How to Complete BSF Forms: BSF186, E311, and BSF715 Explained

BSF forms are the customs paperwork the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) uses to account for personal goods entering Canada, and the one you need depends on why you’re crossing. If you’re moving to Canada or returning after living abroad, you’ll complete a BSF186 for your household effects. If you’re arriving by air as a traveler, your declaration goes on an E311 card or its kiosk equivalent. If you owe duty on something you bought or are bringing in casually, the border officer prepares a BSF715 for you and collects payment on the spot.

Under Section 12 of the Customs Act, all goods brought into Canada must be reported at the nearest designated customs office.¹ Picking the wrong form usually just means delays while the officer restarts with the correct one. Not declaring at all is where the real trouble starts: seizure, fines, and in serious cases criminal charges.

Which BSF Form Matches Your Situation

Three forms cover almost every personal border crossing.

The BSF186 — Personal Effects Accounting Document is for settlers establishing residency in Canada, former residents returning, seasonal residents, and beneficiaries inheriting goods from abroad. It covers household items and personal belongings that qualify for duty-free entry under the Customs Tariff.² This is the one you actually sit down and fill out yourself.

The E311 Declaration Card is the standard traveler declaration, used mainly at airports and sometimes on trains, boats, and buses. At major airports, kiosks and eGates have largely replaced the paper card, and you can submit your declaration in advance through the ArriveCAN app before landing at a participating airport.³⁴ Paper cards are still handed out at airports without self-service technology.

The BSF715 — Casual Goods Accounting Document covers non-commercial imports that are taxable or subject to duties: a piece of furniture bought abroad, gifts over the limit, or anything exceeding your personal exemption. A border services officer fills it out based on the goods you present.⁵ You don’t download this one — you make it easy for the officer to prepare it.

What to Gather Before You Cross

The single most useful thing you can do is build a detailed inventory. For settlers using the BSF186, the government recommends preparing two typed copies of every item you plan to bring into Canada, split into two sections: goods traveling with you and goods arriving later.⁶ Each entry should include a description, the value in Canadian dollars, and the make, model, or serial number where applicable.

You’ll need valid identification proving your identity and immigration status. A passport works for most travelers. U.S. citizens entering by land can use an enhanced driver’s license, a NEXUS card, or a passport card. U.S. permanent residents arriving by land need their green card; those arriving by air need both a valid passport from their country of nationality and their green card.⁷

Bring receipts. Original sales slips, appraisals, and purchase records establish the value and age of your belongings. Without receipts, an officer can assign a value, and the assigned value is almost always higher than what you’d claim. For high-value items like electronics, jewelry, or musical instruments, proof of purchase can save you hundreds in duties.

One threshold catches people out: if you’re carrying CAD $10,000 or more in cash or monetary instruments (traveler’s cheques, money orders, securities), you must declare the full amount. The CBSA can seize the entire sum if you fail to report it, with penalties running from 5% to 50% of the seized funds.⁸

Completing the BSF186 for Settlers and Returning Residents

Download the BSF186 from the CBSA website or pick up a paper copy at any port of entry. Filling it out before you travel saves real time. The officer still reviews it, but you skip doing paperwork while a line builds behind you.⁶

The form asks for your personal information, your status (settler, former resident, seasonal resident, or beneficiary), and then the substance of it: an itemized list of every good you’re importing, with each item’s description, serial number if applicable, and value in Canadian dollars.² If your list runs long, use Form BSF186A as a continuation sheet. The CBSA provides it specifically for overflow.⁹

Print or type all fields in block letters. Your signature at the bottom is a legal declaration that everything on the form is truthful. The officer will assign a file number to your completed form. Keep your stamped copy. It’s your proof that the goods were legally accounted for if questions come up later.

Goods Traveling With You vs. Goods to Follow

The form has a “Goods to follow” field where you indicate which items will arrive in a separate shipment after you do. List those separately from the goods arriving with you.⁹ This is not optional. Under the Customs Tariff, goods-to-follow only qualify for duty-free treatment if you report them on your BSF186 at the time of your initial arrival.¹⁰ Forget to list your couch on the original form and it turns up three months later in a shipping container — the duty-free exemption doesn’t automatically apply.

