What do you need to declare when you arrive in Canada?

When you are looking to enter Canada, you need to know what items you need to declare, what items are illegal to import into the country, and what items you need to pay taxes and/or duties.

Failure to declare these things can have consequences, including a ban on entering Canada.

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What should be announced?

When applying for admission at a Canadian port of entry, you must notify the border authorities of one of the following:

• Alcohol;
• Tobacco;
• firearms and weapons;
• Food, plant and animal products;
• Animals; and
• Currency or financial instruments exceeding $10,000 CAD.

Alcohol

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)  defines alcoholic beverages as products that contain more than 0.5% alcohol by volume.

The minimum age to bring alcohol into Canada varies by province. It is currently 18 years old for Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec, and 19 years old for other provinces.

Tobacco

You must consume all tobacco products including:

• Cigarettes;
• cigars;
• tobacco produced (including loose-leaf and chewable tobacco); and
• Tobacco Wood

Firearms and Guns

You must be 18 years of age or older to bring a firearm or firearm to Canada. Any firearms or firearms must be declared at the border.

Section 2 of the Criminal Code of Canada defines a firearm as follows:

"A tubular weapon from which a shot, bullet or other projectile can be fired and which can cause serious bodily injury or death to a person, and includes any frame or receiver of these tubed weapons and anything that can be adapted to it. Use as a firearm.

Canada classifies firearms into one of three categories:

• Unlimited: e.g. most hunting and sporting rifles.
• Restricted: e.g. some sport handguns.
• Prohibited: Automatic weapons, most handguns.

Before you apply to enter Canada with a gun, you need to determine how your gun is classified by Canadian authorities. How your gun is classified will determine whether it is legal for you to carry it into Canada and what requirements you must meet.

If you are a visitor, you will need to fill out the Non-Resident Firearms Declaration Form (RCMP 5589).  You will be charged $25 CAD.

To own a firearm as a temporary or permanent resident, you must apply for a Possession and Acquisition License (PAL).

You will need a Transportation Authorization  (ATT) to bring a restricted firearm into the country.

Food, Plant & Animal Products

You are legally obligated to declare all food, plant, and animal products that you bring to Canada. For example:

• live animals (including pets) and animal products, such as cooked or raw meat, skins, skins, trophies, milk, fat, butter, cheese, eggs, fish, seafood; and
• Plant products, such as fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, trees, houseplants, wood (and wood products such as furniture, carvings, tree bark), firewood, roots, grapes, plants, flowers, insects, onions, soil.)

Failure to declare or provide the relevant licenses/certifications can result in:

• seizure of your products;
• Fines up to 1300 CAD; and/or
• Prosecution

Gifts

According to the CBSA, you must declare all gifts.

When planning to bring a gift, pay attention to the following points:

• You can bring gifts worth CAD  60 or less of each without duties and taxes 
• You may have to pay duties and taxes on any gift worth more than $60 CAD
• You cannot import tobacco or alcohol as gifts.

Animals

You must declare every animal you are traveling with.

Some examples of animals that you should declare include, but are not limited to,

• Dogs;
• Domestic cats;
• Parrot;
• Lizards;
• Turtles;
• Snakes;
• Small Wild Cats.

Announcing an animal is not a guarantee of its entry into the country.

You are responsible for ensuring adherence to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

If you are unable to declare an animal, officers may detain your animal and/or deny you entry.

Currency or financial instruments exceeding $10,000 CAD.

Although you can legally bring any amount of money into Canada, you must declare any money or monetary instruments such as stocks, checks, bank drafts, or bonds worth a total of $10,000 CAD at the border before you are allowed to enter Canada.

You can declare your funds in one of the following ways.

• Airport kiosk;
• on your  CBSA declaration card (if provided to you);
• Through your prior notice; or
• As part of your oral statements to the Border Services Officer.

The CBSA has the authority to seize all currencies and monetary instruments if their total value is not reported.

Failure to declare these things can have consequences and result in you not being able to enter Canada.

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What items are illegal to bring into Canada?

You must not enter Canada with:

• Cannabis or products containing cannabis;
• Illegal drugs;
• firearms or other prohibited weapons;
• sick animals;
• Endangered species, or fragments of endangered species; or
• Any package whose content is unclear to you.

