Duties and Taxes

Duties: U.S. and Canada shipments are duty-free.

Taxes: Determined and applied by the state or province (GST, PST, HST, etc.)

• Paid by the customer directly to the Government of destination country.

Brokerage: the fee associated with customs clearance for your inbound shipments.

• Paid by the “Importer of Record” (customer) based on the value of the shipment to the designated broker.
• Broker can be identified by the customer prior to shipment (so they use their own), otherwise FedEx will be the default broker.
• There are ways to avoid broker fees, but there’s time and work involved (example).

More in-depth resources:

• Importing Commercial Goods into Canada (Government of Canada)
• Understanding Duties and Taxes (FedEx)