Ownership Requirements

The rules depend on your status. Settlers importing under Tariff Item 9807.00.00 must show that each item was actually owned, possessed, and used abroad before arriving in Canada, but no minimum ownership period is specified.¹⁰ Former residents returning to Canada face a stricter standard: their personal effects must have been owned, possessed, and used abroad for at least six months before the return date.²

One rule catches people off guard: if you sell or dispose of any imported item within 12 months of bringing it into Canada, you’re required to notify a CBSA office and pay the duties that would have applied at the time of import.²

Declaring at the Airport With the E311

Flying into Canada for a visit, a business trip, or returning from vacation puts you on the E311 track.¹¹ At airports with self-service kiosks or eGates, you answer the declaration questions on screen and hand the printed receipt to the officer.³ At airports without kiosks, you’ll get a paper E311 card on your flight or in the arrivals area.

The card asks straightforward questions: what you’re bringing, whether you have gifts, commercial goods, food, plants, animals, firearms, or more than CAD $10,000 in currency. Answer honestly. An officer who finds undeclared goods during a secondary inspection treats the omission far more seriously than someone who declared everything and simply owes some duty.

Personal Exemptions That Determine Whether You’ll Owe Duty

Canadian residents returning from abroad can bring back a certain value of goods duty- and tax-free, depending on how long they were away. These exemptions apply to your E311 declaration and determine whether the officer will need to write up a BSF715 for the excess.

Less than 24 hours: No personal exemption. Everything you bring back is subject to duties and taxes.
24 hours or more: Up to CAD $200 in goods, excluding tobacco and alcohol. If your goods exceed $200, you lose the entire exemption and pay duties on everything.
48 hours or more: Up to CAD $800, including limited quantities of alcohol and tobacco. Duties apply only to the amount exceeding $800.
7 days or more: Up to CAD $800. Tobacco and alcohol must be in your personal possession at entry, but other goods can follow by mail or courier as long as you declare them when you arrive.

¹²

The gap between the 24-hour and 48-hour thresholds is where day-trippers get stung. Cross for an afternoon of shopping, spend $300, and you owe duty on the full $300, not on the $100 over the exemption. Stay one more night and you’d owe nothing.

How the BSF715 Gets Prepared and Paid

Unlike the BSF186, the BSF715 is not something you complete at home. A border services officer prepares it based on the goods you present and the information you provide.⁵ The officer classifies each item under the appropriate tariff heading, calculates the applicable duties and taxes, and collects payment on the spot.

Make the officer’s job easier. Have receipts ready, know the value of what you’re bringing, and be prepared to describe items clearly enough for accurate classification. The officer must record a 10-digit tariff classification number for each item. Vague descriptions slow the process and raise the odds that goods get classified under a higher-duty heading.

Two charges apply to most taxable imports: customs duty and either GST (5% nationwide) or, in provinces that have harmonized their sales tax with the federal tax, HST.¹³ Customs duty rates vary by item and country of origin; some goods from the United States enter duty-free under trade agreements, others carry rates tied to their tariff classification. Values in foreign currency are converted to Canadian dollars at the exchange rate on the date of import.

You can pay by credit card, debit card, or cash at the port of entry. The manual version of the BSF715 is prepared in triplicate, and you receive the second copy as your proof of payment and release authorization. Keep it. It’s the only documentation you’ll have if you later want to dispute the assessment or claim a refund.

Items That Need More Than a BSF Form

Some categories of goods require permits or paperwork beyond the standard BSF forms, and some cannot enter Canada at all. You must declare all food, plants, animals, and related products to help prevent disease and invasive species from crossing the border. Cannabis cannot be transported across the border in any form without a permit, and doing so is a criminal offence.¹⁴

Non-residents can bring non-restricted firearms (ordinary rifles and shotguns) into Canada by completing the Non-Resident Firearm Declaration (RCMP form 5589) and paying a CAD $25 confirmation fee at the border.¹⁵ Restricted firearms — including most handguns and short-barreled semi-automatic rifles — require an Authorization to Transport obtained from the Canadian Firearms Program (1-800-731-4000) before you arrive. Prohibited firearms, including automatic firearms, handguns with a barrel length of 105 mm or less, and handguns chambered in .25 or .32 calibre, cannot enter Canada under any circumstances and will be seized and forfeited to the Crown.¹⁶ Ammunition, explosives, and fireworks have their own permits issued by Natural Resources Canada; a permit for a firearm doesn’t cover its ammunition.¹⁴

