Bringing wine to Osoyoos

[cpaharley2008]

Here is my situation, we are stopping in Napa Valley, Ca on our way to Osoyoos to pick up a case of custom wine made by a relative. It will have our own custom label with a picture of Prairie Schooner. I wanted to hand some out to Tammy and Reace and associates as well as return home with the remaining..
According to customs I'm only allowed 2 bottles. So do I declare the other 10 bottles, pay a tax when coming thru customs to Osoyoos and what happens when I return with the remaining bottles that have been taxed already? What do those who purchase wine there and return to US declare and pay a tax. Where do I find these amount of tariff, if there is one?
Thanks for any help on this....

[steve dunham]

There is a Canadian alcohol duty calculator on the internet.
Assuming a 750 ml bottle of wine , at 14% alcohol , valued at $10 CND from the USA , the duty is $11.21 CND per bottle
We brought an extra 1 Ltr bottle of brandy into Canada one year for our fishing trip and the duty was well over $20 .
We only paid $10 for the bottle in the US so the total cost for the one bottle of brandy was well in excess of $30.

[LeonW]

I understand your motivation, but isn't bringing wine to Osoyoos a bit like bringing coals to New Castle?

[cpaharley2008]

So when I return back to US 3 days later, I can fill out paper work for refund on unopened bottles?

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by LeonW

I understand your motivation, but isn't bringing wine to Osoyoos a bit like bringing coals to New Castle?

I'm not bringing it, I will have it in the car, picked up in California, for my trip home.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

So when I return back to US 3 days later, I can fill out paper work for refund on unopened bottles?

We've brought beer and spirits that we've paid Canadian duty on , back into the US when returning from our Fishing trip in Canada and never received any refund of the duty we paid.
Not saying it's not possible , just my experience

[gabeck]

So if you are coming up to the Canada Customs window - will they even ask about alcohol ...don't they just ask about firearms ....

[cpaharley2008]

I just need to know if I must "declare" the wine? Everything I read is about consuming within the province, not bringing in and then taking it back out without consumption!!

[gabeck]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I just need to know if I must "declare" the wine? Everything I read is about consuming within the province, not bringing in and then taking it back out without consumption!!

Maybe ... just maybe ......you could find a great little hiding spot beside the road .....you could tell us - we'll go check up on it for you !

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

There is a Canadian alcohol duty calculator on the internet.
Assuming a 750 ml bottle of wine , at 14% alcohol , valued at $10 CND from the USA , the duty is $11.21 CND per bottle
We brought an extra 1 Ltr bottle of brandy into Canada one year for our fishing trip and the duty was well over $20 .
We only paid $10 for the bottle in the US so the total cost for the one bottle of brandy was well in excess of $30.

This calculator is for Canadian citizens returning to Canada with items purchased outside. Maybe there is no tariff??

[gbaglo]

Years back, and rules have changed somewhat, there was a beer strike in BC. I nipped across the border and picked up four dozen Molson Canadian in Blaine.
Come back to Canada I declared that I had four cases of beer ( and intended to pay duty ). Rules at the time limited you to two cases.
Border agent said I could turn around and hide two cases in the bushes somewhere, cross the border with two, hide those and go back to get my other two cases. Didn't seem reasonable to me.
The border agent then had me pull into a secondary inspection area where she opened the bottles and I poured two dozen beer down the drain. All the while, idiots driving by were yelling at me that I should have declared it.
I would store your wine at Sumas IGA and save yourself grief, both coming and going.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

This calculator is for Canadian citizens returning to Canada with items purchased outside. Maybe there is no tariff??

You are only allowed to bring so much Alcohol per person into Canada duty free. You can bring 1 case of beer ( 24-12 Oz cans)
or 1 Ltr of spirits or 1.5 Ltrs of wine per person without duty.
When we go fishing we bring 2 cases of beer and 2- 1 Ltr bottles of brandy for the 4 of us duty free beyond that amount we have to pay duty. We bought 2 cases of beer and one 1.75 liter bottle of brandy one year and had to pay duty on .75 Ltrs of brandy because you can not split the duty free limit on one bottle between 2 people . A 1.75 liter bottle means that one person is over their limit by .75 ltrs and you owe duty.
If you can get the border agents to not collect duty when your over your limit that's great but again that has not been my experience after making well over 50 trips to Canada.

[cpaharley2008]

Problem solved, contacted the food store in Oroville (Glenn suggested Sumas but he was confusing Chilliwack with Osoyoos) anyway, the Super Duper food store on Route 97 right below the border, open 7-9 daily will store my case for $10. I can bring in 4 bottles and leave the rest for pickup on the return side.

[Fox hunt]

How much wine can you bring back to US ? I think I brought a lot back from Osoyoos last time but the board guards went very interested
.

[gbaglo]

You should Google US Border services instead of relying on the 'grape vine'.

[BCnomad]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Problem solved, contacted the food store in Oroville (Glenn suggested Sumas but he was confusing Chilliwack with Osoyoos) anyway, the Super Duper food store on Route 97 right below the border, open 7-9 daily will store my case for $10. I can bring in 4 bottles and leave the rest for pickup on the return side.

So the Texaco then? Good to know.


The various border town shipping/receiving businesses might as well.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I just need to know if I must "declare" the wine? Everything I read is about consuming within the province, not bringing in and then taking it back out without consumption!!

Yes. The question is not "how much wine are you bringing into the country and will leave here", it is "how much alcohol are you bringing in". The person crossing the border doesn't get to decide what the intention of the question might be; we are simply required to answer the question. If it matters where it will be consumed, that can be part of the resulting conversation. U.S. residents importing wine are as much of a concern as Canadian residents importing wine, anyway.

'Honestly, officer, I don't plan to drink any of it!' Yeah, right - that's believable. It doesn't matter that occasionally someone actually does this...

My wife and I crossed into the U.S. at Osoyoos with about 30 bottles of Canadian Okanagan wine, which we were taking home to Alberta via a loop through Washington, Idaho, and Montana. We declared it, explained what we were doing, and would still have paid duty on it if the border agent had not run away to handle an alarm and said "just go ahead - no duty" as he left.

[ethicsnurse]

This is great information - I had no idea you could do this! Brenda

[Ian G]

It has been a few years so I don't know if things have changed but we were down state site on a wine vacation and found out if we we returned and crossed the boarder into BC we would be charged 150% of retail price on any wine over the limit, but crossing into Alberta we only had to pay a fraction of the cost. Bringing wine across the border you pay Canadian tax plus each Province can levy their own taxes and duties. I would caution against bringing anything over your 2 bottle limit into BC.

[Fox hunt]

Yes but the grape vine version are often way more interesting