Buying beer in the U.S. (Questions about duty/taxes, etc.)

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:08 pm

JohnnyB wrote:How does it work then if you are staying over 48 hours? Can you bring back whatever you like with no duty at all, or are you capped at a 5 case limit still (as if that is much of a problem)?

You are allowed one case duty free, the same total limit applies.

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:11 pm

devonsleigh wrote:Bottom line though, NEVER EVER under any circumstance underreport or omit anything. I made the mistake once of not knowing the correct amount of bottles I had, I missed 5 that were in 2 gift packs, out of 19 bottles of liquor I reported. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

Are you talking about bottles of hard liquor? Or beer?

Ukie · Post by **Ukie** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:58 pm

TheSevenDuffs wrote:
devonsleigh wrote:Bottom line though, NEVER EVER under any circumstance underreport or omit anything. I made the mistake once of not knowing the correct amount of bottles I had, I missed 5 that were in 2 gift packs, out of 19 bottles of liquor I reported. It wasn't a pleasant experience.
Are you talking about bottles of hard liquor? Or beer?

All the info here:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications ... html#s2x13

But basically after 48 hours:

Alcoholic beverages
You are allowed to import only one of the following amounts of alcohol free of duty and taxes:

•1.5 litres (53 imperial ounces) of wine;
•a total of 1.14 litres (40 ounces) of alcoholic beverages; or
•up to a maximum of 8.5 litres of beer or ale.
Alcoholic beverages are products that exceed 0.5% alcohol by volume. Minimum ages for the importation of alcoholic beverages, as prescribed by provincial or territorial authorities, are 18 years for the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec and 19 years for the remaining provinces and territories.

Note
The CBSA classifies “cooler” products according to the alcoholic beverage they contain. For example, beer coolers are considered to be beer and wine coolers are considered to be wine. Alcohol and wine products not exceeding 0.5% alcohol by volume are not considered to be alcoholic beverages.

The quantities of alcohol you can bring in must be within the limit set by the province or territory where you will enter Canada. If the value of the goods is more than your personal exemption, you will have to pay both duty and taxes, as well as provincial/territorial assessments. In Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, you cannot bring in more than the quantities of alcohol allowed. For more information, contact the appropriate provincial or territorial liquor control authority before you arrive back in Canada.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:07 pm

A trip to shorts would guarantee at least a nights stay. About. 8 hours from toronto and situated nicely in the middle of nowhere. May as well go to traverse city and visit Right Brain at the same time.

Reminds me. Time for my local guide to northern michigan and the upper peninsula.

Spab · Post by **Spab** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:40 pm

The LCBO website would seem to suggest it's theoretically quite pricey when you add up the duty ($0.3122/litre), border levy ($0.676/litre) and HST (13%). See the first table ("Accompanied Importations") here: http://www.lcbo.com/contactus/importing.shtml

Or is this some creative math to make it look more expensive than it really is?

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:01 pm

Spab wrote:The LCBO website would seem to suggest it's theoretically quite pricey when you add up the duty ($0.3122/litre), border levy ($0.676/litre) and HST (13%). See the first table ("Accompanied Importations") here: http://www.lcbo.com/contactus/importing.shtml

Or is this some creative math to make it look more expensive than it really is?

Seems needlessly complicated. As other have mentioned, my experience is that duty tends to be in the range of 30% to 35% of the total value of the beer.

heebes · Post by **heebes** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:02 pm

well yeah the actual smount you pay for the duty doesnt seem as much in comparison to the amount spent on the beer (in the hundreds)

but for sure, costs me ~70 for gas alone..

ive forgotten to include a 6 pack or so from a consumers beverage reciept but provided a huge premier reciept and never had a issue...never once have they looked through me vehicle to confirm ive even purchased beer. provide the reciept when you hand over the passpost and proclaim "ive purchased x amount of bottles of CRAFT american beer at x" and it seems to go smoothly.
going into the states is often more intimidating! "what is your purpose here!?!...shopping!? dont you work!?"
coming back home; dont hide anything and expect to pay what you have to and its all smooth sailing

Kish84 · Post by **Kish84** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:58 pm

One of my recent experiences in Buffalo, less then 48 hrs. Around 35 bottles of beer, many being bombers, about $240 worth, duty and etc. was $30-ish. There were 2 of us.

I've also had great experiences where I've been waved through (with much more beer). So like said before, honesty is best, but it still depends on who you get.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:25 pm

Anyone I know who worked at the border says they're usually more looking for that guy who was in the States for an afternoon and loaded up at the Duty Free or bought his 24 of Blue for 13 bucks. One time going through Queenston/Lewiston, the exchange went like this:

Border: Total value of purchases?
Me: $131
Border: What did you buy?
Me: 12 bottles Beer
Border: You spent 131 dollars and only got 12 bottles? You know Wegmans has 18 Bottles of Canadian for 12 bucks?
Me: Yeah, this is craft beer though.
Border: Meh, You probably paid too much already. Go ahead.

No duty for me!

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:31 pm

sprague11 wrote:Anyone I know who worked at the border says they're usually more looking for that guy who was in the States for an afternoon and loaded up at the Duty Free or bought his 24 of Blue for 13 bucks. One time going through Queenston/Lewiston, the exchange went like this:

Border: Total value of purchases?
Me: $131
Border: What did you buy?
Me: 12 bottles Beer
Border: You spent 131 dollars and only got 12 bottles? You know Wegmans has 18 Bottles of Canadian for 12 bucks?
Me: Yeah, this is craft beer though.
Border: Meh, You probably paid too much already. Go ahead.

No duty for me!

You are right. They often don't care if you give them the details. I just went through on Sunday with my girlfriend and this was my conversation:

Border agent: any alchol or tobacco?
Me: Yes, 5 cases of beer in total
Her: You know you are only allowed one each?
Me: Yes I know that but we visited a brewery so we stalked up.
Her: Can I see the receipt?
Her: (after looking at the receipt): So you spend $116 on 5 cases of beer?
Me: No, that is just for one, there are two more receipts behind tha.

She didn't really know what to say at that point and just laughed and waived us through...