Death and Taxes - Trophy Fees & Canada Customs

[BRICKBURN]

So, here is what was shared with me by the experienced Canadian Import Agent/Broker that was part of the fight:

"If the Commercial Invoices arrive with the trophy fees on them .. GST has to be paid based on the invoice, in no way , shape or form can we alter the commercial invoices, Zimbabwe Is bad for that .. most cases the invoices show up with trophy fees … the invoice needs to be corrected prior to the shipment leaving !! Prior to this so called .. “Value Ruling” the brokers were instructed by Canada Customs to add “Certain Values” to the invoices .. Lions 5000 .. Kudu’s 1500 and so on .. this does not happen anymore and shouldn’t happen under any circumstances ..

GST should be paid on the Commercial invoice value travelling with the shipment ..

asking the Africans to “Under Value” processing charges is an offence, and under no circumstance should this be done .. the Commercial invoice should state values for services rendered .. and this is the amount GST should be paid on."​

Now it is in your hands to minimize the taxes you pay.

The only invoice that accompanies my trophies when they arrive will be from the Taxidermist. The PH Register will not have any values on it, nor will any other paperwork.

 

[CAustin]

Wow! Sounds like you guys get put through a ringer Brickburn.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Wow! Sounds like you guys get put through a ringer Brickburn.

If it shows up you pay taxes on it. (You never have to wonder how medicare is funded when you meet the revenue man at the border)

 

[robertq]

Hi Wayne,
Next time you go hunting out of Canada, please let me know.
We have a counter part in Canada that does all our importing and exporting of hunted trophies....
That's all they do just like SSI.....

 

[Dragan N.]

If it shows up you pay taxes on it. (You never have to wonder how medicare is funded when you meet the revenue man at the border)

The only time, in my experience that, customs causes problems in regards to declared value is if something is grossly and obviously undervalued. For example say you have 5 trophies mounted or brought back from Africa and the value is 5,000. If the value is declared on the invoice as 1000 or 1500 they probably won't say anything and you'd pay the taxes on that. Now if it has a declared value as a $1 or $10 or something funny then they will want proof, reassessment etc....

 

[BRICKBURN]

The fraud thing deserves a little attention. That was not the case

The problem that hunters were encountering with the problem child was the mandatory addition of values to the invoices presented no matter what and also as far as I am concerned for Trophy Fees in general.

 

[Hank2211]

I'm not actually sure where all of this will take us. As Brickburn says, everything that comes in has to have a value. I believe that comes from the Customs Act. So if it is a taxidermy specimen, I believe they will accept the cost of the taxidermy as the value for customs purposes. But as someone asked, what about a dipped zebra skin? Arguably, it has negative value, because you need to spend a bunch of money to make it useful, and in some cases you will spend more than a commercial specimen might cost.

When I brought home some elephant tusks, no work had been done on them (cleaning), but the woman said these have to have some value. She asked for the trophy fee, and that's when the discussion began. In fact, she had a book with trophy fees by country, which I assume was official (not something she did on her own), and she told me what average trophy fees were in Zimbabwe for elephant, and that's what I paid GST on. The tusks have no commercial value though, since I can't sell them, and there are no other tusks for sale that they could use to determine a value. So what do they propose to do now?

I hate to say it, but I don't think this is over.

 

[BRICKBURN]

.................
I hate to say it, but I don't think this is over.

I'm pretty sure you are right Hank.

It sounds like you had a direct encounter.

I'd sure have an argument on those Elephant tusks being taxed.
Charging tax on Trophy fees just pisses me off .

 

[lcq]

Well if you are out of Canada for 7 or more days you can claim $800 tax free. That will reduce your costs somewhat but it doesn't make the government abuse right

 

[BRICKBURN]

Well if you are out of Canada for 7 or more days you can claim $800 tax free. That will reduce your costs somewhat but it doesn't make the government abuse right

Every officer to this point has always asked about the personal exemption and deducted the amount from every trophy shipment. Great on their part, because I always forget when I have not just reentered the country.