Covered goods · Wire Rope & Cable
Canadian importers of wire rope and steel cable are paying a 25% surtax they can recover
Since December 26, 2025, most wire rope, stranded wire, and steel cable imported into Canada carries a 25% surtax on top of normal duties. A published federal remission order lets importers recover what they paid, going back to the date surtax began. FlatClaim prepares the per-entry filing package; your customs broker or your own CARM account transmits it. Flat fee. No contingency. 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?
Wire rope and cable importers typically source from multiple origins, buy by the reel or by weight, and process dozens of import entries a year. Each entry that carried surtax is a line of recoverable duty.
Products covered on this page
- Wire rope (steel core and fibre core)
- Stranded wire and multi-strand steel cable
- Steel wire slings and rigging assemblies
- Mesh wire and steel wire products
- Aluminium conductor steel-reinforced cable (ACSR)
- Steel-core electrical cable and associated reels
Often on the same containers
- Chain-link & welded-mesh fencing
- Screws, bolts, nuts & washers
- Fabricated structural steel
- Steel-core electrical cable (ACSR)
- Chain
The detail
Why wire rope and cable importers are sitting on unclaimed surtax refunds
Wire rope, stranded wire, steel cable, and related steel wire products are steel derivative goods. Since December 26, 2025, virtually all such goods imported from any country of origin have carried a 25% surtax under the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, SOR/2025-267. The CBSA issued implementing guidance in Customs Notice 25-33. If your supplier is American, a separate earlier surtax (SOR/2025-95) applied from March 2025 onward, so US-origin entries may carry surtax going back even further.
On a CBSA Statement of Account the surtax appears as a line of duty on each Commercial Accounting Declaration, identical in appearance to any other tariff line. Most importers notice the total landed cost has risen; few trace the increase to a specific duty code that carries a refund route. The remission order that authorises recovery, the Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order, SOR/2026-34, requires that a special authority code be entered on a corrected or adjusted CAD. If that code was left blank at the time of importation, the surtax collected is not automatically returned: the importer must amend past entries and, where goods have been exported or destroyed, may use CBSA Form K32 for duties drawback. The two-year claim window means entries from late 2025 begin expiring in late 2027, and one month of eligible entries lapses every month after that. Wire rope importers who clear several dozen entries a year accumulate recoverable amounts quickly, and a meaningful volume of steel cable entries can represent a substantial surtax balance that remains untouched simply because no one has reviewed the CADs line by line.
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 wire rope and cable entries, 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 wire rope, stranded wire & cable refunds
My wire rope comes from several countries, not just the US. Are non-US entries also covered?
Yes. The Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Order, SOR/2025-267, applies to covered steel derivative goods from every country of origin, not only the United States. US-origin entries may also be caught by the earlier United States Surtax Order (SOR/2025-95) dating to March 2025. FlatClaim reviews all your import entries regardless of origin and identifies which remission order and claim route applies to each one.
We import ACSR cable, which is aluminium conductor with a steel core. Does the surtax apply to the whole reel?
ACSR cable contains a steel core and is generally treated as a steel-based product for surtax purposes. Whether the surtax applies, and how it is calculated, depends on the tariff classification and the specific entry details. FlatClaim reviews your actual CBSA transaction records (which you pull yourself from your CARM portal) and identifies which entries carry recoverable surtax under the published remission orders. We do not make blanket assumptions; we work from your real entries.
We buy wire rope by the reel from a Canadian distributor. Does that mean we already paid the surtax indirectly?
If you are not the importer of record, the surtax was paid at the border by whoever cleared the goods into Canada, typically your distributor. The remission orders allow only the importer of record to claim a refund. If you are the importer of record on your own CBSA import entries, those entries are yours to claim. If your distributor cleared the goods, the refund opportunity sits with them, and you would need to negotiate with them directly. FlatClaim can help you determine your status before any fee is committed.
How long does it take to receive a refund after filing?
CBSA’s published service standard for drawback refunds is 90 days from receipt of a complete claim. If CBSA exceeds that standard, interest accrues on the outstanding balance under the Customs Act. Remission order credits typically post to your CARM account on a similar timeline once the adjusted CADs are processed. FlatClaim’s workmanship warranty covers any CBSA rejection of a claim we prepared: we correct and refile at no additional charge.
More in plain-English answers and the main FAQ.
Find out what your wire rope and cable entries are worth
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