Bringing a vehicle into Canada goes through the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program for vehicles sold at retail in the United States that meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. You submit the RIV e-Form (the online equivalent of Transport Canada’s Vehicle Import Form 1) and have the vehicle inspected and certified after entry.¹⁷ Vehicles outside pre-clearance programs need a case-by-case authorization number before release. If your vehicle is part of your settler’s effects, you still list it on your BSF186, but the RIV process applies on top of that.

If the Assessment Is Wrong or Your Goods Are Seized

If the officer used the wrong duty rate, misclassified your goods, or recorded the wrong value, you can file for an adjustment using Form B2G, the CBSA Informal Adjustment Request. Common grounds include goods returned to the sender, an incorrect value on the accounting document, or a classification error. Attach a legible copy of your original accounting document (your BSF715 receipt, for example) along with supporting documentation, and mail it to the CBSA Casual Refund Centre assigned to your postal code.¹⁸

For serious enforcement actions such as seizures of goods or currency, you have the right to a formal review through the CBSA’s E-Appeals system.¹⁹ For seizures under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, you must request the Minister’s decision within 90 calendar days of the enforcement action.²⁰

Penalties for Skipping or Falsifying the Declaration

Consequences scale with the seriousness of the violation. The CBSA’s Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) covers most routine problems: incomplete forms, inaccurate values, failure to report goods. These are administrative penalties, not criminal charges, and they’re assessed by contravention.

Criminal penalties under the Customs Act are reserved for serious violations. Failing to report goods under Section 12, smuggling, or making false statements can be prosecuted either as a summary conviction, carrying a fine of up to $50,000 or imprisonment for up to six months, or as an indictable offence, carrying a fine of up to $500,000 or imprisonment for up to five years.²¹

Currency violations sit in their own category. Fail to report CAD $10,000 or more, and the CBSA can seize the entire amount at the border. You may get it back after paying a penalty of 5% to 50% of the seized funds. If the agency suspects the money is linked to criminal proceeds or terrorist financing, it won’t be returned at all.⁸

1
Justice Laws Website. Customs Act RSC 1985, c 1 (2nd Supp) – Section 12
2
Canada Border Services Agency. BSF186 – Personal Effects Accounting Document
3
Canada Border Services Agency. Declare Your Travel Information at an Airport Kiosk or eGate
4
Government of Canada. Use Advance Declaration to Save Time at the Border
5
Canada Border Services Agency. Memorandum D17-1-3 – Casual Importations
6
Government of Canada. Prepare to Cross the Border to Settle in Canada as a Newcomer
7
Government of Canada. What You Need to Enter Canada
8
Canada Border Services Agency. Travelling with CAN$10,000 or More? Sending It by Mail or Courier? Declare It
9
Canada Border Services Agency. BSF186A – Personal Effects Accounting Document
10
Canada Border Services Agency. Memorandum D2-2-1 – Tariff Item No. 9807.00.00
11
Canada Border Services Agency. E311 – Declaration Card
12
Canada Border Services Agency. I Declare: A Guide for Residents Returning to Canada
13
Canada Border Services Agency. Importing by Mail or Courier – Paying Duty and/or Taxes on Imported Goods
14
Canada Border Services Agency. Restricted and Prohibited Goods
15
Canada Border Services Agency. Firearms and Weapons: Canadian Border Requirements
16
Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Non-Resident Firearm Declaration
17
Canada Border Services Agency. Memorandum D19-12-1: Importing Vehicles into Canada
18
Canada Border Services Agency. CBSA Informal Adjustment Request
19
Canada Border Services Agency. Appeals/Reviews
20
Canada Border Services Agency. How to File a Review for Seizures Under the Proceeds of Crime
21
Justice Laws Website. Customs Act RSC 1985, c 1 (2nd Supp) – Section 160