moving back to Canada

Hey guys,

I am sure this has been covered before but typing in 'moving back' says it's too general a search on this site. So if you can direct me to older threads I'd be very happy

Basically my husband and I are moving to Montreal (originally from Toronto) now living in LA at the end of the month. We're thinking of renting a Uhaul but have a car as well which we haven't decided if we're going to sell or not (any advice?) It's a 2009 Toyota Matrix which I guess we'll have to pay taxes on when we import it. Other than a uhaul with a hitch, are there other avenues we could explore? someone was suggesting renting a container at a dock and shipping our household good. That seems a bit sketchy and I haven't found any legit company online anyway.

So, any advice for moving back would help! we've never done such a long road trip ever so we're tempted in hiring a moving company but for a one bedroom they're charging close to 4000!
Thanks!!

Sorry for OT (or may be not, in fact)

We're moving from San Diego to GTA.
Can anybody recommend any good moving company?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Serge

Er... so you're both moving to Canada?

Allied is a decent moving co.

Importing a vehicle into Canada is somewhat complex, read www.riv.ca

There are NO TAXES provided you've owned the car for more than six months.

You must declare all personal effects on CBSA Forms B4 and B4A.

Thanks, Steven.
Some negative feelings about Allied. They gave me an estimate and increased it by almost 50% when I almost decided moving with them.
So I picked Premier Van Lines instead. Just do not like to be fooled.

Any feedback about PVL ?

Thanks again
S

I've only used them once but they were pretty good, my only real complaint was that they left the container out in -20+ temperatures which ruined some of my stuff but I'm not sure they could have done much about it really.

Normally I do it myself but I've had so many disasters over the years I decided to splash the cash that time.

Similar situation - if we fill out CBSA Forms B4 and B4A how does the moving truck with our furniture get across the border without us? Do we need a customs broker? Do I just send the processed B4A to the movers? How does this work? The moving company, Mayflower, just "doesn't do" customs. Should I find another company that is more familiar with it?

When you enter Canada, you present the B4 and B4A to CBSA and they sign off on it.

When the truck arrives at the POE (which with a truck will usually be near their depot) they take their paperwork to the local CBSA office and then notify you to go the office to perform the clearance, and then you go to the office and present your approved B4 and B4A. CBSA cross off your B4 and B4A anything listed on the packing list the removals company has presented them, then they send a release to the removals company and they can deliver the container to your house.

Hi Steven,

sorry for the delay in replying but thanks very much for your advice. I wanted to double check with you regarding the no taxes on the car as this is huge news! We've definitely had the car for more than six months. Can you point me out to a site that mentions this as when i called RIV they gave me all the details on importing the car but always said I had to pay taxes (on the amount above 10,000) so we were trying to sell our car here. But with your news this it would make sense for us to keep the car as it is importable into canada and is more expensive to replace not to mention taking a hit when we try to sell it here. Please let me know as this changes our options. Thanks again for the moving company suggestion. Have you heard of Atlas van Lines?

Thank you thank you thank you!

I can't point you to a website that says it doesn't exist because if it doesn't exist obviously they don't mention it. There's no mention of it on http://www.riv.ca or on the CBSA website either. Personal effects are exempt from GST and import duty, simple as that.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications ... 1-eng.html

Scroll down to "items you can import duty- and tax-free" says personal effects, then says personal vehicles are included in that.

You have to pay PST in Ontario due to the crazy PST rules there but there are no federal taxes.

I keep hearing about this supposed $10,000 limit, I think it's a myth. If you import a brand-new car, i.e. you've done a personal import from the US then you pay taxes on the full amount, so I have no idea what $10,000 has to do with anything.

Hi Steven,

I checked out that link but it appears to be for new immigrants to Canada

-- Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:05 pm --

Ok Found it on this document (Moving Back to Canada) on page 4
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications ... -2-eng.pdf

However, on page 5, it talks about the 10,000 limit. So it would appear duty/harmonized sales tax IS charged on the amount above 10,000. How they value a car, I assume, is based on the blue book value. or the red book value in Canada.