It’s a good time to remind readers (and importers) about significant changes coming this fall.
For background: The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) embarked on an Assessment and Revenue Management initiative (CARM) to relieve the ‘paper burden’ from importers and brokers and require importers to deal directly with the CBSA on financial matters. CARM’s first release (back in May 2021) launched its self-serve client portal to facilitate accounting and revenue management processes with the CBSA. CARM’s actual launch (which will make it “the official system of record that importers and other trade chain partners will use to pay duties and taxes”) was originally scheduled to occur earlier this month but was instead pushed to October 2024.
The CBSA announced a date – October 21, 2024 – as the day CARM will go live for trade chain partners. (Importers, mark your calendars.)
CARM launched internally on May 13 to “allow the Agency to advance work towards the expected benefit of better compliance.” May 13 also included an update to business number (BN) processing and changes; as of the 13th, responsibility for registering and maintaining import and export RM program accounts moves from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to the CBSA (although if you don’t already have a BN, you can use the CRA’s Business Registration Online tool to get one before contacting the CBSA). Information for non-resident BN registration can be found here.
CARM includes some noteworthy changes, including a change to the Release Prior to Payment (RPP) program which, when fully implemented, will require importers to post their own minimum bond (rather than rely on their customs broker’s) to clear shipments and receive release prior to accounting, tax, and duty payment. Details about CARM (and relevant timelines) can be found here; if a customs broker already manages your shipments to Canada, contact your broker for additional direction.
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