Canadian Customs Hitting Tobacco More Frequently.

[North Pole piper]

Title edited for caps and wording. See Rule 9.

I've noticed the last couple months customs is hitting almost all my tobacco orders. They usually get the boxed items but recently they hit a packet that was so small, they had to wrap the customs label around the package. Any other Canadians seen a drastic increase in their tobacco getting hit? Smaller packets used to get thru all the time.

 

[Swiss Army Knife]

I wonder if with Covid finally waning various Customs agencies are waking up with a vengeance. Seems to be happening in the US too with orders from Europe anyway.

 

[bullet08]

Usually, if you get hit few times, I think they can target you. Or if I was custom, I would keep a list of target customers.

 

[mso489]

I wouldn't think tax payers are getting their money's worth out of labor intensive take-downs of grandpa's pouch of John Bull's Royal English. I wonder if there is some actual criminal element or high revenue stream industry that gets stung, or is it just us old geezers who enjoy our afternoon smoke. In which case, this is not a particularly respectable enforcement activity. Next they'll tax the time small children spend on the jungle gyms.

 

[North Pole piper]

I wonder if with Covid finally waning various Customs agencies are waking up with a vengeance. Seems to be happening in the US too with orders from Europe anyway.

Yeah, I was thinking that too.

 

[North Pole piper]

Usually, if you get hit few times, I think they can target you. Or if I was custom, I would keep a list of target customers.

I did wonder that too.

 

[olkofri]

It's a BSOD'ing racket, that's what it is. I order very sporadically, and last time they dinged me for... ~$0.24 for a parcel of two tins from SPC.

Yes, that's right, no typo. The duties were MERE CENTS just so they could charge the processing fees and the taxes on the processing fees. Total was ~$13.50, but it's not so much the amount but the practice. Pure theft.

 

[Casual]

I don’t know what you gents are on about. If the CBSA misses or undercharges an incoming package, I calculate the duty owed and send in a cheque to the CRA, as law requires.

I certainly don’t post about how I get tobacco tax free online where anyone can see it.

 

[craig61a]

I would imagine that the information on what business the return address is in is readily accessible in the information age... Their system probably can flag any shipment from a tobacco seller.

With millions of dollars worth of taxes that go uncollected every year, they are getting better at finding and collecting it. In many cases the onus for paying the tax is on the person ordering it, and it's been that way for decades. Just because it hasn't been discovered and assessed directly doesn't give anybody a free pass.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I don’t know what you gents are on about. If the CBSA misses or undercharges an incoming package, I calculate the duty owed and send in a cheque to the CRA, as law requires.

I certainly don’t post about how I get tobacco tax free online where anyone can see it.

That's why a number of posts were deleted.

Please understand all the rules, gents. They are straightforward and sensible.

 

[didimauw]

That's why a number of posts were deleted.

Please understand all the rules, gents. They are straightforward and sensible.

They are making you earn your paycheck on this thread aren't they Jp! Hahaha

 

[Ahi Ka]

What’s customs?

 

[North Pole piper]

What’s customs?

Duty or import tax.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Duty or import tax.

Sorry my comment was a failed attempt at NZ humour. I know customs well, actually on first name basis with Shirley