Covered goods · Fencing
Recover the 25% surtax on chain-link and welded-mesh fencing imports
Chain-link fabric, welded-mesh panels, gabion baskets, posts, rails, and gates are steel derivative goods subject to Canada’s 25% Steel Derivative Goods Surtax under SOR/2025-267. If your customs broker did not apply the special authority code for the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order (SOR/2026-34) on each Commercial Accounting Declaration, CBSA charged the full surtax and it is sitting unclaimed. FlatClaim finds it, quantifies it, and produces the filing-ready package to get it back. 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?
Fencing contractors and distributors importing chain-link and welded-mesh products face a layered surtax exposure. Here is where the money typically hides.
Where fencing importers lose surtax refunds
- Chain-link fabric rolls and welded-mesh panels classified as steel derivative goods under SOR/2025-267 since December 26, 2025
- Gabion baskets, posts, rails, and pre-hung gate assemblies caught by the same order regardless of country of origin
- US-origin fencing components also potentially subject to the earlier US steel and aluminum surtax (SOR/2025-95) since March 2025
- Missing or blank special authority code on past CADs, meaning CBSA collected 25% and no remission claim was ever filed
- High-volume pallet shipments where even one uncoded entry represents thousands of dollars per cleared load
- Entries approaching the two-year claim window, after which each month of recoverable surtax is permanently forfeited
Often on the same containers
The detail
Why chain-link and welded-mesh fencing is caught by the steel derivative surtax
Canada’s Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order (SOR/2025-267) applies to fabricated steel goods drawn from a defined schedule of tariff items. Chain-link fabric, welded-mesh panels, gabion baskets, steel posts, rails, and gate hardware are among the goods covered, regardless of whether they were manufactured in the United States, China, or anywhere else. The surtax took effect December 26, 2025, at 25% of the value for duty, and it applies on top of any regular customs duties already assessed.
The relief mechanism is the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order (SOR/2026-34), which allows qualifying importers to recover surtax paid on goods meeting the order’s conditions. To trigger the remission, a licensed customs broker must enter the correct special authority code on the Commercial Accounting Declaration at or after the time of accounting. If the code is absent, CBSA has no instruction to apply the remission and the full surtax is collected as filed. Fencing is a specialty product category, and many brokers handling general freight do not routinely review remission schedules when clearing a load of chain-link rolls or mesh panels, so unclaimed surtax can accumulate across an entire import season before anyone notices.
If your company also imports US-origin steel fencing components, a second surtax may apply. The United States Surtax Order (SOR/2025-95) has covered US-origin steel and aluminum since March 2025, with its own remission route under SOR/2025-122. Claims must be filed within two years of each importation: US-origin entries from March 2025 begin expiring in early 2027, and steel derivative entries from December 2025 begin expiring in late December 2027. FlatClaim’s audit reviews both orders against your transaction history so nothing is missed.
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 surtax paid on fencing, 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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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-link & welded-mesh fencing refunds
Does the steel derivative surtax apply to fencing we import from outside the United States?
Yes. SOR/2025-267 covers steel derivative goods from every country of origin, not only the United States. Whether your chain-link fabric or welded-mesh panels were manufactured in China, India, Mexico, or elsewhere, the 25% surtax applies if the goods fall within the covered tariff items. The remission order SOR/2026-34 is similarly available regardless of origin. If you also import US-origin fencing, the earlier US surtax under SOR/2025-95 may apply as well, and FlatClaim’s audit reviews both.
Our broker cleared all our shipments. Wouldn’t they have applied the remission code automatically?
Not necessarily. Applying a surtax remission code requires the broker to identify which specific remission order covers each tariff line and then enter the correct authority code on the CAD. For brokers who handle a broad mix of freight, this step can be missed on specialty product categories like fencing hardware or gabion baskets, particularly when the remission orders were new or recently published. The audit FlatClaim conducts reads your CARM transaction report line by line to identify every entry where the code was absent and the full surtax was collected.
How does the two-year claim window work for fencing shipments?
A claim must be filed within two years of the date of each importation. The Steel Derivative Goods Surtax started on December 26, 2025, so the earliest entries under SOR/2025-267 become unclaimable in late December 2027. US-origin entries under SOR/2025-95 go back to March 2025, meaning those begin expiring in early 2027. If you import fencing in volume, a significant portion of your exposure is already inside that window and the recoverable amount shrinks every month a claim is not filed.
What does the free first look actually involve, and what does FlatClaim need from us?
It starts with a 15-minute call with founder Jon Peters. After that, you pull a transaction report from your own CARM portal (FlatClaim never requests access to your CARM account) and share it directly. FlatClaim reads the report, identifies the surtax lines attributable to fencing and related steel derivative goods, and shows you the range of potentially recoverable amounts. There is no fee for this step, no NDA, and no obligation. If you proceed to a paid audit, FlatClaim produces a per-entry, filing-ready package your licensed customs broker can transmit, or that you can submit yourself through CARM.
More in plain-English answers and the main FAQ.
Book your free fencing surtax review
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