Warning on Moving Precious Metals Into Canada
This individual declared the coins to the Canadian immigration official and was immediately detained for secondary inspection. After a brief wait in a holding area he was interrogated for nearly an hour.
Questions included,
- “Why are you bringing gold into Canada?” When this individual told the Customs officials that he merely planned to place the gold coins in his Canadian safety deposit box, they didn’t believe him
- “Do you own a home in the United States?”
- “Have you ever been arrested for any crime?”
Unfortunately for this gentleman, he had a U.S. arrest record dating back to the 1970s, which he neglected to mention. Since Canadian immigration officials now have access to U.S. criminal records, they quickly discovered the arrest. On that basis, the officials denied him entry into Canada.
Once it became clear that he wouldn’t be permitted to enter Canada, the officials became more cooperative. They even allowed him to spend the night at a local hotel, after temporarily confiscating his passport. When he returned to the airport the next day for a flight back to the United States, they returned his passport, along with his gold coins.
This is a disturbing development for at least three reasons:
- It’s absolutely legal to import gold coins or other precious metals into Canada, so long as it’s declared to a customs inspector. In some cases Canadian goods and services tax is due, although no payment is due on importation of 99.9% pure gold coins—the type this gentleman attempted to bring into Canada.
- To prevent this type of incident from occurring, this gentlemen conducted extensive correspondence with Canadian customs officials. Indeed, the day before his trip he had spoke to a senior official who assured him that as long as he declared the coins at the border there would be no problems importing the gold. Obviously, this was not the case.
- Judging by the types of questions asked, Canadian customs officials apparently believed this individual planned to sell the gold in Canada, convert the proceeds to cash, and then engage in some sort of money laundering operation. This was a ludicrous suggestion, because the quantity of gold he was trying to import was relatively small. Nonetheless, it demonstrates that Canadian customs officials have become hyper-sensitive to Americans attempting to import precious metals.
In the end, I think it was the fact that this person lied about his arrest for a misdemeanor offense decades ago in the United States that led to his exclusion from Canada. Without that arrest, it’s possible that he would have been permitted to proceed.
Have you attempted to bring precious metals from the United States into Canada? If so, were you allowed into the country? Please comment below on your experience.
Copyright © 2010 by Mark Nestmann
November 25th, 2010 at 12:06 am
I have dual citizenship and moved back to Canada from the US about 18 months ago. When I entered Canada, I had a collection of semi-numismatic gold coins in my carry-on baggage. I declared them to customs. The agent seemed fascinated by them and didn’t know what to do. He left to consult with someone else and found out that no duties or taxes were payable. In the end, no excitement.
November 26th, 2010 at 8:22 am
I’ve never been able to get any clear direction from any Canadian government source as to whether Canadian gold maple leaf coins are to be counted at their face value (they are “legal tender”!) or at their gold value when being brought into Canada.
I suspect that, were the authorities to make some declaration on this, they would open up a whole Pandora’s Box of legal issues: what does “face value” actually mean, if anything? What is the definition of a “dollar”, if not in terms of an amount of some precious metal? Could the Cnadian dollar be inadvertently linked to gold in some way if gold maple leafs were counted at metal value? Then should other coins – pennies, nickels, dimes…be counted at metal value? What about still-legal tender silver coins? How about gold jewelry? And so on…
But it would be illuminating to press them on this…!
I am considering returning to Canada soon after twenty years’ residence abroad. When entering, I will try to bring my rather considerable gold & silver coin collection with me and, as far as I’ve been able to fathom, it can be done under the rubric of ‘declared possessions’.
Your American individual…why not buy the gold in Canada? Either little by little, sub-$10,000 cash at a time, or by some form of credit, check or wire?
November 26th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
What your readers are overlooking is the fact that all gold maple leaf coins are official legal tender in Canada. The 1 oz coin is legal tender for CDN$50 (!). The market value of gold on the bullion market is therefore irrelevant. Anything less than CDN$10,000 in (legal tender) cash does not have to be declared when entering Canada. In the case of 1 oz maple leaf coins therefore, you can bring 199 coins with you without having to declare them at the border.
November 26th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
I am Canadian and lived in Europe for a while. I always travelled with small gold coins even when going to the US. The only question I got was on security check when they wanted to see what looked like a group of metal pieces on their scanners.
I never moved more than 10000$ in value and the largest amount was always between countries of residence. I had always more problems with wines and foie gras than gold.
November 26th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Let this article be another lesson to everyone. When in trouble STAY SILENT. If the guy when asked about getting arrested had simply said, “I prefer not to say” or taken the 5th or asked for a lawyer they probably wouldn’t have had a legal reason to exclude him. It’s the fact that he didn’t remember (or didn’t think it was important) that made it look like a lie that ended up in his exclusion from the country.
