I believe that everytime I try to get animals cleared through customs here in Canada I have a war with customs ... Some noticeable times ... 1978 .. 'we have seized your leopard because it is endangered so we are going to destroy it !!! 'I got it back ... 'We have seized your zebra because it is endangered ... (another safari and the Burchells was returned)' .. 'we have seized your duiker because they are endangered' .. the grey duiker was returned .. and one of the cutest ones ... 'you can't bring an elephant into Canada! ' I won all those wars .. today while I was sitting in home .. recuperating from my Monday's surgery my wife drove back to Calgary to pick up her eland and gemsbok that had arrived by British Air while I was in hospital ... The lady at Customs was very very surly to Margaret and insisted that we had to pay 6% Goods and Services tax (our hated G.S.T.) on the trophy fees that are normally paid in Namibia ... She insisted that has always been the case and that my previous times I have had a shipment come in (10+ including one from another country a few months ago)I was not dinged because I was lucky .. I talked to her on my wife's cell phone and I do declare that woman was on the prod .. ! Sheesshhhh !!! Is this the case anywhere else ?? Have any other Canucks had to pay this ???? I have always been charged the G.S.T. on the dipping and packing only ... I did know one poor chap that paid the G.S.T. on his safari costs back in '92 .... Man, but that was a ripoff !!!

Scruffy,

I haven't paid on either of my shipments. Just a random moron at customs. Labour is so scarce around here you get people in over their head's all the time.

Glad they finally got around to doing your surgery. I'll send you some photo's of Ky's rifle. It'll help kill some time. Heal quickly.

Dean

Scruffy,
I was asked by Vancouver customs while clearing my trophies how much my 05 trip cost to which I replied that it was none of his business. No furthure questions were asked and all was cleared.

Calgary customs "agents" have to be some of the most useless around. Hence the reason why I avoid them at all costs. Why would we pay GST on another countries fees? Are we supposed to pay GST on a hotel stay in the US also? Not likely. I'd say its time to write your MP.

quote:

The lady at Customs was very very surly to Margaret and insisted that we had to pay 6% Goods and Services tax (our hated G.S.T.) on the trophy fees that are normally paid in Namibia ... She insisted that has always been the case and that my previous times I have had a shipment come in (10+ including one from another country a few months ago)I was not dinged because I was lucky ..

Scruff, Unless this is a brand new tactic, I believe that she is probably BSing your wife to get a few more bucks out of her. They still seem try it on everyone if you aren't totally prepared in advance. I have cleared customs in Calgary three times since 2002. Most recently was three weeks ago with a shipment from Tanzania. I was in and out of there in under 5 minutes. Literally. I spent more time chatting up the ladies about where to find a bank (the cargo company only took cash) then I did on the shipment paperwork. They have been great all three times. The quickest is the lady thats been doing it forever.

What I do is I get the outfitter or shipping company to put a reciept in the shipment paperwork that says the shipped items are "hunting trophies that have no commercial value", and then shows a charge of something like $1000 or so for trophy cleaning, dipping and packing.

Each time (including three weeks ago) they have accepted that as the value of the shipment (they really just need a receipt to go on), and I have paid the $60 for GST very happily.

I know guys that have not had a reciept of any kind and the Customs people try to get them to pay GST on the whole value of the hunt!!! (ie. not just the trophy fees!). And it worked on one of them...he paid about $700 in GST to get his Zimbabwe trophies, but that was back in 1998. I think you told me about that guy in 1992 too.

There are only 2 or 3 of the customs clerks that do the trophy clearing, and they have told me that they get a few shipments of trophies EVERY week, so you know they have a pretty good idea what they are doing. The bottom line though, is if you have a reciept that they can use to determine value, you are usually golden. If you have nothing, you'll have to do a lot of 'splainin'. If you had your paperwork on the dipping and packing, though, maybe this thing with trophy fees is a brand new tactic????

I also like to phone them in advance and let them know I am coming, and I play a little dumb about it all. They have always been good to me...maybe its just luck but I like to think my preparation has paid off.

Cheers,
Canuck

We have to pay VAT, (Like GST) on the full cost of taxidermy, shipping and clearance!!

That's usually 17.5% but I think it is down to 5% on hunting trophies... Still a big whack, and customs won't release your trophies if you don't pay.

Getting trophies back homme here, feels like everyone has their hands in your pockets every step of the way!!

FB

As usual, any and all government employees are a royal pain in the ass! They lack the intelligence and drive to compete in the private sector but always seem to have a chip on their shoulder as if it is the tax payers fault that they are lazy, stupid and basically useless.

I had one of these asshole try and confiscate a bow that was given to me by a tracker in Zim. I told this little turd that the only way he was going to get that bow was to physically take it. He looked stunned and called his supervisor. The supervisor told me to keep the bow and he took this little cretin aside and read him the riot act. These pricks should remember who pays them their wages and act accordingly.

One has to remember that these people are lower than whale shit on the bottom of the ocean and have never had any authority what so ever! They will try and cause a problem for anyone at any time.

In regards to taxes, I can only say that all of these pathetic countries have their hand out for as much as they can grab. I currently live in Santiago, Chile and can honestly say that " South America should have been left to the Indians"!They have a vat tax here that is 19% and you wonder what people get for it. If you want your kid to have a decent education you must send him to private schools from elementary level on. This will cost 275.00 to 500.00 US per kid per month!!! Poverty here is rampant as it is in all countries that are controlled by the Spanish and the Catholic church. The locals live in total fear of the church and the government which only keeps the entire continent 100 years behind the US.

I hope you get your trophies without getting "hosed"!

Interesting comments. One more thing that had this agent in an absolute rage was the folks in Namibia had put the value of work done in Namibian dollars. She wanted me to know that those people over there dealt only in American dollars and it was obvious that she was not going to be fooled by that !!! (I thought that comment was about as absurd as I've heard in a while .. Heck, I have an account at the local grocery store about ten miles from where my little hunting camp is and these Namibian folks deal in Namibian dollars ...of frickin' course ... )In some ways it is a pity that I have no more room in my house for mounted animals .. in other ways ....