Own up to your duties, warns Canadian border services after $16K fine on luxury watch

A Canada Border Services Agency immigrant holding centre is shown in Laval, Que., on Monday, August 15, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

It doesn't pay to downplay what you bought out of the country, Canadian border services says -- just ask the person who was fined more than $16,000 for trying to enter Quebec with a luxury watch they presented as not very luxurious.

In its annual end-of-year round-up of notable events in Quebec, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says that traveller proves the point that the fine is often worse than the tax.

"On July 27, at the St-Armand border crossing, officers intercepted a luxury watch undervalued by $21,500," the agency wrote.

That border crossing is not Quebec's biggest -- it is just east of Lake Champlain, on the route from Burlington, Vermont.

After the watch was found to be much nicer than advertised by the traveller, the traveller was slapped with a total penalty of $16,155.69, the CBSA wrote.

"Had the traveller declared the initial value of the watch honestly, they would have paid about $3,900 in taxes rather than $16,155.69."

A similar thing happened in May at the airport, the agency said.

There, another Canadian traveller had "several undeclared luxury goods" confiscated after failing to declare them, including a diamond ring valued at $220,000. Overall, the goods had a total value of close to $400,000.

"The traveller had to pay $118,000 to recover her goods," CBSA said.

"Had the traveller truthfully declared the value of the goods, they would have paid about $89,000 in duties and taxes, nearly $29,000 less than the penalty that was assessed."

Some bigger lies were also busted this year at the border, particularly by dairy importers and others who tried to find a way around Canada's supply-management system.

"Verifying the imports of two companies led to the collection of $277 million in duties and taxes for poultry and dairy products subject to supply management that were incorrectly declared by importers," CBSA said.

Slapping them with the correct taxes is a way to protect Canadian domestic producers, the agency said.

Another $4.7 million was collected in "evaded duties and taxes" from textiles imported across the border.

GUNS, DRUGS, 'ILLEGAL RECRUITMENT' FOR QUEBEC HOTELS

Guns and drugs were also intercepted at the Quebec border, including more than 1,500 prohibited weapons and their parts throughout the year, according to the release.

In a single day in February, 1,165 fentanyl patches were seized from a Canadian traveller's baggage, and later that month, 2.6 kilograms of opium were found at the city's international mail processing centre. In July, at the aiport, another traveller was found with 25 kilograms of amphetamines.

People were arrested in all three cases.

In October, an American trying to cross into Quebec with a prohibited gun and magazine -- with 19 rounds -- was turned back and given a $1,000 fine.

Around the same time, at a different crossing, CBSA officers seized "two high-capacity magazines for an AK weapon, a high-capacity 22 calibre magazine, a defused grenade and three grams of cannabis" from another person's car.

"The traveller was arrested, his weapons were confiscated, and he paid a fine of $500, after which he was returned to the United States," they said.

Another investigation found that 178 foreign workers were brought into Canada without authorization by an "illegal recruitment agency," which was shut down.

"On September 16, 2021, at the Québec City courthouse, three business owners accused of hiring these 178 illegal workers in hotels in the greater Québec City area pleaded guilty," CBSA said.

The year-end update actually only covered 10 months of the year, from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, 2021.