u/GloomyServe

So I am writing this because I only ever see advice on people who qualify for the exemptions to duties/taxes. I am super anxious after this realization.

My husband became a PR (I am Canadian) in 2022 and we work a job that basically means we live an entirely nomadic lifestyle. When he got the PR we didnt have time to move because we were in between contracts. It has been like this since the PR was issued, in and out and going to do contracts abroad, knowing full well that at some point we will move his items over. Despite barely spending much time in Canada we maintain our tax residency there because its the only place that I technically have ties to and a place to stay and I dont have status in the US where hes from. What I didnt know is that we were supposed to file a goods to follow form and I had no idea. We massively screwed up with this one.

So while I would have loved to try and have my husband bring his items as a settler or returning resident, I dont want it to stir up issues with the CRA and our registered investment accounts.. so it looks like we will have to pay taxes on all his old and used belongings.

For doing this, what is a way to not piss off the agents? we will literally be moving with a whole 15ft uhaul truck full of his stuff and I just want to do everything super correct and by the books. Does anyone have general advice for this situation? The best way we can go about dealing with this very expensive mistake we made?

So we’ve got a 5x8 bathroom we want to remodel this summer, the work to be done is the following:

-everything stays in the same place except;

-remove tiny 30in shower and replace with shelving (turn into closet)

-add showerhead to separate bathtub to make it a combo

-add infinity niche along length of shower/tub

-sliding glass doors

-replace vanity with floor mounted

-redo floor tile

-mosaic work in niche and one of the smaller shower walls, rest is 12x24 tiles everywhere

We were going to hire everything out but the first quote I got was like 30k without materials, so we decided to consider only hiring out the whole tub/shower redo and vanity/sink replacement and do flooring,demo and closet ourselves.

As a result, here are the quotes we got:

11k for shower/bath and vanity. no materials.

4k for shower/bath, but only his labour and didn’t include plumbing costs so I guess we would have to sub out.

10k for everything?!?! this is kind of tempting because we originally wanted everything done by someone else, but is this a red flag? guy is pretty responsive and was recommended to me by my real estate agent. he seems nice and is licensed in our region with no complaints on his file. this obviously does not include any material costs.

We are obviously interested in the guy offering 10k for everything, but I am worried it’s too low and a bit of a red flag. There are still some questions we need to ask about liability coverage, workman’s warranty, contract, how long it’ll take, etc. But yeah I’d love to get people’s opinion on this.

this is in the Montreal region.