Gifting a car to someone out of province?

[eblend]

Hi All,

My sister lives in Vancouver and is looking for a small vehicle. My best friend just happens to have a car that would work for her here in Calgary. I don't know of what is all involved here, but I will post what I do know.

According to my sister, if the car was received as a gift, she only has to pay like half of the taxes or something (what kind of commie shit is this, taxes on already taxed goods... god bless Alberta).

Anyways, what is the best approach and order of operations here.

My friend can gift the car to her directly, bypassing the need for me to get it and get it registered ect, but not sure if I would even have to if I was the middle man, don't really know.

Also, what's the process with out of province inspections/registration/insurance and order of operations there? What about maybe some transit permits or anything like that to get the car out there? Never had to do anything remotely to this, and was hoping someone else has some experience and can give a detailed breakdown of what is involved. Much appreciated.

[ExtraSlow]

Sell for $1, make up the bill of sale. All inspections etc are her problem, not his or yours.

Don't know about transit permits, sounds like she should figure that part our too. If she isn't willing to deal with all that, she may not want the car.

[eblend]

Sell for $1, make up the bill of sale. All inspections etc are her problem, not his or yours.

Don't know about transit permits, sounds like she should figure that part our too. If she isn't willing to deal with all that, she may not want the car.

Yah, my sister is not very car savy, she has no idea, and is looking from advice from me. I don't know much about this. Bought plenty of cars but it was all for self and in Alberta.

[BokCh0y]

Read this:

https://www.icbc.com/vehicle-registration/buy-vehicle/Pages/Importing-a-vehicle-into-B-C.aspx

And then the lame taxation aspect, read this:

https://www.icbc.com/brochures/Pages/pst-on-vehicles.aspx

Pretty much what you need to know is in the two links I have posted above.

[eblend]

Read this:

https://www.icbc.com/vehicle-registration/buy-vehicle/Pages/Importing-a-vehicle-into-B-C.aspx

And then the lame taxation aspect, read this:

https://www.icbc.com/brochures/Pages/pst-on-vehicles.aspx

Pretty much what you need to know is in the two links I have posted above.

Thanks, very useful. I did some more digging myself as well, and seems like have to pay PST regardless if it's a gift or not, because Alberta only has GST, and GST isn't considered a qualifying tax, and therefore have to pay PST on the purchase at a fair market value. If we had PST and it was previously paid, and proof can be provided, then it would be exempt from PST over there. BC and rest of Canada can take their PST and shove it


So from everything I gather, my buddy sells the car to my sister, she gets some intermit insurance for ICBC so she can drive it to BC, does an out of province inspection, gets real insurance and registers the car, and she is good to go. No point of gifting at all, doesn't save anything. I think when my sister was saying that she only has to pay half the taxes....think she was maybe talking about not having to pay the GST in BC...which would make sense if bought from a dealer...not sure if GST applies if bought from private owner in BC. Who knows with those pricks over there :D

[BokCh0y]

Thanks, very useful. I did some more digging myself as well, and seems like have to pay PST regardless if it's a gift or not, because Alberta only has GST, and GST isn't considered a qualifying tax, and therefore have to pay PST on the purchase at a fair market value. If we had PST and it was previously paid, and proof can be provided, then it would be exempt from PST over there. BC and rest of Canada can take their PST and shove it


So from everything I gather, my buddy sells the car to my sister, she gets some intermit insurance for ICBC so she can drive it to BC, does an out of province inspection, gets real insurance and registers the car, and she is good to go. No point of gifting at all, doesn't save anything. I think when my sister was saying that she only has to pay half the taxes....think she was maybe talking about not having to pay the GST in BC...which would make sense if bought from a dealer...not sure if GST applies if bought from private owner in BC. Who knows with those pricks over there :D

NP, glad it helped.

And correct, no way around taxes. I was thinking sell for $1 then tell BC here's your $0.07 PST you pricks, but obviously not the case since the valuation is essentially based on whatever is higher so may as well sell for "black book" value, at least on the receipt.

[rage2]

And correct, no way around taxes. I was thinking sell for $1 then tell BC here's your $0.07 PST you pricks, but obviously not the case since the valuation is essentially based on whatever is higher so may as well sell for "black book" value, at least on the receipt.
Anyone pull odometer fraud the other way? 120k kms roll it forward to 320k to save pst lol.

[BokCh0y]

Anyone pull odometer fraud the other way? 120k kms roll it forward to 320k to save pst lol.

LOLOLOLOL didn't even think of that!!!

[killramos]

Fudging sale price to save on PST is definitely still a thing. Tax fraud is just an everyday BC activity.


When I sold my C63 I had him do up a real BOS for me that we signed for the actual purchase price, and I gave him a second copy where he could fill in whatever price he wanted and told him to sign for the seller with his left hand, that way the fraud is just his.

I think he wrote in 30 or 40 grand or something.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Many years ago in BC, if you fudged the sale price too low, they'd challenge you but all you had to do was fill out another form.

