Members may be interested in the comments made by the Retail Council Canada of Canada (RCC) regarding the 2017 Federal Budget, in particular comments on de minimis.

...Notwithstanding an aggressive lobbying effort by foreign online sellers and courier companies, the government has maintained tax fairness on retail purchases, whether made from retailers here in Canada or from online vendors outside our borders.

The current de minimis rule exempts imported parcels with a value under $20 from sales taxes and customs duties. Foreign online vendors have been pressing the Canadian government to increase that level to as high as $200 in this year’s budget. Had that lobbying effort succeeded, the tax-included price on every item under $200 sold by a merchant in Canada would have been significantly more expensive than the comparable item shipped from a foreign source.

The government’s approach is in keeping with policy moves elsewhere in the World. This year, Australia will lower its de minimis rate to $0 and the European Commission recently proposed a €0 de minimis level throughout the EU. Even in online market leader Amazon’s U.S. home, 39 states now have regimes in place to collect state and local taxes on interstate shipments, levelling the playing field with local businesses...

The full article is available on the RCC website.