Cannabis and hemp-containing products

Despite the legality of buying and consuming in Canada, it is illegal to bring any type of cannabis into the country.

This includes hemp-derived products such as CBD  oil or THC-containing foods.

If you are traveling on a market-approved prescription drug containing cannabis (e.g., Epidiox, Satiox), you are allowed to do so under the travel class exemption.

If you are using other cannabis products for medical purposes, you can only bring them into Canada if you receive an individual exemption issued by Health Canada.

Illegal drugs

Under no circumstances should you attempt  to bring illegal drugs into Canada.

Traveling across the border with drugs can result in a sentence of one year to life in prison.

Canada's criminal law lists illegal drug program

Firearms/prohibited weapons

Guns are often prohibited because they can be easily concealed, such as switch blades, or they can injure many people at once, such as automatic firearms.

Regardless of the license you have, or the status of the gun in your home country, you cannot bring a prohibited firearm or weapon into Canada.

Endangered species/sick animals

Animals that can spread diseases and threaten Canada's natural ecosystems are barred from entering the country.

Canada has strict laws against trading in breeding species or pieces of endangered species. For example, attempting to transport even part of a piece (e.g., rhinoceros antler) may result in you being fined up to $250,000 CAD.

Packages with unclear content

Under no circumstances should you attempt to bring a package from within Canada without knowledge.

Even if a friend or relative asks you to carry something across the border, you'll take responsibility for it once you've been given the goods.

This means that if the package contains something illegal (e.g., drugs), you will face related criminal charges even if you don't know what's inside.

Keep in mind that some criminals hide drugs or other illegal items in harmless objects.

What items are subject to duties and taxes?

Sales Taxes and Duties

When you bring items into Canada, those items may be subject to taxes and/or sales duties.

Generally, when you import a product into Canada, you will need to pay the appropriate sales tax based on the market value of that item. There are scenarios where you won't have to pay sales tax

• When you immigrate to Canada for the first time; or
• When the value of the items you import falls under your personal exemption (see below).

For some items, you may be required to pay additional duties – additional import taxes that can vary based on the item in question and the country they come from. Some items are not subject to duty.

Although sales taxes and duties are both assessed as part of Canadian customs, they are different forms of taxes – you may owe sales tax, but no duties, or duties, but no sales tax.

Alcohol and tobacco

The tables below show the quantities of liquor you can bring into Canada under certain duties and taxes free of duties and taxes.

Newcomers can import one of the following amounts upon arrival in Canada duty-free and tax-free.

Returning visitors, temporary residents , permanent residents , and Canadian citizens can only benefit from this exemption if more than 48 hours have passed since their departure from Canada.

Source: CBSA

If the amount of alcohol you want to import exceeds your personal exemption, you will need to pay duties and taxes, as well as any provincial or territorial duties.

Tobacco

To determine the amount of tobacco you can legally and/or duty-free, you need to calculate the number of  CBSA  tobacco units.

In the table below, the values of the types of tobacco are presented, each of which is considered as a tobacco unit.

As part of (or all) of your personal exemptions, you can import up to five units of tobacco into Canada without paying taxes and duties.

To import these amounts of tobacco under your personal exemption, it must be stamped "Duty Payed Canada droit acquitté." Tobacco without a stamp will be subject to a special duty rate.

You can bring more than five units of stamped tobacco, but you will need to pay regular duties and taxes, as well as any provincial or regional duties that apply to the additional amount.

If the tobacco is unsealed and/or unpackaged, you can only bring up to five units.

Additional Personal Exemptions

Both temporary and permanent residents and Canadian citizens can apply for a personal exemption to return goods duty-free and tax-free.

If you have been out of Canada for less than 24 hours, you will not receive any personal exemption, and you will be liable for full taxes and taxes that you return.

Note: If you include cigarettes, tobacco sticks, or tobacco produced in your personal exemption, you may only receive a partial exemption.

If you have been out of the country for 48 hours or more and have entered more than your personal exemption, you will have to pay taxes and/or regular duties for the additional amount.

Failure to declare these things can have consequences and result in you not being able to enter Canada.