Covered goods · Chain
Your steel chain shipments have been carrying a 25% surtax since late 2025. Most of it is refundable.
Canadian importers of welded-link chain, lifting chain, transport chain, and conveyor chain have paid a 25% surtax on every covered shipment since December 26, 2025. A federal remission order makes most of those payments recoverable. FlatClaim identifies what you paid and prepares filing-ready claims at a flat fee. You keep 100%.
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.
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?
Chain imported into Canada in these forms is among the steel derivative goods subject to the 25% surtax under SOR/2025-267 and eligible for refund under the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order, SOR/2026-34.
Chain
- Welded-link steel chain
- Lifting and load chain
- Transport and binder chain
- Chain slings and rigging assemblies
- Machine and conveyor chain
- Barrier and security chain
The detail
Why chain importers are overpaying, and what the refund process looks like
Steel chain sits squarely in the category of steel derivative goods that Canada began surtaxing on December 26, 2025. The authority is the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, SOR/2025-267, which applies a 25% surtax to a broad range of goods made from steel, regardless of the country of origin. That last point matters: unlike the earlier US-origin steel surtax that began in March 2025, this one catches chain imported from any country, including traditional sourcing markets in Asia and Europe.
On your CBSA Commercial Accounting Declaration, the surtax appears as a separate duty line. If your customs broker did not apply the correct special authority code referencing the remission order at the time of entry, or if the entries pre-date the remission order’s publication, the full 25% was collected without offset. Most importers have not gone back to audit those lines because the mechanism for recovery, the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order, SOR/2026-34, is a relatively new instrument and the correction process inside CARM is not widely understood.
Recovery works by adjusting past entries in CARM to include the remission authority code, or by filing a drawback where goods have been further processed or re-exported. Refunds post as credits to your CBSA account. CBSA’s drawback service standard is 90 days, and the agency pays interest if that window is exceeded. The statutory claim window is two years from each importation, so entries from December 2025 begin expiring in December 2027, and every month that passes closes another month of recoverable surtax permanently.
Every regulation above links to its official Government of Canada page. Don’t take our word for any of it.
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.
Two years of it is still claimable, and a portion is recoverable. The free look shows you how much.
See if you’re owedThe math
What the money looks like
A typical $2M a year of imported steel chain, 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. See the full pricing and the 5x guarantee.
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.
Questions
Questions about chain refunds
My chain comes from China or Europe, not the US. Does the surtax still apply?
Yes. The Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, SOR/2025-267, applies to covered goods from every country of origin. It is distinct from the earlier US-specific steel and aluminum surtax. If you import welded-link chain, lifting chain, conveyor chain, or similar products from any origin, your shipments since December 26, 2025 are subject to the 25% surtax and the refund route under SOR/2026-34 applies.
How far back can we claim? We have been importing chain since well before 2025.
The surtax on steel derivative goods started December 26, 2025, so entries before that date were not subject to it and are not in scope. For entries from December 26, 2025 onward, the claim window is two years per importation. The urgency is not artificial: once an entry ages past two years, the refund for that shipment is gone. The earlier you file, the more complete your recovery.
Our broker files our entries. Can FlatClaim still help, or does the broker handle remission claims?
Most customs brokers handle routine tariff classification and entry filing. Remission claims under SOR/2026-34 require a separate audit of past entries to identify which lines qualify, preparation of the authority-code corrections or drawback filings, and follow-up through CARM. Some brokers offer this; many do not, or charge hourly rates that make small recoveries uneconomical. FlatClaim charges a flat fee regardless of how many entries we review, and your broker transmits whatever we prepare, so the two services are complementary.
What is the 5x guarantee, and what does it mean for a chain importer?
Before any fee is due, FlatClaim reviews your transaction report and shows you the surtax paid and the estimated recoverable range. If we proceed and the full audit does not identify at least five times our fee in qualifying refunds (entries that qualify under a published remission order or drawback, Finance remission applications excluded), we refund everything you paid and you keep the findings. For a chain importer paying $50,000 a year in surtax, the threshold is straightforward to clear; the guarantee is there to protect importers where the numbers do not work.
More in plain-English answers and the main FAQ.
Find out what your chain shipments are owed
Send Jon what you import and he’ll come back with a straight read on your tier, your likely exposure, and whether the numbers clear the 5x bar for your volume. That’s the founder replying, not an SDR or a call centre. The first look is free, with no account access and no fee.
or, if you’re ready now
Prefer email? jon@flatclaim.com