Bringing gold jewellery into Canada: what to declare

Is there a limit on gold jewellery you can bring into Canada?

No. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) does not set a weight or value limit on jewellery. What it requires is that you declare goods you acquired outside Canada, and pay duty and tax on anything not covered by an exemption.

What you owe depends on who you are:

• A newcomer moving to Canada for the first time (a “settler”)
• A returning resident coming home from a trip
• A visitor coming for a short stay

If you are unsure whether to declare something, the CBSA’s advice is simple: declare it. Undeclared or falsely declared goods can be seized, and the penalty ranges from 25% to 70% of their value. Records of infractions can also lead to more detailed exams on future trips.

Newcomers: bringing your jewellery as settlers’ effects

If you are coming to Canada to set up a home for the first time, for at least a year, you can bring personal and household goods in free of duty and tax as settlers’ effects. Jewellery qualifies when you owned, possessed and used it abroad before you arrived. Wedding jewellery and family gold usually fit this description.

How to declare settlers’ jewellery

1. Make a list of everything you are bringing, in two parts: goods with you now, and goods to follow.
2. List valuable jewellery piece by piece. The CBSA suggests using the wording from your insurance policy or a jeweller’s appraisal, and adding signed, dated photos if you can.
3. Give the list to the border officer at your first arrival, even if your other goods come later.
4. The officer issues Form BSF186, Personal Effects Accounting Document. Keep your copy; you need it to clear goods that arrive later.

Goods to follow only come in free if they were on your original list. There is no time limit for them to arrive.

Two cautions. First, settlers’ effects must be for your own use, not for sale. If you sell or give away the goods within 12 months of importing them, duty and taxes become payable. Second, people coming to Canada only to work for up to 36 months or to study are not settlers under the CBSA memorandum, so they do not get this exemption. Students and temporary workers should treat jewellery as personal effects and carry appraisals or receipts.

Returning residents: what is your personal exemption?

When a Canadian resident comes home, the personal exemption depends on how long you were away:

You cannot combine your exemption with another person’s, and you cannot stack exemptions from one trip. For example, at $150 a gram for 24K gold, a 10-gram 22K chain bought in India is worth about $1,370 in gold alone, well over the CAN$800 exemption. You would pay duty and GST/HST on the amount above it.

Gold jewellery has a 6.5% Most Favoured Nation customs rate in Canada’s 2026 Customs Tariff, with lower or free rates under some trade agreements. GST/HST applies on top.

Jewellery you took with you

The CBSA can ask you to prove that jewellery you are wearing left Canada with you. Without proof, it may be treated as bought abroad. The free BSF407 card (formerly Y38) only covers items with serial numbers, and the CBSA says it will not document most jewellery on it. Before you travel, get an appraisal and signed, dated photos from a Canadian jeweller, gemologist or insurance agent, have them validated at a CBSA office, and carry them.

Do you pay duty or GST on gold bars and coins?

Usually not, if they are pure enough. Canada treats bars, ingots, coins and wafers of gold that are at least 99.5% pure as “precious metals”:

• Gold bullion and gold coins are free of customs duty in the 2026 Customs Tariff (headings 71.08 and 71.18).
• Precious metals are non-taxable imported goods, so no GST/HST is charged at the border.

You still declare them. Gold below 99.5% purity, or gold that is not a bar, ingot, coin or wafer (such as jewellery or a 22K “coin” made as a pendant), is not a precious metal for GST purposes and is taxable.

Gifts of gold

Gold gifts you carry home count toward your personal exemption, the same as things you bought. A gift mailed to you from abroad is duty-free only if it is worth CAN$60 or less, which gold almost never is.

Does gold count toward the CAN$10,000 cash rule?

You must declare currency or monetary instruments worth CAN$10,000 or more each time you enter or leave Canada. The CBSA lists cash, cheques, money orders, bank drafts, traveller’s cheques, stocks and bonds as examples. Gold and jewellery are not on that list. You declare them as goods instead, so you are not hiding anything by leaving them off the currency form.

If you carry CAN$10,000 or more in cash, you can fill in Form E677 in advance. Penalties for not reporting cash range from 5% to 50% of the seized funds. Our guide on declaring money at the border covers this step by step.

How to bring gold into Canada without problems

1. Know your category: settler, returning resident or visitor.
2. Carry receipts for anything you bought abroad, and appraisals with dated photos for jewellery you already owned.
3. Declare all gold acquired abroad, including gifts, when you arrive.
4. Keep your BSF186 if you are a newcomer with goods to follow.

Customs rules change. The limits on this page were checked on October 24, 2026. Check the official customs page for your destination, linked under Sources, in the week before you fly.

Travelling the other way first? Our gold carry limit checker shows the duty-free limits for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Dubai and more. To value what you are bringing, check the gold price per gram in Canada for 22K and 24K.

Common questions

Sources

• CBSA: I Declare, a guide for residents returning to Canada
• CBSA: Moving or returning to Canada (settlers, Form BSF186)
• CBSA: Memorandum D2-2-1, Settlers’ effects
• CBSA: Memorandum D2-6-5, Documentation of goods for temporary exportation (Form BSF407, formerly Y38)
• CBSA: Travelling with CAN$10,000 or more? Declare it
• CBSA: Customs Tariff 2026, Chapter 71 (gold, coins, jewellery)
• Justice Laws: Non-Taxable Imported Goods (GST/HST) Regulations, s. 3(a)
• CRA: GST/HST Memorandum 17-1, Definition of financial instrument (precious metal)

Checked against these sources on October 24, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.