Buying from family in Canada

aN.Droid

Hey there,

First off I don't know if this is the correct forum for me to post this in so if it isn't I apologise and could a mod please move it

My question is, my dad recently moved to Canada and I want to get a few items shipped from there to here, items are generally cheaper over in Canada then they are here but if I do this will I be stung with customs for tax? Most of what will be sent over will be gifts for me and my family for xmas and if we have to pay tax on this then it would be easier for him to bank transfer some cash over instead.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide

neilthefunkeone

When your Dad is posting the items he has to sign a customs declaration stating whats in the package and what its worth is.. You can of course state its old clothes of no value and then most likely they will pass through and no charges will be made..

Ive done it before myself sending presents home from America.. remove tags and labels and take things out of boxs..

dudara

Moved to Living Abroad

dudara

aN.Droid

dudara wrote: »

Moved to Living Abroad

dudara

Great, Thank you Dudara

aN.Droid

Sorry, going to dig this old thread up as my question is the same and don't want to create a new thread for it. It's coming up to Christmas and am thinking about getting my presents from Canada and having my dad ship em over. Would I likely be charged a hefty vat charge or will they let it through because its family sending it and its a gift? Need to know whether it's worth my time because if I am charged vat I probably wont save any money and might even cost more because of hefty shipping charges!

Hail 2 Da Thief

I'm nearly positive that as long as it's a gift you wont be stung by customs.
Put Christmas cards inside the parcels incase customs open them.
I sent stuff from Canada to Ireland last year to my sister for her bithday with no probs.
One thing to be aware of is that canadian post is very expensive compared to Irish post. I sent a shoe box size parcel which weighed very little and it cost me about $30.
Also be aware that if you're sending stuff you'd want to be doing it immediately. If you wait until December it prob wont arrive until january. My sister sent stuff over to me at the start of Dec & it didn't arrive until mid Jan!

Holybejaysus

Ask him to mark it as a gift, you won't have to pay import tax on this iirc.

Kristin_87

Not sure if it helps. My mom works for the Canadian postal service and the cut off time for guaranteed Christmas delivery has come and gone by a few weeks i'm pretty sure. I know that with regular mail it can take anywhere from 6-8 weeks to arrive over here, it's quicker with air mail but the price goes up by ALOT!! I'm not sure if you were getting your dad to send it over or you were ordering it online! Also I looked into the whole customs issue a few years back with my wedding dress, it was being bought as a gift from my moms boyfriend and when I contacted customs they said I would have to pay VAT even if it was a gift :eek:. I think you have to pay on anything over 300 euro ... hope it helps

aN.Droid

Hey,

thanks for the replies everyone! Yeah it is too late now to order anything for xmas But the info you guys gave will help out allot come the next tiem I need to order anything from there.

Again thanks allot!