Canadian & US Couple

[DianeG]

I'm Canadian, my husband is US. We bought a houseboat in the States and registered it in Michigan. We also own homes in Ontario and Michigan. We had planned to keep the boat in Harbor Beach but the trip up Lake Huron is proving to be far too risky for this vessel. The only other available slip is in Ontario. My question is, will we be required to pay duty on the boat if we keep it in a Canadian marina all summer?

[danstanford]

The duty question needs to be informed by the country of manufacture for the boat. If it was manufactured in the US there should be no duty due to NAFTA.

[Mike OReilly]

As Dan says, duty will be determined by whether it is a non-NAFTA (or whatever it’s called now) boat. If so, duty used to be 9.5%. But the real question is: will be required to import the boat? That’s when duty AND sales taxs will be applied. In the case of importing into Ontario, that’s 13%, on top of any possible duty owed.

I recommend talking to CBSA, or perhaps Rev. Canada to clarify if you will be required to import the boat. If you were both Canadians, I think the answer is, yes. But your situation is more complicated.

[bgallinger]

CBSA will ask you how long you intend to keep your boat in Canada. If it's just for a summer, that should be ok. If longer than a summer, they may want you to import the boat or put a sizable deposit on the boat to be refunded when you return to the US.
Also, don't forget the Pleasure Craft Operator Card which is required depending on your length of stay in Canada.

[boatpoker]

Put the houseboat in your Husbands name. He can bring a US state registered or documented vessel into Canada for up to one year tax & duty free as long as he is not a dual US/Canadian citizen.

[jaredko]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Put the houseboat in your Husbands name. He can bring a US state registered or documented vessel into Canada for up to one year tax & duty free as long as he is not a dual US/Canadian citizen.

Is it based on citizenship or residency? I believe temporary importation is documented in memo D2-1-1 which only differentiates based on residence. Is there another source that cites citizenship being a factor?

[Adelie]

Welcome to CruisersForum!

I would suggest updating your profile with your general location and your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.