CARM step by step for a first commercial import

Eight steps before and after the first shipment

1. Get a 9-digit business number (BN9). Most resident businesses get it inside the CARM Client Portal; non-resident importers and trusts get it from the Canada Revenue Agency.
2. Set up your business account in the CARM Client Portal.
3. Register an import-export program (RM) account in the portal. The BN9 and the RM account form the 15-character number on every declaration.
4. Decide who files: you, in the portal, or a licensed customs broker you delegate to in the portal after signing its agency agreement.
5. Choose how goods are released: Release Prior to Payment (RPP) with your own financial security, or a Type C declaration paid at a CBSA office before release.
6. Classify each product to its 10-digit tariff number and check the permits it triggers.
7. Under RPP, submit the commercial accounting declaration within five business days of release.
8. Pay the monthly statement by its due date and keep the records for six years.

Register the RM account well before the goods ship

Since October 21, 2024, CARM is CBSA's system of record: registrations, declarations, statements and payments all run through the portal. CBSA asks importers to register the RM account well before the first shipment, because goods wait at the border until it exists. If a courier holds a commercial shipment for CARM, have your 15-character number ready, and your RPP security if the goods are to leave before payment.

RPP security in one calculation

CARM sets your security at the highest month of duty, surtax and GST you owed in the last 12 months. It recalculates every October 20, and a higher amount must be posted by January 15. You choose between two forms: a cash deposit for 100% of the amount, with no minimum, or a written security agreement from a financial security provider, such as a surety company, bank or credit union, for at least 50% of it, with a C$5,000 minimum per importer account. The requirement is capped at C$10 million per account.

A new importer with no imports in the last 12 months is calculated at C$0.00 and enrolled in RPP when it submits the request in the portal. The amount grows with the business you do, and the portal's notification centre tells you when to post more. You can ask CBSA in the portal to modify a calculated amount, with documents to support the request. Since May 20, 2025, a broker's security no longer covers its clients, so the security is always the importer's own.

Paying before release is the other route

Without RPP, nothing is posted. You complete a Type C declaration in CARM, take it to a CBSA office and pay the duty and GST before the goods move. That suits a first shipment or an occasional one; a business importing every month saves the trips with RPP.

The first declaration

Each declaration carries the 10-digit tariff number, the value for duty in Canadian dollars and the country of origin. The value for duty is the price paid to the supplier without international freight and insurance to Canada. The duty calculator gives duty, any China surtax and 5% GST for the code, and the import guide covers statements, payments and the broker's role. When a declaration turns out to be wrong, the importer corrects it and pays any difference within 90 days of having reason to believe it is wrong, for up to four years after accounting.

A broker can take steps 4 to 8 off your hands; customs broker cost in Canada compares published prices.