Renting an RV in Canada - Questions

[TRnewtown]

I am renting a 30' Class C RV in Toronto (Bolton) and returning it to Vancouver a month later.  I have a few questions:

-  Does it make sense sense to stop in the local (Bolton) Walmart Supercentre to buy a long list of things (kitchen, bedroom, and food), or should I wait until I cross into the US? I am heading from Bolton to Chicago to see my son, but don't want to cross the border with illegal goods (produce, eggs, etc) that I may have to throw away.

-  Will I be able to recover the HST charged by the rental company?

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website has help info on this. See https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/3619/~/travelers-bringing-food-into-the-u.s.-for-personal-use. Non-food items aren't a problem.

Maybe if you could show proof that most of the rental period was outside of Canada, you could get a partial HST refund?

[Hfx_Cdn]

    As for HST rebates, it is my understanding that ceased many years ago.  With the Canadian dollar at an approximate 35% premium, we have found most things about equal on either side of the border.  However, there remains several exceptions such as alcohol, gas, and I think smoking products.  Otherwise, paper products,TP or paper towels, on sale cheaper in Canada, but you're never sure day to day.

Ed

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I think the general HST rebate for purchases by non-redidents went away, but the Canadian Revenue Agency lists a bunch of possible HST rebates. I just don't see any that apply here.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/gst-tps/rbts/menu-eng.html

[TRnewtown]

The HST is not a big number for me, but I will ask at the border since I will spend most of the rental term in the US.

As far as buying food, I think that I will wait until I cross the border to the US.  I hear that Tim Horton's is pretty good.  Crossing the border with a dry/empty RV will speed up the process.

I will probably buy some water, cleaning and paper products in Bolton after i pick up the rental.