I tried searching the sub but didn’t find anything. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with moving out of Japan to either the US or Canada and when you shipped stuff home, did you have to pay import duty on anything? According to Yamato it should be exempt but a friend of mine is insisting that in Canada they will have to pay the import duty if the value is over $800 CAD. Just trying to get some more info from anyone who has done this.
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[https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/mrc-drc-eng.html](https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/mrc-drc-eng.html)
If you been overseas for over a year there a difference set of rules.
I’ve done it twice and you’re both right, in a sense:
The usual duty-free exemption ($800 + booze/tobacco allowance) applies to bringing back *new* purchases or alcohol, BUT, you can bring back your *used, personal articles* duty-free so long as you fill out the form ahead of time.
These can be mailed back (with a copy of the form inside the box) or as checked baggage. Either way, you’ll have to present the form at customs.
That all said, as long as you fill out the form, CBSA isn’t crazy strict about “well, is this a used personal article or is it new”, except for booze (half empty bottles still count towards the 2L duty free limit) or where one is flagrantly trying to bring back a half-dozen boxed iPhones.
Along those lines, if you show the form to customs at the airport, you will almost definitely get streamed to secondary inspection so they can half-assedly check that your listed items more or less match what’s in your suitcase.
I don’t know how this happened so I can’t give details but I moved a bunch of stuff to the US. Furniture, electronics, etc. to put in storage in the US for when I eventually retire back to the states. I put a value of $5000. I was charged $37 duty. I have no idea why.