All About Importing Goods to Canada
Maybe you are a start-up and on a business trip outside Canada and have identified some unique materials there which you wish to sell in Canada, or sitting on your desk, you found inexpensive items in a different country which could abundantly improve your business in Canada. Whether you are a growing business or a start-up or wish to start a business, you need to know the fundamentals of importing goods into Canada. Get into Clearit.ca and avail all required guidance and assistance in order to get yourself involved in the import and export business in Canada.
You need to register yourself with a business number for opening import and export tax account with the CRA or Canada Revenue Agency in order to start with an import and export business. In addition to the CRA import and export tax account number, you need to also register for HST and GST, payroll tax accounts, and the corporate income tax if you need them but you must register GST and HST for import and export business. 5% of GST is mandatory for almost all goods while importing goods to Canada.
After getting all the required and necessary registration, the next step of getting into an import and export business is to collect accurate information about the goods you want to import into Canada. You will get detail information about your intended goods from the CBSA or Canada Border Service Agency and know which goods are prohibited or restricted for importation into Canada.
The next step after getting all the details of your goods from CBSA, you need to know how much duty and tax you will have to pay for importing your goods into Canada. You need to further know the tariff classification of your goods, the applicable the tariff treatment, rates of tariff, and about the tax payable while importing the goods.
The tariff classifications are 10-digit numbers given to each commodity to determine its rate of duty to pay while importing and every type of commodity is given a specific tariff classification 10-digit number. You will get the information about both the tariff classification 10-digit number of your goods as well as the rate of duty from the customs tariff of CBSA. In addition to this, you will have to also pay the GST for your goods while importing and the excise tax and excise duty if your goods come under excise duty and taxes. Remember, for a federal portion, you pay the GST for your imported goods even if you reside in a province whereas HST is payable under provincial regulation for imported goods. However, you need not pay GST for goods that are zero-rated like prescription drugs, medical devices etc.
