When passing through Customs on arrival home from a foreign country, the traveler is required to state the nature and amount of any purchased materials they may be carrying. Some items are subject to a tax, called a duty or customs duty. This tax is charged in order to raise revenue for the taxing country, and to " level the playing field" between countries.There is a standard table of items
. subject to duty, which is kept at each border crossing. It is called the Harmonized System code, and is administered by the World Customs Organization in Brussels. Upon arrival at the customs post, travelers are given a form to fill out to list any items purchased. In the case of international air travel, the forms are distributed on the airplane prior to landing. The Customs agent refers to the Harmonized System code, entering each item into the database and recording the duty due on the form. The traveler then must pay any duty due before leaving the customs post, or must leave the goods for later redemption or forfeiture.Typical products subject to duty include wines, spirits, cigarettes and cigars. In the case of cigarettes, a duty of $27.475 is charged per 1,000, although there is a personal exemption of 200 per person. Wine with over 7% alcohol content is charged at $.5122 per liter. Many items including televisions, jewelry and other gift items are charged a 6.5% tariff on the purchase price.It is always better to declare all items when passing through customs, even if they are not subject to duty. The fines and general inconvenience involved with attempting to avoid custom duties far outweigh any possible economic gain from " cheating". Any customs office can tell you what is required, and duty information is widely available on the Internet.More reference links: betterdollar.com/duty-tax/duty/ www.cbsa.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/menu-eng.html
