Liquor allowance from US

[lx200gps]

50 minutes ago, Magicat said:

Sorry for the late update, returned to Canada on Tuesday night (midnight) and declared all four bottles of liquor DW and I were hauling.  Never gave us a second glance, collected our luggage and went home.

Thanks for the data point. Did you use the regular lanes or NEXUS?

[Magicat]

On 5/21/2023 at 9:45 AM, lx200gps said:

Thanks for the data point. Did you use the regular lanes or NEXUS?

Regular lanes

[SkiPro62]

Our personal best was 12 bottles between 2 people.  Another time we brought back 10 bottles.  Fully declared and no duty.  Both times we were on 2 week  vacations in the US.  We have also ordered wine from our favourite California winery delivered to Detroit.  Drove back and forth across the border to pick it up and paid full tax and duty on all 12 bottles.  Brought the cost up to about the same as the LCBO.

[cmich068]

To answer OP's question, check your province's liquor board for pricing.

 

Eg for Ontario, the LCBO's website has import costs listed here for casual importations (eg bringing it with you): https://www.lcbo.com/content/lcbo/en/corporate-pages/about/aboutourbusiness/importing.html

 

CBSA will collect those fees on your province's behalf - also keep in mind if you enter Canada through a different province than where you reside, you may have to pay that province's duties rather than your own (so if you fly FLL-YYZ-YVR, you'll be importing to Ontario at Ontario rates, even if you live in BC). 

Edited July 12, 2023 by cmich068

[cmich068]

On 5/16/2023 at 10:45 AM, lx200gps said:

As an aside, has anyone used the NEXUS system to re-enter when they were over your personal exemption. It's my understanding that if you are bringing back alcohol over your limit, you have to use the "regular" lanes and not the NEXUS lanes.

 

No issue using the NEXUS lane when over the limit as long as it's declared and the importation is for personal use. If they want you to pay duties they'll send you to the office. 

[lx200gps]

1 hour ago, cmich068 said:

 

No issue using the NEXUS lane when over the limit as long as it's declared and the importation is for personal use. If they want you to pay duties they'll send you to the office. 

That's what I'm hearing as well, thanks for the confirmation. When I read up on it on the CBSA website, and it's VERY fuzzily worded, the "rule" is that if you are declaring anything that requires extra paperwork (and they don't define what that is), then you can't use the NEXUS line if you are over the limit. Technically, bringing anything back over your personal exemption would theoretically require extra paperwork, but clearly they don't consider it important enough if someone is only a bit over their limit and declares it.  I'm only talking about declaring one or two extra bottles of booze, not a $50,000 watch, so I'm sure we'll be fine.