Covered goods · Racking & Shelving
Your warehouse racking order probably triggered a 25% surtax. That money is reclaimable.
Pallet racking uprights, beams, wire decking, cantilever arms, mezzanine structures, and industrial shelving are steel-based goods. Under SOR/2025-267, a 25% Canadian surtax applies to steel derivative goods imported from every country of origin. The remission order is published, the refund window is open, and the claim paperwork is what most importers never file. 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?
Warehouse operators, 3PLs, and distribution-centre fit-out buyers are among the hardest-hit importers under Canada’s steel derivative surtax. Here is why the refund so often goes unclaimed.
What racking and shelving importers are paying surtax on
- Pallet racking uprights and load beams (roll-formed structural steel)
- Wire mesh decking panels and safety bars
- Cantilever racking arms and columns
- Mezzanine structural steel components and stair stringers
- Industrial shelving bays, including rivet-style and clip-style steel shelving
- Accessory steel: row spacers, column guards, base plates, and frame footplates
Often on the same containers
- Fabricated structural steel
- Builders' & door hardware
- Screws, bolts, nuts & washers
- Wire rope, stranded wire & cable
- Prefabricated steel buildings
The detail
Why the surtax hits racking and shelving, and why the refund goes unfiled
Pallet racking systems are manufactured almost entirely from steel. Uprights are roll-formed from structural steel coil; beams are cold-formed channel or box-section steel; mezzanine structures are fabricated from structural steel members. That composition is exactly what draws these goods into the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, SOR/2025-267, which applies a 25% surtax to steel-based manufactured goods imported from any country of origin, not just the United States. The surtax took effect on December 26, 2025.
On a CBSA Commercial Accounting Declaration, the surtax appears as a separate duty line alongside the ordinary customs duty. Brokers apply it correctly because the regulation requires it. What the regulation also provides, and what most entries are missing, is a special authority code referencing the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order, SOR/2026-34. When that code is absent, the full surtax is collected and sits in the Crown’s account rather than yours. Correcting a prior entry and inserting the proper remission code is the mechanism for recovery. It is an administrative correction, not a dispute. The CBSA drawback service standard is 90 days, with statutory interest if that window is exceeded.
Warehouse fit-outs tend to arrive in large project shipments, which means the surtax per entry is substantial. An importer bringing in $800,000 of racking in a single phase has paid roughly $200,000 in surtax on that shipment alone. Because warehouse expansions are budget-managed at the project level, the surtax is often absorbed as a line-item cost and never revisited. The two-year claim window means that revisiting it is still possible for every entry since December 26, 2025; the window does not stay open indefinitely.
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 your racking shipments, 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 pallet racking & shelving refunds
Does country of origin matter for racking and shelving? Our supplier is in China, not the United States.
No. The Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order (SOR/2025-267) covers steel-based goods from every country of origin. Racking sourced from China, Taiwan, Mexico, or any other origin is subject to the same 25% surtax and is equally eligible for remission under SOR/2026-34. The US-specific surtax under SOR/2025-95 is a parallel and separate order; most racking importers are caught by SOR/2025-267 regardless of where their supplier is located.
Our broker filed the entries correctly. Can we still claim a refund?
Yes. Applying the surtax correctly and claiming a remission are two separate steps. The broker’s job at time of entry is to classify the goods and apply the tariff treatment in effect, which includes the surtax. The remission order is an after-the-fact relief mechanism. Recovery comes from adjusting the prior entries to add the special authority code that references SOR/2026-34. Your broker would have done nothing wrong; the remission step simply was not part of the original filing.
Our racking project shipped in multiple phases over several months. Can we claim all of them?
Every qualifying entry has its own two-year claim window running from its own importation date. A fit-out that arrived in three phases between January and April 2026 produces three separate claim opportunities, each with its own deadline. FlatClaim’s audit reviews the full transaction history, not just the most recent shipment, so multi-phase projects are handled as a single engagement.
What does FlatClaim actually produce at the end of the audit?
A filing-ready package: a corrected or adjusted Commercial Accounting Declaration for each qualifying entry, with the appropriate remission order code applied, supporting calculation schedules, and a summary showing the surtax paid versus the amount claimed. Your licensed customs broker transmits the filings through CARM; alternatively, you can self-file. FlatClaim prepares the package and stands behind it under the workmanship warranty, meaning any entry CBSA rejects is corrected and refiled at no charge.
More in plain-English answers and the main FAQ.
Send us a transaction report and we will show you what was charged
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