# what should i be doing to pay minimum customs in Canada for imports?



## freestylezz (Oct 21, 2007)

Hello everyone,
as every other newbie, im trying to setup my own T-shirt printing business. when i came up with this idea, it seemed so easy, fast and profiting... i started doing as much research as i could. now i feel like i was just taking baby steps 2 weeks ago. This forum has given me great insights and other warnings on common 'errors' which i certainly would've made.
I live in Canada, and the cost of cotton T-shirts here is high, even if im buying on wholesale. my cousin is in India and he is a local supplier. I was thinking if he can become my supplier, but the problem is with customs. 
Can any1 tell me what should i be doing to pay minimum custom. Do i need to have a company/ business registered for tax purposes? how does the Canadian custom work for big businesses when they import heavy shipments... 
any insight on this topic would be highly appreciated.


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## rrc62 (Jun 2, 2007)

You shouldn't pay any customs fees importing from the US...Just like we don't pay customs fees importing from Canada. NAFTA takes care of that. If you ship via UPS, they may charge you a "fee". This is not a customs fee. It is a fee they charge to act as your customs broker. I challenged UPS on it and they told me that they were just passing on customs fees imposed on them. When I went higher up and asked why none of the other shippers charge a customs fee, I got the real story.


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## rrc62 (Jun 2, 2007)

Just noticed you were importing from India. No around customs on that one. The product classification will determine the fees. Might be cheaper to buy local or from the US once you figure customs fees.


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## tqualizerman (Dec 9, 2006)

You want to cut your duties? Sometimes a proof of origin certificate can help reduce duties on some products, but only useful if you're bringing in a lot of goods as these are a couple hundred dollars to issue. Of course you could get your supplier to invoice the shirts at a much lower value than you actually pay, but that's not so legal...


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

there is a large Chinese and India community in Toronto/Ontario and BC. You should not have any problems finding goods made there already in Canada.


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