky in those circumstances 9 times out of 10. But all it takes is that one time that you get searched and you are screwed. The funny thing about your story is that had you declrared your whiskey and your beer you'd have likely been waived through anyway. Worst case scenario is paying duty on part of your haul and you can minimize it by declaring your exemption towards the most expensive portion of your haul.

[grub]

IMO that is terrible advice. Never blatantly lie. Never. If you round down by a couple of bottles or fail to disclose the size of the bottles voluntarily, you can always claim ignorance. But if you outright lie and you get caught, not only can they confiscate the beer (and they likely will) but you will be black flagged and searched EVERY TIME you cross any border. Not worth it IMO.

agreed. i didn't mention it explicitly above, but the #1 rule is never lie. rounding/simplfying in their favour is no biggie, but outright lying is a bad bad idea. not only can they do the above, but they can rip your car apart and even impound it. it's just not worth it to save a few bucks worth of duty, especially if following most of the suggestions in this thread will get you off 90% of the time anyway.

[cratez]

In our last 11 trips the lady and I have escaped paying duty. I keep waiting for the Day of Reckoning to come but so far it hasn't arrived (touch wood). Basically everything that TheSevenDuffs and grub mentioned on the first page is all you need to know. It's not a complicated process if you do things right, and being honest will likely bring you a lot of luck in the form of unexpected wave-throughs. That's been our experience, anyway.

[TheBeeraholic]

IMO it really depends on how much I was brining across. A two four valued at $80 yeah no problem, more than likely you'll pass through. Tell the boarder patrol your brining back $500 in beer.. You will more than likely be paying duty and like mentioned about rough number of 30% an extra $150? No thanks. I'll roll the dice every time. I've always wondered though a friend of mines mother was red flagged after black Friday shopping. She was under the impression your license plate gets put into the database, is that the case?

[grub]

IMO it really depends on how much I was brining across. A two four valued at $80 yeah no problem, more than likely you'll pass through. Tell the boarder patrol your brining back $500 in beer.. You will more than likely be paying duty and like mentioned about rough number of 30% an extra $150? No thanks. I'll roll the dice every time. I've always wondered though a friend of mines mother was red flagged after black Friday shopping. She was under the impression your license plate gets put into the database, is that the case?

these days it's more likely it gets flagged on your passport, and when they zip it through the barcode reader they'd see it... who knows... if so, you'd also be screwing everyone you ever travel with after that, which seems justified to me. makes more sense than associating it with a plate that can change.

if you follow the suggestions here you're likely to get through even with $500 in beer. that's the entire point of the discussion. on saturday after only being away for 4 hours i claimed $550 in the car and was waved through, even when i said 2.5 cases of beer was included in that. they didn't ask, so it could well have been $50 in clothes+groceries and $500 in beer. and if you're gone 48hr, you get a case per person for free, making that $500 even less scary.

you can do what you like, but you're playing russian roulette. i know i wouldn't cross with you doing that. even paying a one-shot $150 after 10 free trips is nothing - that's $15 per crossing and i'm sure we can all handle that. at this point, it's likely less than 1/10 that i get pulled in, and generally it's fairly blatant+expected when i do.

[mintjellie]

So what do they do if you don't have a receipt showing the value of your beer purchase? Do they charge by volume instead?

[Derek]

Yeah, never outright lie...

I went to Jamaica in '97 and brought back 4 bottles of rum (3 of them were only 12 USD total, so I couldn't resist). I only declared 2 because the limit was 1.14L or something. They tore apart everything (I think they were looking for ganga).

They only charged me the duty, but did flag my passport. I was hassled for years after that... and I use to be a fairly clean cut kid! I'm pretty sure I was pulled aside EVERY time for about 5 years. I'm not sure if that was tied to the specific passport (and I finally got it renewed), or if there is a time limit on their record?

[Derek]

So what do they do if you don't have a receipt showing the value of your beer purchase? Do they charge by volume instead?

I'm not sure what they do for HST purposes (13%), but Ontario's beer markup is only 67.6 cents per liter, with a 45 L limit (that's why it's crucial to state the volume, and not the ridiculous price we pay for these rare treats).

http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm- ... -6-eng.pdf

On edit, I forgot the federal excise tax of 31.22 cents per litre:
http://www.lcbo.com/importing/

[grub]

So what do they do if you don't have a receipt showing the value of your beer purchase? Do they charge by volume instead?

they'll usually ask you to estimate the value for HST purposes, and they can give you a hard time about it (so "losing" your receipts isn't a good play either). i think the law states that you MUST have a receipt for anything you bring in, and i'd bet they can confiscate things that you have no proof for. i always hang on to my receipts where possible, but in the cases where i've brought beer from canada and done trades, i was honest about that and told them the value of the cdn stuff i'd brought over. they suggested in the future i might want to hang on to the cdn receipts for reference.

i also find that if you have long mixed receipts (beer and non-beer) they quickly get frustrated and ask you to tell them the volume and cost of the beer. if they just grab the total you get charged on top of the bottle deposits and state taxes too - especially painful if you've got a $30-50 keg deposit or two! if they want to stick to the letter of the law, they should do each bottle's volume/cost/abv separately as the rates do differ (found this out bringing in a case of KRE many years back - expensive little 6oz bottles with high abv = major duty).

[JeffPorter]

So what do they do if you don't have a receipt showing the value of your beer purchase? Do they charge by volume instead?

they'll usually ask you to estimate the value for HST purposes, and they can give you a hard time about it (so "losing" your receipts isn't a good play either). i think the law states that you MUST have a receipt for anything you bring in, and i'd bet they can confiscate things that you have no proof for. i always hang on to my receipts where possible, but in the cases where i've brought beer from canada and done trades, i was honest about that and told them the value of the cdn stuff i'd brought over. they suggested in the future i might want to hang on to the cdn receipts for reference.

i also find that if you have long mixed receipts (beer and non-beer) they quickly get frustrated and ask you to tell them the volume and cost of the beer. if they just grab the total you get charged on top of the bottle deposits and state taxes too - especially painful if you've got a $30-50 keg deposit or two! if they want to stick to the letter of the law, they should do each bottle's volume/cost/abv separately as the rates do differ (found this out bringing in a case of KRE many years back - expensive little 6oz bottles with high abv = major duty).

Also - I don't think they would believe you if you "lost" the receipt - especially on such a short trip. Most customs staff would realize that your receipt was somewhere in your pocket or in your car and just ding you for another lie, whether it's true or not. Not worth it, IMO.

Maybe I've just been lucky and have had pretty decent experiences with these people, but it's like when the police pull you over for speeding - most cops just want you to be humble and admit it, rather than complaining. Customs agents can often tell when you're trying to be sneaky.

Be honest.
Be doing something else - Bills Game.
Travel with a woman and/or kids.
Estimate quantity (I also like the rounding up of cases - nice one!)

Finally, in terms of money spent, it also helps to have a wife tapping her toe at a bottle shop to make sure you DON'T spend $500-$600 on something that's going to turn to pee.