US importer? flatclaim.com
For Canadian importers of steel, aluminum & steel-based products
You've been paying a 25% surtax.
Much of it may be refundable.
Since 2025, Canada has applied 25% surtaxes to US steel and aluminum, and since December 26, 2025, to steel-based products from every country. The government also created refund and exemption programs, but they sit buried in customs mechanics that most importers and their brokers never audit. We find what you're owed and recover it.
One flat fee from $2,495 CAD. You keep 100% of every recovered dollar.
If our audit doesn't identify at least 5x our fee in recoverable surtax, we refund the fee in full.
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.
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.
- 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)
What the money looks like
Illustrative example, not a promise. Your numbers come from your actual entries.
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.
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.
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.
How it works
You don't need to understand CARM, CADs, or special authority codes. That's the point of hiring us. Day markers are typical timelines, not promises; CBSA processing times cite the agency's published standards.
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Day 0
A 15-minute call
Your tier, your likely exposure, and whether the 5x guarantee makes this a no-brainer for your volume. If it doesn't, we say so on the call.
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Day 1
NDA signed, access delegated
You delegate read-only access to your CARM import data. It takes minutes, from your own account.
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Days 2–10
The audit
24 months of entries, checked against every remission order, drawback and adjustment path.
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Day ~10
★ Findings + the guarantee gate
You see exactly what's recoverable, entry by entry, before another dollar is owed.
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⇦ $
Less than 5x our fee identified? The fee flows back to you, refunded in full. The journey ends here, and it cost you nothing.
5x or more identified? On to the claims package. You keep 100% of every recovered dollar.
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Days 10–20
Claims package delivered
Authority codes per entry, prepared K32s, broker instructions. White Glove: we coordinate transmission.
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Filing
Your broker files, or you do
Your filings stay between you, your broker, and CBSA. We never need transaction authority over your account.
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Days ~90–120
Money lands
Refunds post to your CBSA account. Drawback: 90-day CBSA service standard, interest when late. Adjustments: 2 to 4 months.
Optional: Surtax Watch. Re-audits your new entries against the current remission landscape every year, back through the audit station above. Opt in, cancel anytime.
Pricing, published. One flat fee. You keep 100%.
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. All prices CAD.
Starter
$2,495 CAD
Up to $1M/year of covered imports
The complete audit, claims package and go-forward instructions, sized for smaller import books.
Paid 100% upfront.
Standard
$4,995 CAD
$1M–$5M/year of covered imports
Same complete scope, at the volume where recoveries typically run well into six figures.
50% to start, 50% due before the claims package is delivered.
White Glove
$9,995 CAD
$5M+/year of covered imports
Adds: we coordinate transmission directly with your broker, and we prepare and manage the Department of Finance remission application end to end.
50% to start, 50% due before delivery.
The guarantee, and the warranty behind it
If our audit doesn't identify at least 5x our fee in recoverable surtax, we refund the fee in full. That covers whether the money is real. And every claim we prepare cites its published order with documentary support: if CBSA rejects a claim we prepared, we correct and refile it at no charge. That covers whether the work holds up.
Optional add-on: Surtax Watch
The surtaxes run into 2027, new entries accumulate monthly, and the remission orders keep being amended; codes that didn't exist when your goods cleared can apply later. Surtax Watch re-audits your trailing year of entries against the current remission landscape and refreshes your go-forward codes, every year. $1,995 / $2,995 / $4,995 CAD per year by tier. Opt in, cancel anytime.
Tiers are set by annual covered-goods import value and confirmed from your CARM data during the audit. If your actual volume lands in a higher band, you're upgraded to that tier and invoiced the difference. We say that here so it never surprises you later.
"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. Most brokers welcome it: their client stops bleeding money, and they didn't have to build an audit practice to make that happen.
Who's behind this
FlatClaim was founded by Jon Peters, a Canadian operator with 25 years of building businesses around a single pattern: finding money that regulation created and bureaucracy buried. Jon sells the work and quarterbacks every file personally. The filings themselves are prepared and transmitted by licensed customs brokers and trade-compliance specialists.
We are deliberately not a customs brokerage and not a law firm, and we'll never pretend otherwise. We're the firm that reads the remission orders, audits your entries against them, and manages the recovery until the money is on your CBSA statement.
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. FlatClaim is operated by Oakwell Partners Inc., a British Columbia company.
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.
What does it cost?
One flat fee by tier, everything included: Starter, $2,495 CAD for up to $1M/year of covered imports, paid upfront; Standard, $4,995 CAD for $1M–$5M/year, half to start and half due before the claims package is delivered; White Glove, $9,995 CAD for $5M+/year on the same split, adding broker coordination and an end-to-end Department of Finance remission application. 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, the fee is refunded in full. Your tier is confirmed from your CARM data during the audit; if actual volume lands in a higher band, you're upgraded and invoiced the difference. 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 and refile it at no charge. That workmanship warranty covers whether the work holds up; the 5x guarantee covers whether the money is real.
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, and it usually was, you paid surtax you may not have owed.
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?
Read access to your CARM import data, which you can delegate in minutes from your own account, plus a sample of your customs invoices. We sign an NDA before we see anything. 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. All filings are prepared and transmitted by licensed customs brokers and trade-compliance specialists. 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. We'll tell you straight which tier you're in and whether the 5x guarantee makes this a no-brainer for your volume. If it doesn't, we'll say so on the call.
Prefer email? jon@flatclaim.com