Duty-Free Limits Returning to Canada: What Going Over Costs

When you’re returning to Canada, your duty-free limit depends on how long you were away. After 24 hours you can bring back $200 worth of goods without paying duty or tax. After 48 hours it’s $800, and that can include two bottles of wine or a 24-can case of beer. A same-day trip gets no exemption at all.

Going over works differently at each limit. One dollar past $200 and you pay duty and tax on everything you bought. Past $800 you pay only on the extra, and the first $300 of it can get a lower 7% duty rate. Since September 8, 2026, US-made goods on Canada’s counter-tariff list also pay a tariff of 15% to 50% on whatever your exemption doesn’t cover.

How much can you bring back to Canada duty-free?

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) (opens in a new tab) sets the limits by time away: $200 after 24 hours, $800 after 48 hours, and nothing for a shorter trip. They’re in Canadian dollars and per person, and only the $800 limit can include alcohol and tobacco.

A trip of seven days or more also gets $800, and it’s the only one that lets you ship goods home instead of carrying them (alcohol and tobacco excepted).

How the hours are counted

The clock runs from the time you left Canada. Leave at 7 p.m. on a Friday and you can claim the $200 limit from 7 p.m. Saturday, and the $800 limit from 7 p.m. Sunday. You can’t combine limits, either. Nine days away still gets you $800, not $800 for the first 48 hours plus another $800 for the week.

What counts toward the limit

Everything you bought or were given outside Canada counts, at the price you paid including US sales tax, converted to Canadian dollars. At the Bank of Canada’s rate (opens in a new tab) on October 30, 2026 (US$1 = $1.3960), the $200 limit is about US$143 and the $800 limit about US$573. When the loonie drops, fewer US dollars of shopping fit under the same limit (more on that in how exchange rates affect Canadians).

How much alcohol and tobacco can you bring back?

After 48 hours away, you can bring back one of these amounts of alcohol without paying duty or tax. You have to be of legal drinking age in the province where you cross: 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, and 19 everywhere else. The $200 limit for a 24-hour trip doesn’t cover alcohol or tobacco at all.

It’s one of the three, not one of each, under the CBSA’s alcohol and tobacco limits (opens in a new tab). Coolers count as whatever they’re made from, so a wine cooler is wine.

If you’re 18 or older, you can also bring all of these: 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 200 grams of tobacco, 200 tobacco sticks and up to 120 mL of vaping liquid. Cigarettes, tobacco and vaping products have to be stamped “duty paid Canada droit acquitté”, like the ones sold in duty-free shops. Unstamped packs pay a special duty even inside your limit.

What extra bottles cost

Past the allowance, you pay duty and tax on the extra alcohol, plus a provincial charge set by the province where you cross, not the one you live in. In most provinces the CBSA collects the liquor board’s markup. Cross into Alberta, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador or Yukon and a small set fee applies instead, from 1 cent an ounce on beer to 15 cents an ounce on spirits, according to CBSA Memorandum D2-3-6 (opens in a new tab). Provinces also cap how much alcohol you can bring in at all, so check with the liquor board before you buy a second case.

What happens if you go over your duty-free limit?

It depends on which limit you went over. Past $200 after a 24-hour trip, you lose the exemption and pay on the whole amount. Past $800 after 48 hours, you pay only on the part over $800. Either way, the duty depends on where each item was made and bought, and sales tax is added on top.

Over $200, the exemption is gone

The 24-hour limit is all or nothing. Bring back $190 of shopping and you owe nothing. Bring back $250 and you owe duty and tax on all $250, not just on the $50 over. If you’re near $200 on a short trip, leaving one item in the store can save you the duty and tax on all the rest.

Over $800, the next $300 gets a 7% rate

After 48 hours or more, you pay only on what’s over $800, and the first $300 of it can get a lower 7% duty rate (opens in a new tab) instead of the regular one. It only covers goods you carry with you that would otherwise pay duty, so it doesn’t apply to alcohol, tobacco, or goods that are already duty-free, like most goods made in the US, Mexico or Canada. Anything past that $300 pays the regular rate, and GST or HST applies to all of it.

