Registering Electronics Before Travelling to Avoid Duty Coming Back In?

gvdv

Years ago I used to regularly go to an office at my home airport in order to register the electronics (Walkman and so on) that I was taking out of the country. I would be given a document listing the electronics I had.

The purpose of this was to have some proof that I had not bought the electronics while on holiday, thereby avoiding paying duty when re-entering the country (coming back home).

Would there be any need nowadays to prove that one has not bought goods abroad. Is there is an equivalent practice to the one I describe above? Or something else one can do?

capt_mahajan

Yes, sometimes they used to stamp the export of electronics on your passport, too.

These days, unless there is a lot of expensive equipment being imported or somesuch, nobody bothers. Laptops, cameras, ipods, cellphones and other such personal electronic items are usually ignored. So many people travel with these.

Of course, one of each.

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Outside the machine

gvdv

Thanks, Capt.
Yes, I haven't registered anything in years, but thought I'd better ask, just in case coming back from India might be looked at differently than coming back from elsewhere.

obione980

Electronics are cheaper in Canada than India, so that's unlikely.

gvdv

Hi obione980,
I don't really think that the Canadian tax authorities - or others, for that matter - care what is cheaper. If they think that you've got something elsewhere, and there's tax to be made on it, they'll charge you.