Importing antique boat into Canada

[Seymore]

I'm Canadian and my boat is documented Canadian. We're noodling around the US, boat and I. The boat was bought outside of Canada and has never been to Canada.

I understand that if I take the boat into Canada, say into Nova Scotia, there'll be tax due, 15% HST, based on her present value. The boat is 40 years old, having been built in 1974. Are antique vehicles and boats exempt from the HST?

I couldn't find this information on the web. Is there a web site that answers this question?

It used to be that vehicles more than 25 years old were considered antiques and were free from import tax in Ontario.

[s/v Beth]

Good Luck. I sold a boat to a wonderful gentleman from Victoria. Getting it into Canada was like importing people. The inspection process and taxes are....impressive.

[bcboomer]

I bought my boat in the US and imported it myself. Very little paper work, just hand the Canadian Border Services your bill of sale and pay the sales tax. Piece of cake and they didn't even want to know about know much wine I had. Nobody came to the boat. There was lots of paper work to get it undocumented in the US but yours is already Canadian so you won't have that to worry about. If memory serves they have a formula to depreciate the taxable value from the date you bought it to the date you import it so, if you've had it a while, that will help.