布小熊

This is true for any boarder crossing/dealing with custom officers.
It's same bad if you screw up with US custom and will be search and questioned every single time.....

Catpiano

Dont ever try to fool the US/Canadian custom ..

Even most american/canadian are dumb ass ...  

but  ... as long as it is TAX related .. they are smart ass !  (oops..  ass anyway )

My parents and brother come here with british passport,  and just using that, not even bring their Canadian passport anyway ...   same as when going to US, then back to Canada ..  no tax at all, however need to pay $10 US or something like that ...

( then no tax in seattle, since I am albertian! lol )

cinderelly

im really not trying to fool or trick them!
cuz i know my friend will be buying quite a lot. so we just wanted to know for sure whether she's exempt from being taxed cuz she's a non resident. she doesn't even have health care anymore so i find it unreasonable if she's getting taxed cuz she's not benefiting from it at all..
i wasn't even thinking of buying stuff and then tell the border officers that it wasn't my stuff..!

but anyhow, i ended up calling the office and the lady on the line told me that it would be a great idea if my friend could bring along some proof to show that she is indeed living in HK permanently and therefore is a non-resident of canada. but she also said it's actually entirely up to the officer to decide whether she'll need to be taxed or not =\ each officer has his/her own discretion.. is what she told me

and thanks~ everyone for their input =)

news

i think she doesnt need to pay taxes..but im not sure

Catpiano

Just use HK passport law ..  just to be safe ..

However, since your friend is from HK ... he / she won't be interested to shop in US/Seattle anyway la....  ( unlike us ..  Canadian ...  lol )

cinderelly

in case anyone was wondering, (i remembered cuz someone brought up the issue regarding tax exemption~)
my friend did NOT get taxed at the end and her total was $350.
when she got off the plane at yvr she asked the customs officer and he told her just tell any officer that she's not a resident. and there shouldn't be a problem.
and so we did, she brought along her employment record from HK as well just in case. but the officer at the peace arch border believed us (he did not ask for proof as well) and didn't question us anymore~ =D