If you are a Canadian returning to Canada from the DR with cigarettes you should be aware of what awaits you at Canada Customs. If they are Marlboros, which you bought at duty free or a store they are not exempt from duty. The only cigarettes exempt are Canadian brands such as Dumaurier or Export, which have a Canadian tax paid seal on them. When I returned to Canada last week, being a good guy I listed 200 cigarettes on my declaration. I was sent to have my bags inspected. The agent asked to see them so I dutifully started pulling them out of my case package by package (I always split the carton to make packing easier). When she saw them she informed me that I had to pay $15.00Cdn. duty which would go to Health and Welfare. If I had bought cigarettes on Transat or Sky Service they would have been O.K, since they would be Canadian brands and would have the sticker on them. She advised me that this new policy was covered in the Oct2001 budget. When I told her this was my 3rd trip since then and no one had said anything before I was told they had been told recently to start enforcing this law. When I paid the duty and I complained, the cashier told me I should have read the budget, yeah right, and ignorance of the law was no excuse. It took about 15 minutes of the agent?s time to process this inspection, surely their time should be worth more than $15.00. Fortunately I only declared 200 cigarettes and not the box of Cuban cigars and another 10 packs of smokes buried deeper in my bag. Just be aware, next time I won?t declare any cigarettes.
