Canada Customs overcharged me for duties/taxes for my WLT order :(

[MereAlien]

I have had this happen to me today. My mail lady is having my parcel held for me at the post office, but what do I do?

 

[deluxestogie]

Yours: Canada postal import classification number 2401109900.1

What I find on the Canada Import Classification site:

Find the tariff applicable for your product | Canada Tariff Finder

Canada Tariff Finder enables Canadian importers and exporters to check tariffs for specific goods and markets (focus on countries in a Free Trade Agreement with Canada).

www.tariffinder.ca

Bob

 

[MereAlien]

They have messed this up. If you look at the form, this is listed under the category "PST," which is 7%, not whatever they have calculated this as.

 

[Armstrong-Joshua]

I had the same issue. I had it sent back to customs twice with reassessment form. No change. Still wanted to charge me a whopping 650%. Claimed it was tobacco and not an agricultural commodity. Very rude on phone. I’m not sure what’s going on but Canadians appear to bet getting screwed over. I’ve decided to take a break from smoking until they sort this ridiculous tax out. The other option would be to move to the states or possibly find a farmer in Canada. Are there any tobacco farmers in Canada? Heartbreaking news. I cannot afford this lovely hobby anymore with this new tax implication.

 

[highgrave]

My first order with WLT was in December and it went through CBSA problem-free, albeit slowly; it took a month. Emboldened by this success, and because I forgot to include Dark Air in my first order, I ordered a second time. The second order was intercepted by CBSA and exorbitantly taxed as if it were processed tobacco, so I requested of my local post office that they return the item to CBSA to appeal the duty, and had them attach a copy of the CBSA Informal Adjustment Request form, which the good folks at WLT provided, pre-filled to me. I also mailed the same form to my nearest CBSA office here in BC. I will let you know how this goes fellow Canucks..

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

What do you do?

This is new and we don't understand what makes them think this is acceptable. We have found zero documents or websites saying anything other than 7% pst.

In the thread here you will find I separately posted 3 links.

New PST tax in British Columbia

Hello, Just found out today that I cannot buy unmanufactured tobacco from Whole Leaf tobacco in Canada without a 650% pst tax! My order was $60US and CBSA wanted to charge me $752.23 PST tax! Apparently there’s been a new law in Canada this year which allows them to charge all tobacco...

fairtradetobacco.com

BC Excise tax act
Canada Excise tax act
And, BC provincial sales tax act

As far as we all know, these don't explain what they charged you.

The Canada Excise Act and the BC Provincial Sales Tax Act are the only documents that apply. The BC Excise act does not mention Raw tobacco.

Know and understand those three documents and call CBSA and know what you're talking about and ask them to provide you with proof of where this crazy charge comes from. Remember the BC Excise act doesn't mention raw leaf intentionally. They refer to raw leaf in the BC provincial sales Tax Act, and that's proof that they acknowledge raw leaf as a category, separate from loose tobacco. It's also logical that loose tobacco is not whole leaf, but look who we're dealing with.

AFAIK, the only hole that might exist is if there's a new unpublished update to the provincial sales tax act that is immensely different from the published one.

 

[highgrave]

I returned my recently overtaxed order to CBSA for reassessment, who then rejected it for unknown reasons, and it is now being returned to WLT, according th Canada Post's tracking. I am in BC.

 

[bcfrust]

Hello,

I ordered 5 lbs of tobacco from WLT just before Christmas. After having my package being held in customs in Toronto for a month it was finally released but when the delivery guy showed up with it he said I had to pay $1400 CAD! Obviously Canada customs didn't bother to read the paperwork that was attached to the package showing the tax code to follow.
I showed the delivery guy the attached paperwork and said I wanted to send it back to customs for reassessment. He told me he "doesn't know anything about that" he said if you are refusing the package then we just return the package back to the sender. He said if I wanted to have it re-assessed that I'd have to pay the fees, then send it in myself for reassessment. I told him that didn't sound right and that I couldn't pay the $1400 so he left with the package.
I then contacted Canada Post, explained the situation and the lady reiterated what the delivery guy said, saying I'd have to come to the post office, pick up a dispute form and send it back to customs for re-assessment. Again, that would have required me to pay the fees to take possession of the package and do this. So it seems I'm stuck in loop of incompetence with Canada Post not knowing how the process is supposed to work.

I contacted WLT explained the situation and received an email back from Don this morning who also did not understand why they couldn't just send the package back for re-assessment, instead of returning the package back to them. He said if it it's returned back to them, that they would send it back to me but I would have to pay for shipping again. Frustrating, but understandable as they did their job by shipping it with proper paperwork. I'm worried that if I pay for it to be shipped back, that the same thing is going to happen again and I will be out of pocket twice for shipping.

Are there any Canadians here that have had this problem and how you were able to get your package sent back to customs instead of having it sent back to WLT?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

I am in the same awful position. I ordered 6 pounds of raw stems on, unprocessed whole leaf tobacco (2,700 g, $122 CDN)) from Leaf Only and noticed yesterday that the parcel was sitting in Montreal at Customs with a hefty price sticker: $ CDN 1,929.24. There is no way I can pay that. I talked to local customs and they gave me a phone number for Montreal customs to try and have it reassessed under 2401.10.99 as agricultural product. I will call Monday morning to try that. If it is not reassessed, I have no other option than to have customs return it to sender before it gets to the post office here. It seems that BC has added a special tobacco tax of 650%. I can't give any advice right nor but I'll let you know how this goes.

 

[Havok]

Best of luck.

WLT has suspended orders from BC for this reason.

Properly assessed you should be closer to $20 rather than $1900.

If you do get this resolved appropriately, there are some members that I am sure would love to hear how. If not, a winter home in Alberta may fix that issue for ya.

 

[Havok]

Also, welcome to the forum! Feel free to introduce yourself in the “introduce yourself” section of the forum.

 

[richyrich]

I am in the same awful position. I ordered 6 pounds of raw stems on, unprocessed whole leaf tobacco (2,700 g, $122 CDN)) from Leaf Only and noticed yesterday that the parcel was sitting in Montreal at Customs with a hefty price sticker: $ CDN 1,929.24. There is no way I can pay that. I talked to local customs and they gave me a phone number for Montreal customs to try and have it reassessed under 2401.10.99 as agricultural product. I will call Monday morning to try that. If it is not reassessed, I have no other option than to have customs return it to sender before it gets to the post office here. It seems that BC has added a special tobacco tax of 650%. I can't give any advice right nor but I'll let you know how this goes.

Sorry to hear about this my friend. I'm suprised LO hasn't suspended orders to BC, like WLT, or at least have very clear notice about the issue in BC before people order and lose their shipping fee. I lost $80 in shipping fees on my order because some beurocrats messed around with something that wasn't broken. I believe it's likely a mistake and no one cares to fix it. I'm sure they've been made aware of it by now. It makes no sense only BC would be charged a 650% tax increase on whole leaf tobacco

I really miss my leaf from WLT. I attempted to grow my own tobacco this year but I already know it's not going to be near the quality of what I used to get from WLT.
Please do keep us posted on the outcome of yours...
Cheers!