I’m going to the Boston area to deliver a pinball in a few weeks & bring one back also (Partial trade).

Is there anything special I should be aware of? I would assume I would have to pay taxes at the border when bringing a game back. Any info would be appreciated that you have experienced with this.

Thx,T

The only thing i am aware of is that if you cross the boarders in another province on your way back, you will only pay GST.

Example: if you live in Quebec and cross in Ontario on your way back, you wont have to pay the Quebec provincial taxes, and same is true for Ontario if you cross back in Quebec... Otherwise, you will have to pay both taxes.

This should be true unless i misunderstood

on the way back, be sure to have a receipt on which you'll pay the taxes. it doesn't have to be the full amount but don't think they are stupid. ( well.. you wouldn't be that much off ) ... so 750$ is a good amount.

I've done it last winter and you need a bill of sale for the machine. They don't seem to have any reference as for the value of a pinball machine. I bought a Gorgar in really good shape and I had an invoice of $150, they didn't question me at all.
Be sure that the make, model, year, the fact that it was manufactured in the USA and the address of the seller appear on the invoice.

I have had 3 experiences bringing or getting machines to USA and have these pointers:

• In your case, this is what you do:  You should stop at the office on the CDN side of the border first, and mention to them that you are going to USA to trade a machine with someone and that you will be bringing one back.  They cross the USA border and since it is usually Made In USA there are no taxes to pay on way in to USA.  On the way back, the CDN border agent should have some note that you had crossed earlier with a 'Trade' machine and got another one for it and you 'should not' be charged anything.
  
  
• For other cases, it varies.  Don't assume that they won't question you on the amount.  One agent that I had once told me that if I bring say a known machine like a Pac-Man Vid and say I paid it $100, they can easily charge me on the actual market value if they want.  They can even hold it at the border until they do more research on it.  Of course, if it is not working, the value goes down (hey, remove a few fuses!).  So you kind of need a more official invoice (like proof from EBAY or Paypal or even a nice two-way e-mail printed out that shows your agreement to pay a certain amount.  Sometimes they might only charge 1 tax or none if you are lucky but most times you will pay both GST/PST (or HST) for that machine.