For Canadian importers of steel, aluminum & steel-based products
Get back
the tariff money
you never owed.
Importing screws, racking, fencing or wire? The 25% counter-tariffs from the news have been riding on your containers. Officially they’re “surtaxes”, and Ottawa publishes refund programs for them that almost nobody uses. We audit your last 24 months of entries and prepare every claim you’re owed, for one flat fee. You keep 100% of every recovered dollar.
If we find nothing, it costs you nothing.
A 15-minute call with the founder, then a free scan of a transaction report from your own CARM portal that shows the surtax you paid and the range that looks recoverable, before you pay anything. Fees start at $2,495 CAD, backed by the 5x guarantee published below.
Every qualifying entry, its order, its authority code. Ready to file.
| Entry | Order cited | Recoverable |
|---|---|---|
| 14782-031 | SOR/2026-34 | $31,500 |
| 14782-117 | SOR/2025-122 | $18,240 |
| 14783-009 | K32 drawback | $9,615 |
| every qualifying entry, line by line | … | |
| Identified (illustrative) | $100,000 | |
The free look shows what you paid and the recoverable range. This shows every entry, its order, and its code, the part that gets filed. Illustrative sample.
Surtax coverage figure: Department of Finance Canada
The covered goods
Do you import any of these?
These product groups are covered by the surtax orders. If your containers hold any of them, you are almost certainly paying the 25%, and may be owed some of it back. See the product-by-product pages.
- Screws, bolts, nuts & washers
- Nails & staples
- Wire rope, stranded wire & cable
- Chain-link & welded-mesh fencing, gabions
- Chain
- Springs
- Fabricated structural steel
- Pallet racking & shelving structures
- Builders' & door hardware
- Metal-frame seating & office furniture
- Prefabricated steel buildings
- Steel-core electrical cable (ACSR)
Your exposure
How much surtax are you sitting on?
Drag to your rough annual import of covered goods. The surtax is 25% of that value, so the arithmetic is simple. Illustrative, not a quote. Your real number comes from your entries. Open the full calculator.
Two years of it is still claimable, and a portion is recoverable. The free look shows you how much.
See if you’re owedThe programs
What happened, in plain English
In March 2025, Canada put a 25% surtax on US-origin steel and aluminum under the United States Surtax Order (Steel and Aluminum 2025). On December 26, 2025, it went much further: a 25% surtax on steel-based products from every country of origin under the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order (SOR/2025-267); see CBSA Customs Notice 25-33. If you import fasteners, wire, fencing, racking, hardware, or metal furniture, you’ve been paying it. It shows up on your statement as just another customs charge.
Here’s the part almost nobody acts on: the government also created ways to get that money back. The Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order (SOR/2026-34) (Customs Notice 26-07), the United States Surtax Remission Order (2025) (SOR/2025-122), CBSA’s duties relief and drawback programs, and remission applications to the Department of Finance.
Claiming them means working through CARM accounts, special authority codes, and drawback filings. Your broker doesn’t audit old entries for these, because clearing shipments is their job, not re-opening last year’s paperwork. So the refunds sit unclaimed, and each one expires two years after the import it belongs to.
Every regulation above links to its official Government of Canada page. Don’t take our word for any of it.
The math
What the money looks like
A typical $2M a year of covered goods, worked all the way through. Illustrative, on the Standard tier.
That money isn’t hypothetical. It’s surtax you already paid, sitting on the government’s side of the ledger. Refunds arrive as credits or payments on your CBSA account, applied first against anything you owe CBSA. The only question is whether it gets claimed before the window closes.
Under the old industry model, a 25% contingency, that same recovery would have cost you $25,000. Our fee is flat and published, so the math stays this lopsided at every volume.
Straight talk: if you import less than roughly $500K a year of covered goods, the math may not favour an audit. We’ll tell you that on the call, and the call costs nothing.
Your real number comes from your real entries.
See if you’re owedThe deadline
The window is closing. For real, not as a sales line.