I'd be tempted to have it driven to BC on Alberta plates/insurance and then do the transaction there. Day permits in BC used to be terribly expensive and I don't recall if they have an In Transit system.
Maybe that's not an option as it depends on the relationship of the Buyer and Seller.

[rc2002]

I thought taxes were adjusted a little while ago such that they were based on black book to eliminate this loophole.

[corsvette]

As of November this year there’s no fudging selling prices anymore. They go by ICBC “book value” and you pay taxes on that. Period. Disagree with the value? Get an appraisal done by a licensed dealer in BC (such as myself). And for OOP the ICBC agent will sight the vehicle, meaning they physically look at the VIN and Odometer reading before they’ll issue insurance/registration.

Depending on the vehicle the taxes can add up @12%. If it’s older than 2000 they don’t use book value, so you could put a lesser amount no problem. Also, if it’s not an expensive car to begin with, I find ICBC values to be quite reasonable. If you do need an official appraisal done PM me, be happy to help.

[eblend]

Thanks everyone for the replies. The car is not expensive, about $6k.




Depending on the vehicle the taxes can add up @12%.

Would it not just be the PST portion of 7%, or do they charge GST again as well?

[AndyL]

Fudged numbers end up recorded in carfax - do you really want that high mileage number in there for less tax?

And don't forget there's a luxury tax part to it too.

https://www.icbc.com/brochures/Pages/pst-on-vehicles.aspx

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Fudged numbers end up recorded in carfax - do you really want that high mileage number in there for less tax?

And don't forget there's a luxury tax part to it too.

https://www.icbc.com/brochures/Pages/pst-on-vehicles.aspx

Carfax can be changed, wouldn’t worry to much about that down the road (unfortunately).

[ExtraSlow]

Fuckin BC.

[BokCh0y]

Thanks everyone for the replies. The car is not expensive, about $6k.



Would it not just be the PST portion of 7%, or do they charge GST again as well?

Should only be PST but if you take a look at the link I sent, it looks like for a private sale it'll be 12% PST of the value of the vehicle. So if that's the case, your contact may pay 12% on their $6k vehicle....stupid if you ask me. Fuck BC.

[shakalaka]

Just do the whole thing in AB and register it here and keep it on AB plate. Then down the line when it's been some time and she wants BC plate, it wouldn't be like her buying anything, it would just be her forfeiting her own AB plate to get a BC plate and I don't imagine they can charge any taxes at that point, or can they? I have no idea about this, I am just thinking out loud here.

[corsvette]

When we moved from Alberta we registered our vehicle in BC tax free. You must register within 6 months of moving to BC, otherwise they'll hit you with the 12%.

[nismodrifter]

When we moved from Alberta we registered our vehicle in BC tax free. You must register within 6 months of moving to BC, otherwise they'll hit you with the 12%.

It's 1 year.
https://www.icbc.com/brochures/Pages/moving-to-BC.aspx

[shakalaka]

When we moved from Alberta we registered our vehicle in BC tax free. You must register within 6 months of moving to BC, otherwise they'll hit you with the 12%.

Right. So register in AB and have an AB plate and go back to BC and once the year is close to being up get a BC plate and don't pay any extra taxes. :dunno:

[ExtraSlow]

Sounds like this person doesn't live in Alberta.

[shakalaka]

Well they better find a way of living in AB if they wanna save the money. Haha.

[eblend]

Yah, sister been living in BC for last 15 years or so, so bit to late for that trick :D It does look like 12% PST is on order....man that's criminal. I don't think she can register in in AB without having some kind of proof of living here, no?

[SKR]

What does insurance look like for rentals? Keep it in whoever's name and rent it to her.

[shakalaka]

Yah, sister been living in BC for last 15 years or so, so bit to late for that trick :D It does look like 12% PST is on order....man that's criminal. I don't think she can register in in AB without having some kind of proof of living here, no?

All she needs is an AB license to register in AB I believe and all you need for AB license is an AB address. I am sure she has a lot of family in AB with addresses.

Point is that there are loop holes and ways around it. The question is how much hassle is worth the savings. If the car being given to her is somewhat nominal in value that even with the tax it's not a big deal, then she may not wanna bother with the hassle of first getting an AB license and doing everything and then few months later getting a BC license again.

[eblend]

All she needs is an AB license to register in AB I believe and all you need for AB license is an AB address. I am sure she has a lot of family in AB with addresses.

Point is that there are loop holes and ways around it. The question is how much hassle is worth the savings. If the car being given to her is somewhat nominal in value that even with the tax it's not a big deal, then she may not wanna bother with the hassle of first getting an AB license and doing everything and then few months later getting a BC license again.

Yah I agree. It's not worth the hustle at all, but she isn't very well off financially, so she is looking to save any money she can. At the end of the day, she has to pay the PST, and if she doesn't want to, then well, no car for her. I am not going to invest more time into it than what I have already. Just wanted to confirm the process. Thanks everyone for input.