As you may have read in the some earlier posts I went to Canada (with a friend) this past weekend and we each bought a 2002 CR-250. Many people responded to the post with info. Here is what happened and some suggestions on how to do the same.
Obviously the first step is to strike a deal. The USD is really strong right now so bike prices are amazing. One of the main questions is, as a US citizen, do I have to pay Canadian taxes. Well the answer is YES and NO.
If you are traveling from the US to purchase your bike in Canada you may have to pay the Canadian taxes. It seems that some dealer have a way around this but the ones that make a lot of sales to US citizens require you to pay taxes. From what I could gather the dealers that don't export a lot of bikes will not make you pay taxes but require you to send the bill of sale back them with a US customs stamp. I don't think this is the proper way to complete the transaction and most dealers will require you to pay CDN tax.
There are two taxes GST and PST. The GST you absolutely get back when you cross the boarder. It's easy and fairly quick. Maybe took 25 total minutes for the both of us. Not only do you get the tax for the bikes back but I also got the tax for the hotel and the accessories I bought. Now the PST is a little more tricky. If the dealer is experienced he will have a form you need for the PST filled out and ready to go. What you have to do is take the YELLOW copy of the bill of sale and give it to CDN customs. They will make a copy and KEEP THE ORIGNAL!. You need them to stamp the copy and give it to you. You must have a copy with the ink stamp on it. Then when you go through US customs and claim the bike you have to get a US Customs stamp on the same paper that has the CDN stamp. You will have to mail in this from with the bill of sale and both US and CDN custom stamps on it. The bill of sale will be a photocopy but the stamps must be the original ink!!. It's supposed to take a month to receive this money in the mail. I can't verify that because I haven't mailed it yet.
Was it difficult through US customs with the bikes, you ask? Not at all. We talked to the boarder patrol and he was cocky as you would expect. Since the CR is under 700cc and a non-registered off road bike there are no tariffs or duties. We did have to pull over and get the US customs stamp on the bill of sale. You may have to argue a little with the boarder to get this stamp. We did. The girl at the desk did not believe us that we needed the stamp. A more experienced worker came by and said stamp it! It wasn't a big deal and it took us maybe 15 min to get through the US boarder. That included talking to a guy in the US customs parking lot that had a crated YZ250F in the bed of his truck!
Ok how about currency exchange??? Well we checked the local banks before we left and found that the best rate is actually in Canada. If you are crossing by Niagara falls then just go to the Casino. They are open 24 hours and will give you the same rate as the Canadian Banks. The Casino is regulated by the government and are required to pay the current exchange rate. We got $1.58 CDN to $1.00 USD.
The two of us went into the Casino with $5000 US currency and had it exchanged. WE looked shady as hell. Two guys with hooded sweat shirts and jeans standing side by side exchanging $5000 USD. Then when they asked us if we wanted a players card we said the we weren’t gambling we just wanted the cash!
I was worried, before the trip, about two things. 1) Would we get the Canadian tax back? There answer is yes. 2)How long would it take to get over the boarder. About 35 minutes for two of us.
So what did I pay for the bikes? I paid $4176 for a 2002 CR-250. I also bought 2 liters of gear saver, 1 liter of Pre-Mix, Renthals, O’Neil Jersey, Grips, replacement lenses (1clear ;1 grey), and some waterproof grease. All the extras cost $150 USD. I would have bought more but they didn’t have anything is stock.
What a deal! If you have any specific questions feel free to email me at ricelarry@hotmail.com
Larry
Obviously the first step is to strike a deal. The USD is really strong right now so bike prices are amazing. One of the main questions is, as a US citizen, do I have to pay Canadian taxes. Well the answer is YES and NO.
If you are traveling from the US to purchase your bike in Canada you may have to pay the Canadian taxes. It seems that some dealer have a way around this but the ones that make a lot of sales to US citizens require you to pay taxes. From what I could gather the dealers that don't export a lot of bikes will not make you pay taxes but require you to send the bill of sale back them with a US customs stamp. I don't think this is the proper way to complete the transaction and most dealers will require you to pay CDN tax.
There are two taxes GST and PST. The GST you absolutely get back when you cross the boarder. It's easy and fairly quick. Maybe took 25 total minutes for the both of us. Not only do you get the tax for the bikes back but I also got the tax for the hotel and the accessories I bought. Now the PST is a little more tricky. If the dealer is experienced he will have a form you need for the PST filled out and ready to go. What you have to do is take the YELLOW copy of the bill of sale and give it to CDN customs. They will make a copy and KEEP THE ORIGNAL!. You need them to stamp the copy and give it to you. You must have a copy with the ink stamp on it. Then when you go through US customs and claim the bike you have to get a US Customs stamp on the same paper that has the CDN stamp. You will have to mail in this from with the bill of sale and both US and CDN custom stamps on it. The bill of sale will be a photocopy but the stamps must be the original ink!!. It's supposed to take a month to receive this money in the mail. I can't verify that because I haven't mailed it yet.
Was it difficult through US customs with the bikes, you ask? Not at all. We talked to the boarder patrol and he was cocky as you would expect. Since the CR is under 700cc and a non-registered off road bike there are no tariffs or duties. We did have to pull over and get the US customs stamp on the bill of sale. You may have to argue a little with the boarder to get this stamp. We did. The girl at the desk did not believe us that we needed the stamp. A more experienced worker came by and said stamp it! It wasn't a big deal and it took us maybe 15 min to get through the US boarder. That included talking to a guy in the US customs parking lot that had a crated YZ250F in the bed of his truck!
Ok how about currency exchange??? Well we checked the local banks before we left and found that the best rate is actually in Canada. If you are crossing by Niagara falls then just go to the Casino. They are open 24 hours and will give you the same rate as the Canadian Banks. The Casino is regulated by the government and are required to pay the current exchange rate. We got $1.58 CDN to $1.00 USD.
The two of us went into the Casino with $5000 US currency and had it exchanged. WE looked shady as hell. Two guys with hooded sweat shirts and jeans standing side by side exchanging $5000 USD. Then when they asked us if we wanted a players card we said the we weren’t gambling we just wanted the cash!
I was worried, before the trip, about two things. 1) Would we get the Canadian tax back? There answer is yes. 2)How long would it take to get over the boarder. About 35 minutes for two of us.
So what did I pay for the bikes? I paid $4176 for a 2002 CR-250. I also bought 2 liters of gear saver, 1 liter of Pre-Mix, Renthals, O’Neil Jersey, Grips, replacement lenses (1clear ;1 grey), and some waterproof grease. All the extras cost $150 USD. I would have bought more but they didn’t have anything is stock.
What a deal! If you have any specific questions feel free to email me at ricelarry@hotmail.com
Larry
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