Importer’s guide
The CARM portal, explained for Canadian importers.
CARM, the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management system, is now the official way every Canadian importer accounts for and pays duties and taxes to the Canada Border Services Agency. This is a plain-English walk through what it is, how to log in, and how to pull the one report that shows whether you’re owed a steel-surtax refund.
What it is
What is the CARM Client Portal?
The CARM Client Portal (CCP) is CBSA’s self-service system for managing your import accounting. Since CARM became the system of record, importers use it to view their Statement of Account, classify goods, post financial security, pay duties and taxes, and review every transaction filed under their business number.
If you import commercially into Canada, you need a CARM account. Your customs broker may transact on your behalf, but the account, and the transaction history inside it, belongs to you. That history is where the surtax you’ve paid on steel goods is recorded, entry by entry.
Getting in
How to register and log in
Set up a sign-in
Log in at the CARM Client Portal using a GCKey or a Sign-In Partner (your online banking credentials). This is your individual user login, separate from your business.
Link to your business account
Connect your user to your company’s business number (BN9) and RM import program account. The first person to register becomes the Business Account Manager.
Set delegations of authority
Grant access to employees and delegate your customs broker as a third-party service provider, at the access level you choose, including read-only.
The report that matters
How to pull your transaction report
One export from CARM tells you whether you’ve been paying the 25% steel surtax, and roughly how much may be recoverable.
Four steps inside the portal
- Sign in to the CARM Client Portal and open your business account.
- Go to your Statement of Account and transaction history.
- Filter to the last 24 months of commercial entries.
- Export the transaction report. It lists every entry, the duties and surtax assessed, and the tariff treatment.
You never have to give anyone your login. The transaction report is a file you export yourself and can share for review.
Why pull it now
Your CARM report may show a refund nobody’s claimed
Since December 2025, Canada has charged a 25% surtax on steel-based goods: racking, fasteners, fencing, wire rope, structural steel, and more, under the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order (SOR/2025-267). Ottawa also published remission and drawback programs to give that money back, but they expire two years after each importation, and almost nobody files for them.
FlatClaim reads the transaction report you export from your own CARM portal, free, and tells you the surtax you’ve paid and the range that looks recoverable. No account access, no fee, no obligation. If we find nothing, it costs you nothing, and you keep 100% of every dollar we do recover.
One export tells you whether two years of entries are owed a refund. The free scan reads it for you.
See if you’re owedQuestions
CARM portal questions
What is CARM?
CARM is the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management system, the Canada Border Services Agency’s system of record for commercial imports. Importers use the CARM Client Portal to account for and pay duties and taxes, view their Statement of Account, and review every transaction filed under their business number.
Do I need a CARM account to import commercially?
Yes. Commercial importers need a CARM account. Your customs broker can transact on your behalf, but the account and its transaction history belong to you, and you control who has access to it.
How do I pull a transaction report from CARM?
Sign in to the CARM Client Portal, open your business account, go to your Statement of Account and transaction history, filter to the last 24 months of commercial entries, and export the transaction report. It lists every entry with the duties and surtax assessed and the tariff treatment.
Do I have to share my CARM login with FlatClaim?
No. For the free scan you export the transaction report yourself and share that file; we never need your login. If you engage the audit, you delegate read-only access from your own account and we sign an NDA first. You keep transaction authority over your CBSA account at all times.
See which goods carry the surtax in covered goods, or read the plain-English answers.
Pulled your report? Let’s read it.
Send Jon the transaction report you exported, or just tell him what you import. Founder Jon Peters comes back with a straight read on the surtax you’ve paid and the range that looks recoverable. No account access, no fee.
or, if you’re ready now
Prefer email? jon@flatclaim.com