Refund claims must be made within two years of each importation. The surtax started in March 2025, which means your earliest entries become unclaimable in early 2027. After that, another month of refunds expires every month, permanently. There’s no countdown clock on this page because the statute doesn’t need one.
And if the tariffs get lifted in a trade deal? Past overpayments remain refundable within the two-year window. A deal stops future surtax; it doesn’t return what you already paid.
Your oldest entries expire first. From early 2027, another month of refunds becomes unclaimable every month.
Start before they doThe process
How it works
Four steps. The first is free: you see your number before you commit a dollar, and the 5x guarantee covers the rest. You never need to understand CARM, CADs, or authority codes. Day markers are typical, not promises.
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1
Free
The free look
Day 0 to 3A 15-minute call, then we read a transaction report you pull from your own CARM portal. You see the surtax you’ve paid on covered entries and the range that looks recoverable, the size of the prize. The how (which orders, which codes, how to file) is the work, and it starts at the audit. No account access, no NDA, no fee. New to the portal? Our CARM guide walks you through it.
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2
The recovery audit
Day 3 to 10The work the free look can’t do. We examine all 24 months entry by entry and decide which federal program recovers each one. A wrong code, or an entry that doesn’t truly qualify, bounces the whole claim. Knowing which is which is what you’re paying for. You engage at half the fee; we sign an NDA and you delegate read-only CARM access.
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3
The filing-ready package
Day 10 to 20Not a report of what you might be owed. The instrument that gets it back: the exact authority code for every qualifying entry, prepared K32s, documentary support, ready to transmit. Hand it to your broker or self-file in CARM and it pays out. White Glove: we coordinate it for you.
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4
Money in your account
Day 90 to 120The point of all of it. Refunds post to your CBSA account, with interest if CBSA runs late. Your broker files, or you self-file. You stay in control the whole way.
The 5x guarantee. If the audit doesn’t identify at least 5x our fee in recoverable surtax, your half-payment comes back in full and you keep the findings. The free look already cost you nothing.
Optional: Surtax Watch. Each year we re-audit your new entries against the current orders, so refunds keep coming as the rules change. Opt in, cancel anytime.
Pricing
Pricing, published. One flat fee. You keep 100%.
The old industry model is a 25% contingency. On a $100,000 recovery, that’s $25,000. Ours is a flat, published fee, and you keep 100% of every recovered dollar. Every tier includes the full 24-month entry audit, the complete claims package (exact special authority codes per entry, prepared K32 drawback forms, Department of Finance remission drafts where applicable), and go-forward fix instructions for your broker so future entries stop overpaying. No percentage, no contingency, ever. And the first look is free: before any fee, we read a transaction report you pull from your own CARM portal and show you the surtax you paid and the range that looks recoverable. All prices CAD.
What the fee buys you
Judgment and a finished instrument, not a spreadsheet. We decide which federal program recovers each entry, prepare claims built to survive CBSA review, and hand you something fileable. A flat fee, the 5x floor, and you keep 100% of what lands. The alternative isn’t free: it’s the hours to learn the orders, the risk a wrong code bounces the claim, and whatever stays with the government, which can run to six figures. (Why your broker hasn’t: just below.)
Starter
$2,495 CAD
Up to $1M/year of covered imports
Best when a handful of product lines carry the surtax. Same audit, same claims package, same guarantee.
Free scan first. Then half to start the audit, the balance before your claims package. Under $12,475 identified, your half comes back in full.
Standard
$4,995 CAD
$1M to $5M/year of covered imports
The tier used in the example math above: $2M a year of covered goods is roughly $500,000 in surtax paid (illustrative).
Free scan first. Then half to start the audit, the balance before your claims package. Under $24,975 identified, your half comes back in full.
White Glove
$9,995 CAD
$5M+/year of covered imports
Adds two things: we coordinate transmission directly with your broker, and we prepare and manage the Department of Finance remission application end to end. We say plainly that Finance remission is discretionary with a low published approval rate; at this volume it is worth pursuing as upside alongside the CBSA paths that pay on a 90-day standard.
