Moving Furniture Internationally Across the US Canada Border
How do I bring my furniture with me if I am emigrating to Canada? If the goods that follow are not on the list, you may need to pay duties. How do I declare my furniture if I am moving back to Canada after living somewhere else?
How do I bring my furniture with me if I am emigrating to Canada?
Prepare a detailed list of all of the items you are bringing (include makes/models/serial numbers) with two sections:
- goods you will be bringing with you when you enter the country
- and goods that will follow as a shipment.
If the goods that follow are not on the list, you may need to pay duties.
Make sure that the items fall under the list of acceptable goods supplied by Canadian Border Services. These items include things like
- Bedding and clothes
- Furniture and decorative home ornaments
- Appliances
- Silverware and dishes
- Jewellery, antiques, family heirlooms, and private (not for sale) collections of collectors items (such as stamps, rocks, art)
- Computers
- Books
- Musical instruments or other hobby items
- Tools
- Personal (not corporate) vehicles including motor homes, boats and private aircraft
- Trailers narrower than 2.6 m (9 ft)
- Portable tool sheds and other outbuildings that do not attach to dwellings
- Make sure that you declare individual items worth more than $10,000 that you have acquired since 1977 (including anything in the above list). You will have to pay duties on the value of those items above $10,000. Make sure that any items purchased in the last six months are replacement items, or you will have to declare them and pay duties.
- Present your complete list to the border services officer.
How do I declare my furniture if I am moving back to Canada after living somewhere else?
All of the same procedures as those listed above for emigrating apply if you are returning to Canada from abroad. Make sure that you have owned and used all of the items you are bringing into Canada for at least six months.
What forms do I need to declare my furniture in Canada?
You must complete a BSF186 Personal Effects Accounting Document based upon your list you created.
How do I get my wedding gifts across the border of Canada?
You can bring your wedding gifts free of duties as long as you have gotten married in the three months before or after entering Canada. Make sure to have your marriage certificate ready.
How do I get the contents of my wine cellar across the border of Canada?
Unfortunately you’ll need to pay the regular duties associated with alcohol above the limited personal exemption for alcoholic beverages (just 1.5 litres of wine are exempt from duties). There are no exceptions.
How do I declare my furniture if I am immigrating to the United States?
Attach a complete inventory of imported goods to Customs Form 6059B, “Customs Declaration,” for goods you are bringing with you, or…
Complete a Customs Form 3299, “Declaration For Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles”, for articles which will be following your entry as a shipment. Try to break your lists down into categories like “Kitchenware,” “Furniture,” “Sports Equipment,” “Clothes,” etc. so that it is easy for the board agent to establish you are not attempting to smuggle anything into the country without duty.
Please note: If you are looking to have a question answered, you need to contact CBSA.
