What you actually pay to import into Canada
Four things can be charged at the border, they are charged in a particular order, and each one is calculated on the total of the ones before it. That stacking is what makes quotes come in higher than people expect.
The order it is charged in
| Step | What | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Value for duty | Not always your invoice total. It depends on your Incoterm. |
| 2 | Customs duty | The value for duty |
| 3 | Surtax, if an order reaches your goods | The value for duty, not on top of the duty |
| 4 | GST, 5% | Value + duty + surtax |
| 5 | Provincial part, personal imports only | Value + duty + surtax |
The step most people miss. GST is charged on the duty-paid value, not on your invoice. So a surtax does not just cost you the surtax. It raises the GST too.
A worked example
Wooden kitchen cabinets from China, ten thousand dollars, imported by a business.
| Line | Amount | How |
|---|---|---|
| Goods value | $10,000.00 | already paid to your supplier |
| Customs duty | $950.00 | 9.5% of $10,000, the MFN rate |
| Surtax | $2,500.00 | 25% of $10,000, under the wood cabinet safeguard |
| GST | $672.50 | 5% of $13,450, not of $10,000 |
| At the border | $4,122.50 | duty + surtax + GST |
The same cabinets from Bangladesh or Mexico carry no surtax at all, because that safeguard exempts the United States, Mexico, Chile, Israel and a long list of developing countries. The border charge drops to $1,497.50. The country of manufacture changed the bill by more than two and a half thousand dollars on an identical shipment.
Your province: what it changes and what it does not
This is the question our own accountant raised, and the answer is not what most people assume.
- Importing as a business? You pay the 5% federal GST at the border in every province, including Ontario and Nova Scotia. The provincial part of the HST is not collected at the border on commercial goods. You may have to self assess it afterwards.
- Importing as an individual? If you live in an HST province you pay the full HST, at your province's rate, wherever the goods enter Canada. Landing them in Alberta does not help.
- PST and QST follow the port instead. CBSA collects them on personal imports into British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec.
What can make the duty nil
Most of Canada's free trade agreements reduce the duty on qualifying goods to nothing. You need a valid proof of origin when you claim it, not afterwards. Under CUSMA that is nine minimum data elements and it can sit on the invoice; it does not have to be a separate form, but it does have to exist.
A trade agreement does not remove a surtax. Claiming CUSMA on US-origin goods does not avoid a US surtax.
What is not in any of this
None of the above is a landed cost. Freight, insurance, brokerage, port and terminal charges and delivery are all extra, and so are the merchandise handling charges on the United States side. Our calculator gives you the border charges and says plainly that it is not a landed cost, because the gap between the two is where people get caught.
Put your own numbers in
The calculator reads CBSA's published tariff, checks all nine surtax orders and CBSA's anti-dumping measures, and works out the provincial part for your situation. It refuses to total anything it cannot work out honestly.
Related
Every Canadian surtax order in force
All nine, with rates and citations, rechecked nightly.
What documents you need
CARM, the invoice, proof of origin and permits.
HS codes explained
The code decides the rate, so it decides everything.
An estimate built from CBSA's published tariff and the regulations in force, not a customs ruling and not tax advice. Classification is the importer's responsibility, the value for duty depends on your terms of sale, and a remission order can relieve a surtax. Confirm with a licensed customs broker before you ship.