Quote:
Originally Posted by peterincalgary
A Canadian who owns a US registered boat can bring it into Canada for shipyard work, the CBS (Canadian Border Services) state you go straight in and come straight out, but also could sail through Canadian waters from WA to Alaska.
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When we were
buying a boat for our family's extended
cruise I was looking at a boat in Washington state and spoke to Canadian
Customs about this. The boat needs to brought in under bond, but it is still at their discretion. I wanted to bring the boat into Victoria for some
refit work prior to leaving, and fully understanding that I wouldn't be able to 'cruise' the boat in Canada unless I paid the
import fees (also a French built boat)
The agent I spoke to was very dismissive and basically accused me of just trying to bring the boat in under a loophole to avoid taxes and stated that he felt it was better if I just had the necessary work done in the US since they had all equivalent services there. When I asked him if Canadian
marine suppliers and
boatyards understood that CBS was actively pushing work and
employment outside of Canada, he didn't have a response. I was not impressed at all.
Even with your dual citizenship, I'd be surprised if you find an easy way to have the boat in Canada without paying the duties.
Long story short, the deal on that boat fell through in the end. I bought a boat in
St Lucia and we ended up doing our final preparations there before leaving for 3 years in the
Caribbean and
South Pacific before selling her in
Australia at the end of our cruising. The cheaper prices in the
Caribbean and not having to pay duties & Canadian taxes more than covered the travel costs for the next year or so before we moved aboard full time for our trip. I'd have loved to have planned to keep the boat for a few years at the end of our trip to
cruise in Canada, but when we factoring in GST, PST & the additional duties, the economics of it just stopped making sense. Now there's a strange statement to make concerning boats...do they ever make sense? :-)
When we later expand the newly announced Luxury Tax to used boats, it will even be worse and less people will buy boats here if they have a choice..., but that's probably irrelevant.