Covered goods · Structural Steel
The 25% surtax on fabricated structural steel is refundable. Most importers never file.
Since December 26, 2025, a 25% surtax has applied to fabricated structural steel entering Canada regardless of where it was made. For construction firms and fabricators bringing in high-value structural packages, that charge accumulates fast. A published federal remission order exists to recover it. FlatClaim prepares the filing-ready claim package so your customs broker or your own CARM account can submit it. You keep 100% of every dollar recovered.
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?
Fabricated structural steel moves through customs at substantial invoice values. A single structural package, columns and base plates for a mid-rise or a truss package for an industrial roof, can carry tens of thousands of dollars in surtax on a single entry. The items below are typical of what is covered.
Commonly covered fabricated structural steel products
- Fabricated structural beams and girders
- Columns, posts, and hollow structural sections
- Roof and floor trusses
- Structural frames and moment frames
- Base plates, gusset plates, and end plates
- Brackets, connections, and clip angles
Often on the same containers
- Pallet racking & shelving
- Builders' & door hardware
- Screws, bolts, nuts & washers
- Chain-link & welded-mesh fencing
- Prefabricated steel buildings
The detail
Why fabricated structural steel carries a recoverable 25% surtax, and why the refund goes unclaimed
Canada introduced a 25% surtax on a broad category of steel-based goods effective December 26, 2025, under the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, SOR/2025-267. Fabricated structural steel, which is steel that has been cut, drilled, welded, or otherwise worked beyond raw mill product, falls squarely within the steel derivative goods covered by that order. The surtax applies regardless of the country of origin: whether the shipment originates in the United States, India, South Korea, or anywhere else, the charge is the same.
On a CBSA accounting document the surtax appears as a separate duty line, calculated on the customs value of the goods at 25%. For a structural package valued at $400,000 Canadian, that is $100,000 in surtax on a single entry. Across a construction season of multiple shipments, the aggregate exposure is significant.
The refund mechanism is the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order, SOR/2026-34. A qualifying importer applies a special authority code on the Commercial Accounting Declaration for each covered entry. CBSA then processes the remission and credits the account. The filing runs through CARM, Canada’s online customs portal. Past entries can be corrected, but only within two years of each importation date. The earliest December 2025 entries become unclaimable in late 2027, and each additional month of unclaimed surtax expires on a rolling basis after that. There is no administrative pathway to extend the window once it closes.
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 on your structural steel imports, 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 fabricated structural steel refunds
Does the surtax apply to fabricated structural steel imported from countries other than the United States?
Yes. The Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, SOR/2025-267, applies to covered steel derivative goods from every country of origin. Country of origin is not a filter for this surtax. Whether your structural steel was fabricated in the US, China, South Korea, or Mexico, the same 25% charge applies at the border, and the same remission order, SOR/2026-34, provides the refund route.
Our broker handled all our customs filings. Can we still recover surtax they remitted on our behalf?
In most cases, yes. The importer of record is the party entitled to claim the remission, and past entries can be corrected through CARM within two years of each importation date. FlatClaim pulls the surtax exposure from a transaction report you generate in your own CARM portal, then builds the corrected declarations. Your broker transmits them. If you do not have a broker relationship, you can also self-file through CARM directly.
We import structural steel as part of larger project contracts where steel is a component of a bigger supply. Does the surtax still apply to our entries?
It depends on how the goods were classified and entered at the border, not on how they appear in your project contract. If fabricated structural steel was listed as a separate line on the customs entry and the surtax line was charged, that amount is the starting point for a potential claim. FlatClaim reviews the actual CBSA transaction data, not the project invoice, so the first step is always reading your CARM report to see exactly what was assessed and on which entries.
What does FlatClaim actually deliver, and what does our team need to do?
You pull a transaction report from your own CARM portal and share it with FlatClaim. No account access, no NDA. FlatClaim identifies every entry where surtax was charged on covered goods, calculates the recoverable amount, and prepares the corrected Commercial Accounting Declaration for each qualifying entry, with the correct special authority code applied. That package goes to your licensed customs broker to transmit, or you file it yourself through CARM. FlatClaim is not a customs broker or a law firm; it prepares the documents and coordinates the process.
More in plain-English answers and the main FAQ.
Find out how much surtax your structural steel imports carried
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