November 26th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Banking in Canada: I have not moved metals but have moved and exchanged currency. A young person such as myself with less than $50K can easily open a checking, savings acct. and keep monies in multiple currencies at HSBC, RBC, Scotia bank and other places. The best banking experiences I’ve ever had as a ‘small fry’ have been outside of the USA. It is easy to open an account online then fly-in or drive to verify the account at a branch in-person. I encourage every American citizen to do so as our dollar continues to fall with the ever extending Great Recession.
Further, a good banker will be able to tell you which airports and border crossings via car have the least amount of BS. Stay out of Vancouver for example and head further in-land, away from the busy major cities.
November 26th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Number 3 is correct. I have asked 2 different Customs agents about reporting of any US legal tender coin and they have all told me that as long as the value is less than $10,000 it complies with their form that says “are you carrying more than $10,000 of cash or coins. The commodity value is irrelevant, because it is legal tender. Thus a $20 gold piece or an American Eagle coin is counted only at its face value. Further, the official US government price for gold is $42.22/ounce.
November 27th, 2010 at 1:03 am
I entered Canada with over 80oz gold in hand luggage when we emigrated from the UK recently. I declared at customs & the guard had no idea what value to fill in on his form, since all he had was the daily exchange rates for 20 international currencies. I had some receipts from some of the Krugerrands so he just wrote down the value based on those – which were obviously way below market value, since I’d had them for several years.
November 30th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Canada has a “no entry” policy to pretty much anyone ever convicted of a crime in the US (or anywhere else), especially… drunk driving.
If this guy has a safe deposit box there, good luck to him ever getting back in there for access. He would best go to Alaska in the summer and drive his way down to Vancouver, or cross the St. Lawrence at night and just sneak in..
November 30th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
re: not allowed in Ca. …why? did
official state reason? any appeal?
. . . f. gras, spirits, and…citrus fruits-
oranges -
dont travel well. what did he play to do really?
December 1st, 2010 at 3:49 am
Elias: ‘Taken the 5th” ahhhh he was in Canada
December 1st, 2010 at 4:00 am
can some1 please answer accurately:
if a us citizen takes numismatic gold coins out of america, how do u value them?
do u go by their face value or something else, 2 b a legal eagle?
sincere thanks, w
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:44 am
No worries, just sling ‘em along in ya backpack, mates, when you ski across! Mum’s the word, spend ‘em at the bar. Not like those blokes in Kalgoorlie, ey, what?
December 3rd, 2010 at 1:34 am
wait for rush hour and keep your mouth shut
December 4th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
A warning. The Canadiams are interested in arrests. They don’t need to lead to convictions. I had a contempt issue from the 70′s. I didn’t report an arrest cause I was thinking conviction. Wrong, they detained and questioned me. They allowed my explaination and granted me entry.
December 4th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I am going to take your coins and shove something up an orafice in case you complain.
December 4th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I travel to hunt and spend a lot of money to do it. My plans were to hunt in Canada when there developed so much arbitrary BS at both Vancouver and border check points that I just decided in the future to spend my dollars elsewhere. I have never had even a moving violation in traffic and am a retired field grade officer. It appeared that there was an endemic problem of just harrassing American hunters with properly documented hunting weapons. I can only imagine what would occur with any legitimate issue.
December 4th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
I am a Canadian. If you are bringing back Canadian gold coins, you only need to say that you are repatriating them to the country of origin, and
there is no duty, nothing else required. This goes for anything made in Canada coming back here, such
as other coins, stamps, etc. It also helps if you
know what you are talking about when it comes to the law, and the person who was refused entry should have had copies of emails or something in
writing to cover his backside. It helps to be prepared.
December 4th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
The customs officials didn’t believe when I was crossing the border into Detroit this summer to visit my mother, my old hometown, I had my three girls with me…what got me in was our new bulldog puppy James, we had purchased in NYC….the border patrol loved him and got so distracted by his own questions about James which lasted a while, he waved us through a little flushed with excitement…my suggestion bring a cute dog along for the ride…the guard never searched my car, but then again he didn’t need to,we had nothing to hide… none of us should ever be put in that position…thanks to the US government once again for turning something easy into something difficult…God Bless Everyone…even the guard, he’s just doing what his boss tells him to, right?
December 4th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Although I’ve never done it, I’ve been told that currency with a denomination stamped on it, such as the Austrian Harp (1.00 Euro) is valued at that amount, as it is legal tender – at least in Austria.
December 4th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Today, it is very easy to move money between Canada and US – or almost any county, for that matter – using an fx account. All you need a bank account in each country and an independent fx account for a go-between. Use Electronic Funds Transfer (ETF) from inside your fx account to request money from your account in one country, convert it to the currency of your bank account in the second country, and then transfer the converted funds to your second bank account. It’s just like moving funds from one bank account to another within the same country. With an fx account, you get the best currency conversion rates (fx +1%) – which is much less than banks charge (fx +3% to +4%). There is no wire fee for transfers between US and Canada using ETF. For outside Canada and US. You pay a wire fee, usually much less than banks charge.
I recently used “XE Trade” at http://www.xe.com to send funds from Canada to Ecuador. The fees were fx +1% from CAD to USD plus $22CAD for the wire fee. Funds were in my bank account the same day as the wire was sent.
