# No Tax for you when you buy from washington



## Baos (Apr 22, 2010)

Time to break out the champagne for you guys!! 









http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/1006...umbia_bc_washington_state_sales_tax_exemption

I think it's just odd because most news stories I read are about encouraging usa to buy stuff from us. Must be the new way of our economy with the usa enticing us to buy from them!!


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## kelly528 (Apr 21, 2010)

Haha! I'm off to there tomorrow... probably too early but it will make shopping in Bellingham all the sweeter in the future!

I hope those asses behind the HST tax realise they shot themselves in the foot now!!! Stacking taxes on BC shoppers while the USA takes them off! 


Hmmm... where to purchase the laptop I was planning on buying in BC? Pssst... there's no duties on electronics is there?


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## cpool (Apr 30, 2010)

Sweet, I do most of my shopping their, that should save me a fortune!


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## pacific (Apr 21, 2010)

kelly528 said:


> Hmmm... where to purchase the laptop I was planning on buying in BC? Pssst... there's no duties on electronics is there?


Probably no duty, but they'll still ding you at the border for the GST and PST/HST. Unless you've been away long enough, or your purchase is small enough dollar-value that they can't be bothered. I'd expect a laptop to be worth their while to send you inside to collect though.


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## Baos (Apr 22, 2010)

I found when *smuggling* things over the border. No insurance and poor labeling help. Yes it is smuggling. And the sellers on ebay would rather have your good feedback rather than "it didn't arrive". The best one was from ordering some live plant seeds, it was wrapped in bubble wrap of an exact boxy kind of size. Was labeled 'wedding photos'. It was most likely desmodium gyranis but so long ago my memory fails me.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

kelly528 said:


> I hope those asses behind the HST tax realise they shot themselves in the foot now!!!


Not to be too political here, but they've been doing that since they first clinched power.... The list of times they've shot themselves in the foot is quite comical, almost as comical as the fact they've managed to keep winning with their amount of over stretched credibility gaps. Arrogance is the way to win apparently... Thats BC politics for you!


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

you might want to look up the rules as far as what you can bring back dollar value wise and how long you have to stay in the states in order to do that.
unless your good at smuggling your just going to have to pay gst/pst and duty at the border, + gas.
from what i remember if you stay 48 hrs your allowed to bring back 200 bucks worth, a week is 700 bucks.


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## alym (Apr 21, 2010)

Nothing has changed due to HST in the USA - their laws have remained the same. What has changed is that now that OUR sales tax (not flow-through tax) is below 3%, we are now exempt from the sales tax in the US (Alberta, for example, has been exempt for quite some time).

The amounts that the Canadian Gov't charges upon brining goods back across the border remains the same (well, other than you'll now pay HST rather than GST/PST).

Hope this helps,
a.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

kelly528 said:


> Haha! I'm off to there tomorrow... probably too early but it will make shopping in Bellingham all the sweeter in the future!
> 
> I hope those asses behind the HST tax realise they shot themselves in the foot now!!! Stacking taxes on BC shoppers while the USA takes them off!
> 
> Hmmm... where to purchase the laptop I was planning on buying in BC? Pssst... there's no duties on electronics is there?


While most consumers (myself included) are against HST, the majority of businesses are FOR HST because it means they only have to deal with 1 level of government instead of 2 (provincial for pst and federal for GST)
on most things you'll still pay the same ammount of tax with a few exceptions like restaurants, from what i understand groceries will still be exempt.

where they went wrong is that they did this #1 without consulting the people and #2 a month after they promised they wouldnt raise taxes.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Mferko said:


> from what i remember if you stay 48 hrs your allowed to bring back 200 bucks worth, a week is 700 bucks.


Yup, those are the allowables, but with the crossborder shopping the way it is, rarely anyone is asked to go aside and pay duty, unless the amount is outrageous, or you have been flagged. Some of my friends have stepped over the border and bought $200 worth of stuff for the day and not had to pay duty. It just depends on the person interviewing you. It's not worth it not to declare anything as the pain of the infraction is much greater than the taxes. Trust me on this.


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## kelly528 (Apr 21, 2010)

All good info, thanks for the tips guys. Maybe I'll just buy the Macbook in Canada, since we definitely arent' staying there for a week!


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

i wouldnt take my chances not declaring anything here they seem much more serious about actually checking vehicles here, maybe because of the ammount of drugs going across that border crossing... i had a friend coming back from accross the border and apparently they swabbed his windshield for THC and it came out positive so they asked him if they searched his car if they would find anything
the retarded friend then replied "I'm 99.9% sure you wont find anything"
they were more than happy with the 0.1% chance and completely tore apart his car leaving him to put alot of it back together himself.

i used to live in alberta and the border crossing there is much more lax, we went to the states to shop on black friday and on the way back, first they ask you if you have any alcohol or tobacco, when you say no, they assume your a mormon and wave you through (alot of mormons live in the lethbridge/cardston area in southern alberta)


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## kelly528 (Apr 21, 2010)

Mferko said:


> i had a friend coming back from accross the border and apparently they swabbed his windshield for THC and it came out positive so they asked him if they searched his car if they would find anything
> the retarded friend then replied "I'm 99.9% sure you wont find anything"
> they were more than happy with the 0.1% chance and completely tore apart his car leaving him to put alot of it back together himself.


Is there a ROTFL smiley? Where is the ROTFL smiley?!


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## keitarosan (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> It's not worth it not to declare anything as the pain of the infraction is much greater than the taxes. Trust me on this.


i agree. i know people who went out thin (as in physically thin), wearing old flip flops, etc. came back healthy (as in fat) because they are wearing layers of new clothes and a pair of brand new quite expensive basketball shoes. never declare shopping outside canada saying they just visited a friend in washington. got ding'ed by the border guard and got caught. hefty fine, bad record and i don't know what else. not worth it..... gee, why not just tell the truth? much way easier. people.... i don't understand.

one more thing, does anyone know about cheating your way through the line at the border crossing by going thru the duty free shop?? i hate it when people do this.


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## fkshiu (Apr 22, 2010)

Saving a few bucks in taxes is not worth the risk.

Each border crossing sets its own threshold at which they'll waive you through even if you've exceeded the allowable exemption. This is called "overage allowance" in CBSA talk. For example, at Peace Arch it's around $200 whereas at Pt. Roberts it's much lower. Busier ports, like Peace Arch, usually have higher overage allowances because the just don't have as much time to charge a few dollars in taxes to too many returning residents. 

There's no "hard cap" on the overage, it's discretionary based on a number of factors including amount of traffic, type of items declared and staffing levels. For example, you'll get by with a little more if it's the tail end of a long weekend, somebody's phoned in sick and they're already busy in the back tearing apart a car for drugs. So as far as not having to pay taxes is concerned, spending 3 hours waiting in line is actually a good thing.


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