Cannabis Customs Excise Duty Procedures
Customs Notice 18-19

1. The purpose of this notice is to inform importers and customs brokers on the calculation of the amounts of cannabis duty and additional cannabis duty to be imposed on packaged cannabis products, as per legislative changes to the Excise Act, 2001, when importing these goods into Canada.

2. Information on cannabis excise duty rates in provinces and territories may be found on the Department of Finance website. All modifications will be active in the Customs Commercial System (CCS) beginning October 17, 2018.

3. Information on cannabis oils excise duty rates may be found on the Canada Revenue Agency website and will be active in the Customs Commercial System (CCS) beginning May 1, 2019.

4. The table below is a list of the province/territory HS Administrative Codes to be entered in Field 27 on Form B3-3, Canada Customs Coding Form.

5. The following example illustrates how the customs duty, federal excise duty and provincial excise duty is to be calculated on Form B3-3, Canada Customs Coding Form.

Example 1

Calculation of the federal and provincial cannabis excise tax for goods imported in British Columbia using the ad valorem method rates.

Line 1

Shows the amount of federal excise duty. The amount is calculated at 2.5% of the dutiable amount (federal ad valorem rate) rather than $0.075/gram (federal flat rate), as this is the higher of the two rates.

• The Excise Tax Rate (Field 34) is entered as 2.5.
• The amount of federal excise duty is 2.5% of the dutiable amount (VFD+ Customs Duty= $100,000) and is entered as $2500.00 in the Excise Tax field (Field 40).
• The Value for Tax (Field 41) is the VFD + Customs Duty + Excise Tax Duty and is entered as $102,500.00.
• The Health Canada import permit number (e.g. IMP-1234-2019) must be entered in the Special Authority field (Field 26), excluding the hyphens (e.g. IMP12342019).

Line 2

Shows the amount of provincial excise duty for British Columbia. The amount is calculated at 7.5% of the dutiable amount (BC provincial ad valorem rate) rather than $0.225/gram (BC provincial flat rate), as this is the higher of the two rates.

• The importer is required to manually calculate the provincial excise duty rate and the amount. To indicate this, code 44 is entered in the Excise Tax Rate (Field 34)
• The amount of provincial excise duty is 7.5% of the dutiable amount (VFD + Customs Duty + Excise Tax (federal) from Line 1 = $102,500) and is entered as $7,687.50 in the Excise Tax field (Field 40).
• The Value for Tax (Field 41) is the VFD + Customs Duty + Excise Tax and is entered as $7687.50.
• The Health Canada import permit number (e.g. IMP-1234-2019) must be entered in the Special Authority field (Field 26), excluding the hyphens (e.g. IMP12342019).

Example 2

Calculation of the federal cannabis excise duty for goods imported in Manitoba using the flat rate method. Note: Additional provincial excise duty is not applicable in the province of Manitoba, and therefore a second line is not required.

Line 1

Shows the amount of federal excise duty. The amount is calculated at $0.075/gram (federal flat rate) rather than 2.5% of the dutiable amount (federal ad valorem rate), as this is the higher of the two rates.

• The Excise Tax Rate (Field 34) is entered as 75.
• The amount of federal excise duty is $0.075 per gram and is entered as $750.00 in the Excise Tax field (Field 40).
• The Value for Tax (Field 41) is the VFD + Customs Duty + Excise Tax and is entered as $20,750.00.
• The Health Canada import permit number (e.g. IMP-1234-2019) must be entered in the Special Authority field (Field 26), excluding the hyphens (e.g. IMP12342019).

5. For additional information on how to complete Form B3-3, Canada Customs Coding please refer to D17-1-10, Coding of Customs Accounting Documents.

6. For more information, within Canada, call the Border Information Service at 1-800-461-9999. From outside Canada call 204-983-3500 or 506-636-5064. Long distance charges will apply. Agents are available Monday to Friday (08:00 – 16:00 local time/except statutory holidays). TTY is also available within Canada: 1-866-335-3237.

Date modified:

2019-04-29