A B.C. couple say it’s not proper that they need to pay almost $200 in import charges to reclaim a marriage ring — additionally a household heirloom — that was shipped again to them from household in the US after being mistakenly left behind earlier this month.
Admittedly, the Nanaimo resident isn’t a jewelry man, so the gold ring given to him by his late father, Jimmy, virtually 20 years in the past, had sat unused for a few years.
“I thought of getting it resized,” he informed Nationwide Publish. “My fingers are considerably extra slender, proper? His ring was too massive for all of them, apart from perhaps my thumb if I used to be fortunate.”
He’d all the time promised to utilize it someday, and that got here two years after his father’s passing in 2022, when he and his common-law accomplice of a few years, Andrea Nelson, determined to get legally married.
That they had the ring fitted for his hand, picked one other of his rings for Nelson to make use of as a marriage band and have been married in 2024.
“I believe he would have simply beloved the truth that I had lastly achieved one thing with it,” Baker-Taylor stated.
Whereas visiting his godparents in Washington State earlier this month, he eliminated the ring earlier than getting within the bathe — “Its construction holds water,” he defined — however then left with out placing it again on dry fingers. They realized and referred to as their hosts earlier than even departing the state, who confirmed with a photograph that it was protected and sound.
Relieved, they did the sensible factor and rapidly organized to have it shipped again to their handle by way of UPS with $500 value of insurance coverage on the bundle.
When it arrived some days later, nevertheless, the supply particular person knowledgeable the astounded couple that it will value a mixed $189 in cross-border responsibility, taxes, import tariff and brokerage payment to have it returned.
“We found it’s being handled like a jewellery transaction, an import throughout the border,” stated Baker-Taylor.
“There’s no method for them to show that I bought this; the burden ought to be on them.”
They’ve since found that proving that the ring was, at one time, a bequest from his father is considerably difficult.
The Canada Border Providers Company, in an announcement to Nationwide Publish, stated the
doesn’t enable it to debate the couple’s case particularly, however a spokesperson did make clear among the tips that will apply to their scenario.
Below the Act, any private (non-commercial) items introduced into Canada are topic to responsibility and taxes on the time of importation “based mostly on federal and provincial tax charges, in addition to present charges of responsibility.”
“The CBSA’s calculation of duties and taxes owed for a selected cargo is usually based mostly on info indicated on the customs declaration, invoices connected to the merchandise, or an examination to appraise the worth of the products,” the spokesperson wrote.
In Baker-Taylor and Nelson’s case, these charges ought to be collected by the courier, UPS, which can be permitted to levy its administrative charges not regulated by the federal government of Canada, i.e., the brokerage payment.
Nelson went to the native CBSA workplace and was informed a lot the identical.
She additionally discovered that to keep away from the import charges, they might have had to supply authorized documentation exhibiting Baker-Taylor’s father had bequeathed him the ring. However as a result of it was given to him lengthy earlier than his father’s demise, the ring was by no means in a will.
Within the absence of a will, CBSA stated it wants “a signed/dated assertion from the donor (or particular person with energy of legal professional) transferring possession of the products and witnessed by somebody apart from the recipient of the products.” Once more, not one thing the couple might hope to amass so a few years later.
Nelson was additionally informed that she might merely pay the charges to UPS after which apply for a partial refund, as long as she included a dated wedding ceremony photograph, insurance coverage documentation from UPS, an affidavit from Baker-Taylor confirming his long-term possession and an announcement from the one who shipped it.
“The quantity of hoops we’ve got to leap by means of simply to get this achieved, and it’s not even essentially a assure; they might nonetheless refuse,” she stated.
“I’m beside myself as a result of this has was a Rube Goldberg gadget making an attempt to get this again,” Baker-Taylor added, referencing the American cartoonist whose work depicted easy duties being carried out in very sophisticated methods by chain-reaction contraptions.
Along with contacting native MP Tamara Kronis, they’ve additionally began a
in hopes of not solely expediting their course of but additionally effecting change so others don’t get caught in the identical quandary.
Baker-Taylor stated that whereas $189 is probably not a big sum to some folks, it’s for others and he wonders how many individuals have “begrudgingly paid” to get their private property again.
“These are virtually extortive,’ he stated, “and my concern is what number of Canadians pay these and is the federal government stealing cash from Canadians, basically?”
As for the ring itself, as an alternative of it being shipped again to the U.S., which is customary when charges on supply are refused, a UPS supervisor generously agreed to personally retailer it in his workplace till the scenario is resolved.
U.S. counter-tariffs assist Canada financial institution $617M extra in import duties than final March
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