How to import into Canada: business number, CARM and customs brokers

Six steps, in this order

1. Get a business number and an import-export (RM) account in the CARM Client Portal.
2. Classify each product to its Canadian tariff code and check its permits.
3. Work out duty, surtax, anti-dumping duty and 5% GST.
4. File the declarations yourself in CARM, or delegate them to a licensed customs broker.
5. Enrol in Release Prior to Payment and post security, or pay at a CBSA office before release.
6. Account for each shipment, pay by the statement due date and keep the records for six years.

Three registrations come before the first shipment

A business importing commercial goods into Canada needs a 9-digit business number (BN9), a 6-character import-export program account such as RM0001, and a user account in the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) Client Portal. The BN9 and the RM account together form the 15-character number that identifies the importer on every declaration.

Since October 21, 2024, most new resident importers register for the business number and the RM account inside the CARM portal itself. Non-resident importers, trusts and some other entities get the business number from the Canada Revenue Agency first. CARM is also where duties are assessed, statements are issued and payments are made.

CARM decides how fast goods leave the border

There are two ways to get goods released. Importers enrolled in Release Prior to Payment (RPP) get their goods first, file the accounting declaration within five business days of release and pay later on a monthly statement. Everyone else completes a Type C declaration in CARM, takes it to a CBSA office and pays before the goods move.

Since May 20, 2025, RPP requires the importer's own financial security in CARM; a broker's security no longer covers its clients. The security is a cash deposit equal to the amount CARM calculates, or a written security agreement for at least half of it, with a C$5,000 minimum per RM account. CBSA points occasional importers to the deposit, which can be paid by credit card. Statements arrive on the 25th of each month, and payment is due ten weekdays after the 17th.

A customs broker is optional; the liability is not

An importer can prepare and submit its own declarations in CARM. A licensed customs broker does it for a fee that CBSA does not regulate: preparing the release and accounting data, paying duties on the importer's behalf, keeping records and answering CBSA after payment. Hiring one takes three steps: sign a general agency agreement, delegate authority to the broker in the CARM portal and, as CBSA recommends, enrol in RPP with your own security. CBSA publishes the list of licensed customs brokers.

The broker files the paperwork; the importer keeps the liability. The importer of record is the one CBSA contacts for verifications and the one responsible for corrections, record keeping and unpaid duties.

The tariff code sets the bill

Every declaration carries a 10-digit tariff classification number. The first six digits are the international HS code; the last four are Canadian. The code and the country of origin fix the rate. Goods made in China pay the Most-Favoured-Nation rate, because Canada has no free trade agreement with China. Each 8-digit tariff item on this site shows that rate, the agency permits it triggers and any surtax or anti-dumping case. For legal certainty on a borderline product, CBSA issues binding advance rulings through the CARM portal.

Duty is charged on the value for duty, which starts from the price paid to the seller, converted to Canadian dollars at the rate of the day the goods began their direct journey to Canada, without international freight. GST of 5% is charged on that value plus duty. A C$10,000 shipment of coffee makers (8516.71.10, 9%) pays C$900 in duty and C$545 in GST, C$1,445 in total. Listed steel, aluminum and steel derivative goods add a 25% surtax; the duty calculator shows it for any code.

Small parcels follow a different rule

Mail and courier shipments from China valued at C$20 or less enter free of duty and tax. Above C$20, duty and GST apply. The higher courier thresholds of C$40 and C$150 apply only to goods from the United States and Mexico, which is why a C$60 order from China arrives with a bill. A courier cannot file the commercial accounting declaration for a business importer; that falls to the importer or its broker.