Anyone ever had to pay GST on their Skulls and Capes when they got to the destination country? I had to pay 888.00 GST on my Elephant skull ,tusks, Buffalo skull and cape, baboon, Zebra, and Impala skins, to the Canada Border Services Agency. They said the value of the above is 17800.00 dollars US. Is this a new thing in CANADA? or has it always been like that?

White North

yes, we had to pay it as well in 2009. what a rip off. i am waiting to see if i pay it on finished work from this years tripwhere did your shipment arrive? ours went through calgary, and i was later told to try and avoid it.

Where do they get the value from, and yes the shipment went thru Calgary. I still do not understand how they got a value.

White North

It would seem they are using some trophy fee value to arrive at that price.

In the US we have to claim that the elephant is valueless, or else it would not be importable by our goofy animal laws (only hunting trophies allowed, no commercial use allowed...)

Are you guys allowed to sell your trophies in Canada?

As I understand it, we have to pay the GST on the trophy fees for raw trophies OR the GST on finished taxidermy. Finding some one at Border Services who can explain it or getting the same answer from 2 different people is difficult. I don't get any taxidermy done in Canada as a result.

Dean

It took me less than 5 min. to clear my Namibian shipment with CBS in Vancouver. I asked where I go to pay (as I it was my understanding that I had to pay HST on the taxidermy bill) and he said there were no charges - just take the papers back to the carrier and collect my shipment.

From the time I picked up the papers at the carrier until I had my shipment cleared and loaded took 35 min. Easiest part of my whole hunt.

Whenever I go to customs to clear something I always hope that I don't come across someone who is going to give me a hard time.It has happened.You always have to play it smart too and help them make the process easier and quicker.No one wants a long drawn out thing so have all invoices and papers with you.There was one paper I had from africa that had my trophies valued at a very low cost.Not all agents know the difference between a trophy and a mounted trophy.Give them the documents they ask from you and hope it doesn't turn out expensive.If you don't have an invoice for the taxidermy work or that trophy value paper from africa I am sure they will come out with something that is very expensive.

i am using a broker from edmonton now. he imports through vancouver. this is avery busy point of entry and they dont have the time to examine everything and give you a hard time. in calgary, there are many agents sitting around doing squat and they have all the time in the world to make things difficult. some of the agents there are very anti-hunting. DO NOT SHIP THRU CALGARY.