OK, I understand the 40oz per person of booze into Canada. But how do they look at open bottles in the total??!!Stupid question, but looking for some real world info. Do the "inspectors" measure (!!), weigh, or just check visually?? If I have 4 open bottles with about 10oz in each, am I totally legal??I realize that you can bring more in, and pay duty on the excess. AND, before anybody says it, these open bottles would be in the trailer, not in the tow vehicle!! So don't go giving out a lecture on driving with open bottles in vehicle.Thanks in advance!!!

Every time we came back we always said 40 oz each and a few leftovers, sometimes they asked what but they never confiscated any.

Just be honest and say you have partial bottles. Probably be no problem, and you have declared them so worst case is pay duty or dump them. Most customs officers are ok with a little over if you declare it, but not if they find it in a search. Cheers

This is how we always bring our liquor into Canada..never had a problem....:)

I go back and forth with the 5er a lot and have and the same issue with half empty bottles. I just explain what I have Like "a couple of bottles half empty, plus a case of beer", some times they look most times they don't.never had it taken away, everSoup

Depends on the agent. Last summer I was way over and declared it. He asked how long in CA... three weeks and if I had friends in that area of CA... no. How much do you expect to bring back to the states... most of it. Have a nice day.Another time the agent was unhappy after searching the MH for 15 minutes while we were instructed to sit on a bench that my guess of 15 beers turned out to be 18. Had to pay duty on the excess liquor that we had declared. They are not going to figure a half full bottle as full.

Liquor into CA Question!! | Good Sam Community

Fizz
Explorer
Aug 07, 2015
Every time we came back we always said 40 oz each and a few leftovers, sometimes they asked what but they never confiscated any.
neil57
Explorer
Aug 07, 2015
Just be honest and say you have partial bottles. Probably be no problem, and you have declared them so worst case is pay duty or dump them. Most customs officers are ok with a little over if you declare it, but not if they find it in a search. Cheers
downtheroad
Explorer
Aug 07, 2015
This is how we always bring our liquor into Canada..never had a problem....:)
SideHillSoup
Explorer
Aug 07, 2015
I go back and forth with the 5er a lot and have and the same issue with half empty bottles. I just explain what I have Like "a couple of bottles half empty, plus a case of beer", some times they look most times they don't.
never had it taken away, ever
Soup
Ivylog
Explorer III
Aug 07, 2015
Depends on the agent. Last summer I was way over and declared it. He asked how long in CA... three weeks and if I had friends in that area of CA... no. How much do you expect to bring back to the states... most of it. Have a nice day.

Another time the agent was unhappy after searching the MH for 15 minutes while we were instructed to sit on a bench that my guess of 15 beers turned out to be 18. Had to pay duty on the excess liquor that we had declared. They are not going to figure a half full bottle as full.
The_Texan
Explorer
Aug 07, 2015
Ivylog wrote:
Depends on the agent. Last summer I was way over and declared it. He asked how long in CA... three weeks and if I had friends in that area of CA... no. How much do you expect to bring back to the states... most of it. Have a nice day.

Another time the agent was unhappy after searching the MH for 15 minutes while we were instructed to sit on a bench that my guess of 15 beers turned out to be 18. Had to pay duty on the excess liquor that we had declared. They are not going to figure a half full bottle as full.

LOL ... I bet that was at the Sumas crossing.
stickdog
Explorer
Aug 08, 2015
When we crossed the border last May on our way to Alaska we had 3 opened bottles of 750 ml and a full 1.75 liter we were willing to pay duty and told the custom agent so. He asked if we knew anyone or planned on leaving anything in Canada, told him the only thing we would leave was $'s. Told us to enjoy our trip and waved us on.
CardinalRule
Explorer
Aug 08, 2015
Let them know up front you have partials. If you make a verbal declaration for liquor and leave the partials out it could be construed as smuggling and the penalties are severe. It's not hard to have a ballpark of the total oz in the partials. We are always asked about liquor and on a couple of occasions after declaring the Duty Free stuff we were asked "what about the partials in the trailer". On both occasions we had nothing and told them so.
almcc
Explorer
Aug 08, 2015
We generally have a part box of white wine in the fridge and a few beers, declare them and have had no problems. The last crossing was interesting, for the first time I was asked if I had any work or modifications done to the truck or trailer!
Community Alumni
Aug 08, 2015
almcc wrote:
The last crossing was interesting, for the first time I was asked if I had any work or modifications done to the truck or trailer!

This is a pretty common question if you've been away for some time. A couple years ago when we returned from South Carolina with our motorhome after the winter, we got pulled over and they checked to see if the tires were new (they were not).

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