Dear valued clients,

CARM Release 3 went live on October 21, 2024.  This release will change the way many of you pay the duties and taxes for your imports.  As such we are reaching out to provide guidance on how to handle the next Statement of Account (SOA) that will be issued on October 25, 2024.  

To make this transition as smooth as possible for all our clients we recommend that you handle the October SOA the same way as you have in previous months. 

• If you paid duty and/or taxes directly to CBSA in the past please follow the same process for your October SOA. You can expect to still receive your K84 on October 25th.

• If your duties and taxes were included on your brokerage invoices in the past, rest assured we will remit those amounts to CBSA.  You will not be required to make payment to CBSA directly for the October SOA.

What to expect going forward in CARM

If you are registered on the CARM portal and have delegated us as your broker:  

CBSA will place you on their Release Prior to Payment (RPP) program.  This program allows your goods to clear through Customs and defers the payment of duties and taxes to month end.  All customs charges (GST, Duty, SIMA, Excise Tax, etc) will be billed directly to you by CBSA. 

Starting with your November SOA you will remit all duties and taxes directly to CBSA monthly.  You will receive an email from CBSA on the 25th of each month advising you of a new notification in your CARM portal.  This is to prompt you to login to the portal and view your Statement of Account (SOA) which can be found in the “Financial Information” section.  The amount shown as “Total Payable” on the SOA will need to be paid to CBSA by the payment due date. Payment can be made through online banking, pre-authorized debit (PAD), or credit card.   

You will then have until April 2025 to post financial security (a surety bond or cash deposit) with CBSA to remain on the RPP program.  If you do not have financial security with CBSA by that time, they will remove you from the RPP program and you will be required to pay the duties and taxes for each shipment, before CBSA will release it.  This could cause significant delays at the border and is not recommended.  As such, we strongly urge all Importers to post financial security with CBSA before April 2025.

If you are not registered on the CARM portal and/or have not delegated us as your broker:

You may notice that your GST and Duty is included on your invoices.  This is a temporary measure to allow us to continue clearing your shipments for a short time while you complete your CARM registration.  It is important that you register on the portal and delegate us as your customs broker ASAP as eventually this transition measure will end and we will not be able to clear your shipments.