Guide · Canada and United States

Duty-free shops and visitor sales tax refunds: what the official pages say

General information, not official or legal advice. Customs, immigration and border rules change and every situation is different. Check the linked official sources and the agency’s current page before you travel. This site is not affiliated with CBP, the CBSA, DHS or any government.

Steps

1. CBP says articles from a duty-free shop are free only for the country where the shop is located, and are not automatically free of duty on return.^[4][1]
2. Both agencies say duty-free purchases are declared: CBP says to declare everything, and the CBSA says goods from Canadian or foreign duty-free shops must be declared.^[5][2]
3. Returning to Canada: the CBSA says tobacco must be stamped "DUTY PAID CANADA DROIT ACQUITTÉ" to be fully included in the personal exemption.^[6]
4. The CRA says the Visitor Rebate Program was cancelled effective April 1, 2007; we found no official visitor shopping refund.^[3]
5. Both agencies tell travellers to have receipts handy.^[7][8]

United States: duty-free is not duty-exempt on return

CBP's shopping-abroad page says goods purchased in a duty-free shop are not automatically free of duty on return to the US, that personal exemptions are $200, $800 or $1600 depending on the countries visited, and that only very limited amounts of alcohol and tobacco can be included in the exemption.^[1] CBP's tips for returning travelers say to declare everything you bring in from abroad "even if you bought it in a duty free shop".^[5] Its customs duty page says articles sold in a customs duty-free shop are free only for the country in which the shop is located, so if your acquisitions exceed your exemption the duty-free purchases are dutiable on entering your destination country, whether the shop was in the US or abroad; it gives the example of alcohol bought in a New York duty-free shop before entering Canada and then returned to the US, which is subject to duty and Internal Revenue tax.^[4] This page contains older passages, so confirm figures with the exemptions page.^[9]

Canada: declare it, and mind the stamp

The CBSA's declaration guidance says you must declare all goods you acquired outside Canada, including those from Canadian or foreign duty-free shops.^[2] For tobacco, the CBSA says to include cigarettes, manufactured tobacco or tobacco sticks in your personal exemption the packages must be stamped "DUTY PAID CANADA DROIT ACQUITTÉ", and that tobacco sold at duty-free stores is marked this way; unstamped products are assessed at a special duty rate, and the Excise Act, 2001 limits unstamped tobacco to five units (one unit being 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 200 g of manufactured tobacco or 200 tobacco sticks).^[6][2] The CBSA also says Canadian-made tobacco with the mark is sold at duty-free shops.^[6]

Counter-tariffs apply to purchases

Since 2026-09-08 Canada's counter-tariffs on certain US-origin goods apply to travellers who do not qualify for a personal exemption or who exceed it; where the goods were bought is not the test, the country of origin is.^[10]

Sales tax refunds for visitors

CRA's info sheet GI-028 says that effective April 1, 2007, the Visitor Rebate Program was cancelled and the Foreign Convention and Tour Incentive Program was introduced. It says a rebate for short-term accommodation may still be available under the old program only if four nights' accommodation was bought under a written agreement made before September 25, 2006 and first made available before April 2009.^[3] The convention program concerns sponsors and non-resident exhibitors of conventions, not ordinary tourists.^[3] We did not find an official page describing a tax-free shopping refund for ordinary visitors on either side of the border, so this guide does not describe one.

What the pages do not say

The pages do not give a table of how many litres of alcohol a visitor can buy in a duty-free shop in either country; the exemption limits are in the guides on Canada and the US. The CBSA says alcohol quantities must be within provincial or territorial liquor authority limits.^[2] Exemption amounts and what is dutiable are decided by the border officer under the rules in effect at the time.

About this guide

Officers decide at the border; this is general information, not official guidance. travel.tnaado.ca is not affiliated with CBP, CBSA, DHS or the Government of Canada.