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importing gifted car

eis517

Full Member
Oct 19, 2012
29
1
Hi,

I moved to Canada a year ago and brought a car with me. My parents now want to gift me one of their cars that they will not be using anymore. Does anyone know if I can bring it in tax free, or how that process works? If I have to pay taxes on it, how much?

Thanks!
 

PMM

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Jun 30, 2005
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Hi


eis517 said:
Hi,

I moved to Canada a year ago and brought a car with me. My parents now want to gift me one of their cars that they will not be using anymore. Does anyone know if I can bring it in tax free, or how that process works? If I have to pay taxes on it, how much?

Thanks!
1. It can't be included in settlers effects, you will pay duties and taxes.
2. If it i was manufactured in the US/Canada/Mexico, there is no duty, but GST and or HST.
3. If your vehicle has air conditioning, you will have to pay an excise tax of CAN$100. You will have to pay additional excise taxes (Green Levy) only if your vehicle has a weighted average fuel consumption rating of 13 or more litres per 100 kilometres and is put into service after March 19, 2007. The Green Levy will apply to automobiles (including station wagons, vans, and sports utility vehicles) designed primarily for the use as passenger vehicles, but not including pickup trucks, vans equipped to accommodate 10 or more passengers, ambulances, and hearses.
 

eis517

Full Member
Oct 19, 2012
29
1
PMM said:
Hi


1. It can't be included in settlers effects, you will pay duties and taxes.
2. If it i was manufactured in the US/Canada/Mexico, there is no duty, but GST and or HST.
3. If your vehicle has air conditioning, you will have to pay an excise tax of CAN$100. You will have to pay additional excise taxes (Green Levy) only if your vehicle has a weighted average fuel consumption rating of 13 or more litres per 100 kilometres and is put into service after March 19, 2007. The Green Levy will apply to automobiles (including station wagons, vans, and sports utility vehicles) designed primarily for the use as passenger vehicles, but not including pickup trucks, vans equipped to accommodate 10 or more passengers, ambulances, and hearses.
Thanks so much for your help. How do they figure out the taxes? Based on what value? and if it is a gift, why do I have to pay tax?
 

taffy7

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eis517 said:
Thanks so much for your help. How do they figure out the taxes? Based on what value? and if it is a gift, why do I have to pay tax?
They will value the taxes from the black book, this will determine the cost of the car at wholesale . Now saying that in Canada if you gift a car to your mother father or children you do not have to pay anything. Not sure when bringing it across the boarder. May be if your parents came to visit then gifted you the car things could be different . They then could fly back home . Just a thought.
 

zardoz

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taffy7 said:
They will value the taxes from the black book, this will determine the cost of the car at wholesale . Now saying that in Canada if you gift a car to your mother father or children you do not have to pay anything. Not sure when bringing it across the boarder. May be if your parents came to visit then gifted you the car things could be different . They then could fly back home . Just a thought.
That might make it an illegal import, rendering them liable for the taxes and other penalties.
 

taffy7

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zardoz said:
That might make it an illegal import, rendering them liable for the taxes and other penalties.
So the best thing for them to do is ???? Black book option?
 

Rob_TO

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End of the day, the car needs to clear customs and have duties paid on it to change the registration from USA to Canada.

So the only 2 options are,
- the parents officially import the car and pay all necessary duties/taxes, then gift the Canadian car to OP
or
- the parents gift a USA car to OP, and OP pays all necessary duties/taxes to import to Canada

If the parents just drive the car over the border as visitors, the car is still a USA car. Driving over the border is not the same as importing. It can not legally be registered or insured in Canada, until it clears customs and all duties/taxes have been paid.
 

taffy7

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Rob_TO said:
End of the day, the car needs to clear customs and have duties paid on it to change the registration from USA to Canada.

So the only 2 options are,
- the parents officially import the car and pay all necessary duties/taxes, then gift the Canadian car to OP
or
- the parents gift a USA car to OP, and OP pays all necessary duties/taxes to import to Canada

If the parents just drive the car over the border as visitors, the car is still a USA car. Driving over the border is not the same as importing. It can not legally be registered or insured in Canada, until it clears customs and all duties/taxes have been paid.
Thanks Rob_To i was just curious :)