Free scan first. Then half to start the audit, the balance before your claims package. Under $49,975 identified, your half comes back in full.
Every tier ends the same way: an entry-by-entry findings memo you can hand to your own broker before anything is filed.
The guarantee, and the warranty behind it
If we find nothing, it costs you nothing. Specifically: if our audit doesn’t identify at least 5x our fee in recoverable surtax, we refund everything you’ve paid, and you keep the findings memo. That gate comes after the free scan: if the scan shows the numbers aren’t there, you simply never engage and never pay. “Identified” means entries that qualify under a published order or the drawback program, cited line by line with documentary support; discretionary Department of Finance applications never count toward the 5x. The memo shows every qualifying entry, the order it qualifies under, and the dollar amount, so you can check the 5x math yourself, or hand it to your own broker to check. Behind that sits the workmanship warranty: every claim we prepare cites its published order with documentary support, and if CBSA rejects a claim we prepared, we correct it and prepare the refiling at no charge. One covers whether the money is real. The other covers whether the work holds up.
Tiers are set by annual covered-goods import value, read from the transaction report during the free scan. Your price is confirmed before you pay anything, so it never moves on you later.
The surtaxes run into 2027. So do we.
New remission orders have kept coming: SOR/2025-122 in 2025, then SOR/2026-34 in 2026, and codes that didn’t exist when your goods cleared can apply later. Surtax Watch re-audits your trailing year of entries against the current orders and refreshes your go-forward codes, every year. $1,995, $2,995 or $4,995 CAD per year by tier. Opt in, cancel anytime.
Not sure which tier you’re in? That’s what the 15-minute call is for.
Find out on the callYour broker
“Why hasn’t my customs broker already done this?”
It’s the right question, and the answer isn’t that your broker is bad at their job. Brokers clear shipments and file what they’re instructed to file. Their workflow is forward-looking: get today’s container across the border, correctly and fast. Retrospectively auditing two years of entries against remission orders, some of which were published after your goods cleared, isn’t what they’re set up or paid to do.
We don’t replace your broker. We audit behind them, and when we fix your go-forward entries, we do it with them. Their client stops bleeding money, and they didn’t have to build an audit practice to make that happen.
The founder
You’ll talk to the founder
The 15-minute call is with Jon Peters, the founder. Not an SDR, not a call centre. He’ll tell you your tier, your likely exposure, and whether the numbers clear the 5x bar for your volume. If they don’t, he’ll say so, and you’ll have lost fifteen minutes.
Jon is a Canadian operator with 25 years of finding money that regulation created and bureaucracy buried. FlatClaim is new because the surtax regime is new: none of this existed before March 2025, and nobody has a long track record at it. That’s why every claim cites a published order you can verify instead of a testimonial you can’t. Reach him directly at (604) 751-4907.
We’re deliberately not a customs brokerage and not a law firm. We prepare every claim. Your existing broker transmits the filings, or you self-file in CARM, and you sign the K32s. On White Glove we coordinate the transmission. That division of labour is why we never need transaction authority over your account.
Questions
Questions a careful owner asks
Is this legitimate?
Yes, and you shouldn’t take that on faith. Every program we use is published federal regulation: the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order (SOR/2026-34), the United States Surtax Remission Order (2025) (SOR/2025-122), and CBSA’s duties relief and drawback programs (Form K32). Each links to its official Government of Canada page. We prepare every claim; your own licensed customs broker transmits the filings, or you self-file in CARM.
Why hasn’t my customs broker already done this?
Brokers clear shipments and file what they’re instructed to. Retrospective auditing isn’t their workflow; getting goods across the border is. We work with your broker, not against them, and the go-forward fix is implemented through them.
Couldn’t I just do this myself?
You could. The work is reading two years of entries line by line against each surtax order, matching authority codes, building the filing instrument, and keeping up as the orders change. Get one code wrong and the claim bounces, and you carry that. We carry it, with the 5x floor. If you have that customs expertise in-house, genuinely, do it and keep the fee. Most importers would rather spend a few thousand and stay out of the customs weeds than become part-time analysts.
