Canadian Dollar and US Dollar Reaches Parity: Tips on Border Crossing

As many of our North American readers have probably heard by now, the Canadian and American dollar are at parity ($1 = $1). As our Canadian readers know, most items (such as games) sold in the great white north are approximately $10-$15 more expensive than their American counterparts.

I'd like to give you a few tips on border crossing, customs fees, and how to survive if you're going to take a trip over the border this weekend, or any time in the near future.

Step 1: Converting your money
You can do this at any bank you have an account at, while they'll charge you a small fee (normally 1¢ on every dollar or less) for the conversion, you have the safety of being able to use Interac or a direct withdrawal from your account.

You can also do the conversion at the border itself, which yields no fees, but will likely have no form of Interac or ATM to access funds beforehand, so if you go this route, take out some Canadian cash before you get to the border crossing.

Step 2: State Tax
Every state (much like every province) has its own tax amount. A handy guide to check what the state tax (to calculate your purchase totals) can be found here.

Step 3: Returning to Canada
This is where it gets tricky. Since you'll more than likely only be doing a day trip, you have to know the limits, and risks, of what you can bring back across the border.

Since the dollar just reached parity, there will likely be an increased watch for people making quick trips to buy goods, so try not to lie when they asked you "How much do you have to declare?" when you pass through the border.

Here is a quick rundown of your limits:

0-23hrs: Full amount of your purchase is taxable (you pay PST/GST on full amount).

24hrs+: $50 exemption, anything above that you pay PST/GST.

48hrs+: $400 exemption, anything above that you pay PST/GST on the remaining balance.

72hrs+: $750 exemption, anything above that you pay PST/GST on the remaining balance.

If you don't declare (falsely declare), they can seize your purchases and charge you 25-80% of value to get it back, possibly in addition to customs charges. They can also seize your car unless you pay an on-the-spot fine for that.

If you don't get pulled over for a more in-depth search, you can get away with paying nothing, but if they decide to take a look, they will open up your package, charge you based on a value they decide, and add a $5 charge for having to open the package. If they can't decide the value they will seize your stuff and require you to fax in a letter of value before they release it.

The customs guards don't have any accurate way to spot calculate value, but if they have good reason to think you under-declared or didn't declare, they will make you pay big time.

Hopefully this gives you a little bit of insight and preparation if you plan on taking a trip down to the US this weekend.