Duty depends on where it was made

Duty depends on where something was made, and for a trade-deal rate, also on where you bought it. Under CUSMA, the free trade agreement between Canada, the US and Mexico, goods for personal use bought in the US or Mexico pay no duty if they’re marked as made in the US, Mexico or Canada, or carry no marking at all and nothing shows they were made somewhere else. Canada’s other trade deals work the same way for goods marked as made in a partner country, as long as you also bought them in a partner country. Everything else pays the regular rate. These are the top rates the CBSA’s Duty and Taxes Estimator (opens in a new tab) uses:

China has no free trade agreement with Canada, so goods made there pay the regular rate. Dairy and poultry are the exception to the trade-deal rule. Canada protects both from imports through supply management, so the estimator charges the same rate wherever they were made. And a US-made item on Canada’s counter-tariff list pays that tariff on top of sales tax, as the tariff section below explains.

Then sales tax, by province

On anything your exemption doesn’t cover, you also pay GST or HST, worked out on the price plus any duty or tariff. The CBSA charges the HST of the province you live in wherever you cross, but it collects provincial sales tax only when you come back through your own province. The rates are from CBSA Memorandum D2-3-6 (opens in a new tab):

How much does going over actually cost?

On a three-day trip, $300 over the limit costs $39 to $63 in duty and tax on most goods. Going over $200 on a short trip costs more, and so do US-made goods on the tariff list. These are the totals for an Ontario resident, in Canadian dollars:

Clothing made in China pays the regular 18% duty, except for the 7% rate on the first $300 over $800. Shoes aren’t on the counter-tariff list, but cotton T-shirts and sweaters are, at 50%. HST is charged on the price plus the duty or tariff.

Do Canada’s tariffs on US goods apply to what you bring back?

Yes, on anything from the list your exemption doesn’t cover. After a same-day trip, or a 24-hour trip over $200, that’s all of it. Since September 8, 2026 (opens in a new tab), Canada has charged a counter-tariff of 15%, 25% or 50% on a list of American goods, and travellers pay it at the border like any other importer. GST or HST is then charged on the tariff as well.

Only US-made goods pay the tariff

The tariff follows where something was made, not where you bought it. A hoodie made in Vietnam and bought at an outlet in Buffalo isn’t affected. A bottle of perfume marked as made in the US is, even if you bought it in Paris. For something bought in the US, the CBSA puts the burden on you to show it wasn’t made there, so keep the labels and packaging.

What’s on the list

Most of Finance Canada’s list (opens in a new tab) is steel, aluminum and industrial goods. These are the products on it a shopper is most likely to buy:

• 50%: perfume, lip and eye make-up, nail polish and some hair products (not shampoo or hairspray); cotton T-shirts and sweaters, and some coats, suits and dresses; smartphones and video game consoles; exercise equipment and fishing rods; powdered and condensed milk
• 25% or 50%: furniture
• 25%: cheese; fridges, freezers, washers, stoves and other household appliances

US wine, beer and spirits aren’t on the list, and neither are shoes, shampoo, fresh milk, yogurt or butter. The list names each product by its tariff number, so it’s the authority on anything specific. For what the same tariffs do to prices in Canadian stores, see how tariffs affect Canadian consumers.

How do you declare and pay at the border?

Declare everything you bought or were given while you were away, and keep your receipts handy. The officer works out your exemption and what you owe, and the CBSA’s guide for returning residents (opens in a new tab) says they do it in the way that benefits you most. You pay before you leave the border by cash, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or debit at most crossings, and you get a receipt showing the calculation. Separately, if you’re carrying CA$10,000 or more in cash, you have to tell the officer, even if you bought nothing. How much cash you can bring into Canada explains the rule.

What happens if you don’t declare

Goods you don’t declare, or declare for less than you paid, can be seized. To get them back, you may have to pay a penalty of 25% to 70% of their value. Alcohol and tobacco that weren’t declared are seized for good. The CBSA can also seize a vehicle used to bring in undeclared goods, and you’d pay a penalty to get it back.

Coming home with money left over

A lot of cross-border trips are about paying less: a cheaper pair of boots, a TV on sale, a full tank of gas. If you come home under budget, Lodavo gives you a reason to put the difference into savings instead of spending it. Connect the savings or chequing account you already use, and every $25 of your Canadian-dollar balance earns a free ticket in a weekly cash draw. At least $100 goes to a user every week, and you could win up to $10,000. If you’re saving for your next trip, that fund earns tickets while it grows.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.