It is usually free to set up an fx account, but it can take a day or so to verify your ID. Fx companies record all transactions and report suspicious activities – but they don’t grill you like banks do when you go in person to wire money.
You don’t need to be an fx trader in order to do fx transfers with XE. Just use their services like an in-between bank account. They make their money through the +1% conversion fee they charge over the live interbank fx rate.
There are many fx companies to choose from – do your due diligence before using any of them.
f.ec
December 4th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
What is the face value of a 1oz Kruegerrand
December 5th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
our friendly neighbor to the north is extremely hypocritical.even though their banks are real healthy. a cannuck can come down here ,get a DUI, be sent back to canada and come back the next day to do it again. i’ve heard that for a certain sum, you (US citizen) can get your record expunged and a note from yer mother sayin you are an upstanding citizen.
December 6th, 2010 at 1:35 am
I’d like to expand the scope of the question
We have a home in the Republic of Panama. I have some silver collectible coins. So, if I take $10K in face value and my husband takes $10K in face value of the coins, we would be good to go? Who does one consult on these matters and is there a piece of paper one can get somewhere allowing you to pass?
December 6th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
what happens if I purchase the coins thru a broker and have them delivered to my bank in Canada where I have a safety deposit box?
December 11th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Ten circulated 1860 S SEATED LIBERTY QUARTER DOLLARS(about $12,000.00@) mixed within your car change tray / dispenser should do the trick!
January 5th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
I took about 6 gold coins with me from the U.S. to Ecuador and back last summer, intending to leave them in a safe deposit box. I didn’t get the box due to the Panamanian bank lying in our email correspondence. I put a couple of coins in my kids’ wallets, and the rest in my coin purse. As they totaled less than $10,000, there was no need to declare them anywhere. No one in any of the countries asked any questions, as I’m sure they looked just like any other coins in the X-ray machine.
I think it’s worth the extra airfare to take less than $10,000 across at a time. No declarations, no questions, no hassles.
January 5th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
I go to Whistler every year, plus I work with people who go back and forth between the U.S. and Canada. Driving across is definitely easier than flying. But Canada’s immigration system is very sophisticated. They are using face recognition software that alerts the officer to exactly when you went the other way. One coworker used his Canadian passport to get into Canada, and a week later his U.S. passport (as required by law) to get back into the U.S. The U.S. agent asked why he was using 2 passports. He’s glib under pressure, and hadn’t done anything illegal, so there was no further hassle, but he was shocked they could trace his movements.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
It is surprising that so many of the above posters feel the need to guess about this important subject without any real experience.
My experience is being held at A Canadian Check point in Rural BC while My wife and I (in our 60’s) and questioned separately for 45 minutes
They wanted to deny me entry because I had been fingerprinted according to a printout they had. ??? I did not recall I had been printed as a part of a state Lic. program…. I have no arrest record and in the service had a top secret Crypto clearance ….. I had 6 maple leafs in my pocket for my Canadian Bank (less than $10K Canadian) when asked if I had more that 10K I said no I was not searched (but they were thinking about it) and permitted to enter..
My friend who did the same thing was kept over 2 hours and searched he had no coins and was just going to open an account in Canada with a check from his business to himself for $100,0000 He told them he was going to a Bank while searching his car they found the check and said AH HA ! they had to call a supervisor in Vancouver to find out what to do… the supervisor asked if the check was endorsed on the back for deposit (which if it was not) if it had been it would have been considered a Negotiable instrument and it would have been pontificated and he no doubt would be turned into US customs as a Money launder his name put on a list to be given the rubber glove treatment henceforth …..
I cross the Mexican Border at least once a week and I can tell you that you have no civil rights in the no-mans land between borders.. NONE You can be searched without warrant , detained without seeing a judge or lawyer. Talk back or complain to these Nazis and you go on the list…
I wish I had an easy way to buy coins in Canada at a reasonable premium and save this hassle in the future.
August 20th, 2011 at 12:07 am
We flew into Victoria with 10 Canadian Maple Leaf coins. I left the declaration on “monetary instruments” blank and then told the customs official that I didn’t know what to put because I had these coins, but there were not money, nor instruments. We were referred to another agent who looked at the coins, made some telephone calls (I assume to a superior) and came back and asked if I was going to sell them in Canada. In that case they would be “merchandise” subject to duty. I said that I was intending to open a Canadian bank account and would deposit the coins in a safe deposit box. If I could not do so, I would take the coins back to the US.
The ultimate response was: Its a grey area” and I was allowed to pass.
This was a test because I now have the safe deposit box and want to take bullion bars in.
Does anyone have experience with bars?
April 23rd, 2012 at 12:10 am
@82Allen
I’m aware of a former Soviet bloc professor who was preparing to defect. He sold all his property. Bought platinum and formed it into wire coat hangers, painted black. Think US Customs and the TSA are tough? The GRU makes them look like retarded ballerinas! Passed right through!!!