damn Canadian taxes

[charles]

I live in Toronto and plan to buy an engagement ring from one of the U-S internet vendors.

If I have the ring shipped to a friend in Boston will I be able to avoid paying Canadian taxes, import duties etc? I can drive down to Boston and pick up the ring and be back within a day.

Has anyone ever done this?

 

[Daniela]

It's not legal, but it's been done time and again.

 

[Hest88]

I know people who have had the stone shipped to a holding center (like the FedEx office) in Buffalo and driven down to get it.

 

[jcard71]

I WOULD DO IT...

 

[niceice]

People do both, but the reality is that on average, even with the tax, it is still significantly less expensive to purchase a diamond via the internet and have it shipped to Canada. Something to consider is that we have been told by some of our Canadian clients that they had to provide their insurance company with proof that they had paid the tax in order to purchase an insurance policy... This didn't make sense to us, but to be clear, we're not exactly familiar with how insurance works in Canada, perhaps the insurance companies are government backed? Anyway, it's worth checking out.

 

[Daniela]

Wow, Niceice, I've never heard of that before! Our insurance company was just happy to get an appraisal, no questions asked.