Beer from a U.S. day trip

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:40 pm

cannondale wrote: "You paid $102 for 26 bottles of beer? No, you've gotta pay some tax. " Seemed I was being punished for my lack of thrift, as opposed to an adherance to importation laws.

I somehow managed to spend $250 on 38 bottles. I knew I was going to get hit with duty if he asked the value of the beer, but he didn't. He was just a dick who was going to make me pay duty regardless. Oh well.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 11:03 pm

Hmm, well Cannondale if your made it back with 26 beers, and for this Sin against GOD AND COUNTRY they did not dissassemble your entire vehicle or strip-search the two of you caressingly for hours, leaving you with horrible lasting abuse memories, I think you did OK.

Seriously, I don't give a sh-t anymore what Customs thinks or what they do, and because I don't care they usually give me a break.

Sil · Post by **Sil** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:04 pm

Two weeks ago we managed to bring back 45 bottles and not get sent to secondary to pay up. The customs agent didn't even ask many questions. WIN

Sunday an impromptu trip to Buffalo netted 24 bottles and a full interrogation, wherein we had to produce our receipt. At which point the following hillarity ensued:

Agent: What's all this 'Southern Tier' on your receipt?
Sil: It's beer.
Agent: $7 for a bottle of beer?
Sil: It's *good* beer.

We were let through eventually, without paying duty, but the agent in question was seriously hard-assed.

I heard that the border agents are on high-alert due to the 9/11 anniversary coming up. Good times.

andrewrg · Post by **andrewrg** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:06 pm

All of this hoohah at the border makes me glad I stayed for 48 hours on my beer run.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:06 pm

icemachine wrote:
sprague11 wrote:I was told to expect to pay dollar for dolar coming back from minnesota if I was there less than 48 hours
Might be true if you're buying a $15 pack of Blue, but that's only due to the fact they ding you more for the large producers. Wonder who keeps track of the size of brewery production for all the US Craft breweries.

I figured that applies to our local crossings, but Peace River is a different animal altogether.

A friend went over to MN via Thunder Bay for an afternoon yesterday and brought back 8 cans of Surly Furious at 23 bucks, and paid another 23 in taxes.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:56 pm

He's getting screwed. No way it should be anything like that. He should take the LCBO form in if he is doing it in the future and show them exactly what he should be paying and demand an explanation if it is a penny more.

NRman · Post by **NRman** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:03 pm

icemachine wrote:He's getting screwed. No way it should be anything like that. He should take the LCBO form in if he is doing it in the future and show them exactly what he should be paying and demand an explanation if it is a penny more.

or not....

bufordsbest · Post by **bufordsbest** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 3:05 pm

i routinely go over, have dinner, pick up 3 six packs and have yet to pay.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 3:44 pm

That last post makes me think -- the more off-handed you can make your beer purchase sound (because you mainly went there to shop for X and Y housewares, you were dining etc) - the less likely the Customs are to get specific about the beer.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 9:49 am

Good point. Last trip to BUffalo we picked up a couple dresses for my fiancee's bridesmaids. Grabbed a six pack of Great Lakes Oktoberfest and a 4 pack of Old Rasputin. Paid 34 bucks in taxes on the dresses, but customs couldn't have cared less about the beer and I paid $0.00 in taxes for that.

mooner · Post by **mooner** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 9:10 pm

Belgian wrote:That last post makes me think -- the more off-handed you can make your beer purchase sound (because you mainly went there to shop for X and Y housewares, you were dining etc) - the less likely the Customs are to get specific about the beer.

Right there.

Them: "Anything to declare?"

Me: "$100 in whatever from wherever, a tank of gas and a case of beer from the party store."

Them: "See ya later."

Has worked at least twice a month for the last 5 or so years, never once paid duty on anything. I don't know how far everyone is from the border, but the savings in merely $100 in groceries and a tank of gas over there offsets the cost of fuel and bridge fare used during the drive. Thats to say nothing of the enjoyment of a case of far better quality beer than you can get from the elsie.

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:22 pm

Belgian wrote: That last post makes me think -- the more off-handed you can make your beer purchase sound (because you mainly went there to shop for X and Y housewares, you were dining, etc) - the less likely the Customs are to get specific about the beer.

My experience has been the opposite. The lady and I have done 7 trips across the border in the last 10 months and every time we've either declared a single case between the two of us or one case each (the logic being that they'll assume it's a 24 of Bud Light). Only once did the Customs Officer ask about the type of beer I bought and how much I paid, and even then I didn't get taxed. But 7 recent trips without duty has me suspecting that I'll be paying big time on the next run!

pushkinwow · Post by **pushkinwow** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:06 am

Have had some interesting experiences coming back from the US into Ontario. The most beer you can bring into Ontario is 45 litres (this actually applies to all alcohol) plus your duty free allowance (1 case) before its considered importing for commercial purposes. Dollar amount doesn't seem to matter but if you are there for 48 hours I highly recommend taking your most expensive beers and making a custom case to declare as duty free (friend declared a 24 of Angel’s share last year coming back from Philly and that eliminated $375 from his total beer bill). I find the best way to deal with things is just to be honest – answer what ever questions they have, if they don’t ask then no worries, and be prepared with receipts, bottle count and total litres just in case. Without the duty free case I would say its closer to 30% total duty but sometimes it can work out to as little as a 10% premium, especially with our dollar being so high right now and a nice very high priced 24 that you declare as your duty free allowance.

burningrome · Post by **burningrome** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 11:38 am

Just back from a long weekend at Watkins Glen and Horseheads, NY....brought back Ithaca Casca-Zilla, Magic Hat Blind Faith IPA, and Southern Tier Raspberry Wheat. Of those, the Casca-Zilla was the best. Another tasty one was Ithaca Flower Power IPA I had on tap, very citrus hop action! No worries about bringing it in via Lewiston....

Hopaholic · Post by **Hopaholic** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 5:18 pm

I just went over today, finally got to try some pumpkin ale. I picked up a 6 of smuttynose pumpkin and a 22oz of pumpking but there at least a half dozen different pumpkin beers over there right now. Also tons of octoberfest. I also grabbed a mixed 12 from Ithica brewery. As usual I paid no duty.