What does it cost?
One flat fee by tier, everything included: Starter, $2,495 CAD for up to $1M/year of covered imports; Standard, $4,995 CAD for $1M to $5M/year; White Glove, $9,995 CAD for $5M+/year, adding broker coordination and an end-to-end Department of Finance remission application. Before any fee, we run a free scan of a transaction report you pull from your own CARM portal and show you the surtax you paid and the range that looks recoverable, so you decide with your number in hand. Every tier is then half to start the audit, with the balance due before the claims package is delivered. You keep 100% of every recovered dollar; there is no percentage and no contingency, ever. If the audit doesn’t identify at least 5x our fee in recoverable surtax, everything you’ve paid comes back to you. Your tier is read from that report during the free scan, so your price is confirmed before you pay anything. Surtax Watch, the optional annual re-audit, is $1,995 / $2,995 / $4,995 CAD per year by tier.
What if CBSA rejects a claim?
Every claim we prepare cites its published order with documentary support. If CBSA rejects a claim we prepared, we correct it and prepare the refiling at no charge. That workmanship warranty covers whether the work holds up; the 5x guarantee covers whether the money is real.
What if CBSA pays less than the audit identified?
First, what “identified” means: only entries that qualify under a published order or the drawback program count toward the 5x guarantee, each cited line by line with documentary support. Discretionary Department of Finance applications never count. If CBSA rejects a claim we prepared, we correct it and prepare the refiling at no charge. Beyond that, CBSA decides each claim on its merits, and nobody can honestly promise an outcome. That’s exactly why our fee is flat instead of a percentage of a number nobody controls.
Will my broker charge to transmit the filings?
That’s between you and your broker: transmitting a prepared adjustment is routine work, and some brokers bill a modest per-entry fee for it. We hand them a complete package with the exact authority codes, so their time is minimal. You can also self-file in your own CARM portal at no cost, and on White Glove we coordinate the transmission with your broker ourselves.
What are CARM, a CAD, and “special authority codes”?
CARM is the CBSA’s online portal where your importer account, statements, and declarations live. A CAD (Commercial Accounting Declaration) is the document filed for each shipment that determines what you pay. A special authority code is a field on the CAD that tells CBSA a remission order applies, so the surtax isn’t charged. If that field was left blank on your entries, you paid surtax you may not have owed. Remission orders arrive after the surtaxes they relieve, so entries filed in between paid full freight by default.
What if we owe CBSA money?
Refunds arrive as credits or payments on your CBSA account and are first applied against any balance you owe. An offset against a balance owed is real money to you, and since you keep 100% of every recovered dollar, it’s all yours either way.
How long until we see money?
CBSA’s published service standard for drawback claims is 90 days from a complete claim, with interest payable when they exceed it. Adjustments typically take two to four months. Remission applications to the Department of Finance take longer. We treat those as upside, never the plan.
Do you need access to our systems?
The free scan needs only a transaction report you pull from your own CARM portal: no account access, no NDA. For the audit, you delegate read-only CARM access (it takes minutes from your own account) and we sign an NDA first, plus a sample of your customs invoices. We never need access to your bank, your books, or your operations, and we never need transaction authority over your CBSA account: your filings stay between you, your broker, and CBSA.
Are you a customs brokerage or a law firm?
No, and we say so plainly. We prepare every claim and manage the recovery. Your own licensed customs broker transmits the filings, or you self-file in your CARM portal, and you sign the K32s. Nothing on this site is legal, tax, or financial advice.
What if the tariffs get lifted in a trade deal?
Past overpayments remain refundable within the two-year window. A deal stops future surtax; it doesn’t return what you already paid. Only a claim does that.
Fifteen minutes. That’s the ask.
Bring last month’s CBSA statement if you have it handy, or nothing at all. Fifteen minutes gets you a straight read on your tier and your likely exposure. Your exact number comes from the audit.
Prefer email? jon@flatclaim.com