This memorandum provides general information for administering agreements between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and provincial authorities. The CBSA has agreed to collect provincial taxes for certain provinces on non-commercial goods imported through various means, specifically by travellers. As well, this memorandum contains information about the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) agreements, between the Minister of Finance for Canada and the participating provinces, for collecting the HST on non-commercial importations by travellers.

Details on collecting provincial taxes on non-commercial importations of goods by mail are in the Memorandum D5-1-1, Canada Border Services Agency International Mail Processing System. Details on goods cleared in the courier and commercial streams are in Memorandum D17-1-22, Accounting for the Harmonized Sales Tax, Provincial Sales Tax, Provincial Tobacco Tax and Alcohol Markup/Fee on Casual Importations in the Courier and Commercial Streams.

Importers are encouraged to contact their province of residence or the Canada Revenue Agency for assistance in determining the tax status of a good.

This memorandum has been revised to reflect the Harmonized Sales Tax / Provincial Sales Tax rate changes in the appendix A.

This memorandum is available in its entirety on the CBSA website.