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Commercial import payments: Duties, taxes and other customs dues

Find out how and when you or your representative (customs broker or agent) can make payments to cover taxes, duties, customs broker licensing fees, interest and penalties, and other related dues to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

On this page

What to pay

To find out how much you owe each month, check your Statement of Account (SOA). It’s available in the CARM Client Portal or through EDI on the 25th of each month. You can also look at your transaction history in the portal to double-check the charges and payments.

When to pay

The payment due date is 10 weekdays, holidays included, after the 17th of the month.

Payment dates for 2025
Month Due date
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Refer to How to pay for payment options.

Obtaining release of your goods before payment

The Release Prior to Payment (RPP) Program allows importers to obtain release of goods from CBSA before paying duties and taxes.

More information: Memorandum D17-1-8: Release Prior to Payment Privilege

Payment upon release

Importers who are not part of the Release Prior to Payment (RPP) Program must pay duties and taxes upon the release of their imported goods. Refer to Payment in person.

Late payments

If a payment is not received on time, the CBSA begins a collections process. This may include:

If the payment remains unpaid for 30 days, the CBSA will issue a notice of arrears. At that point, the account is transferred to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for further collection.

While you can make payment arrangements with the CRA, you still need to make the actual payments directly to the CBSA.

For questions, contact the CRA at the number provided on the notice.

How to pay

All commercial payments to the CBSA must be made in Canadian currency regardless of the payment method.

Note: The CBSA does not accept payments in the form of:

  • electronic fund transfers (EFT)
  • direct deposit
  • wire transfers (SWIFT)
  • automated clearing house direct payments (ACH)

The CBSA encourages importers to make commercial payments electronically to ensure that they are received on time by using one of the following payment methods:

When it is not possible to make an electronic payment, importers and customs brokers may also make a commercial payment:

Non-resident importers may refer to Making payments from outside of Canada for information on how to make a payment.

Online banking with your financial institution

Take the following steps to set up online monthly payments from your financial institution account:

  1. Contact your financial institution to ensure that your account is set up to access online banking
  2. Add “Canada Border Services Agency” or “CBSA customs duties and taxes” (or a similar name, depending on your financial institution) as a payee in your online banking portal)
  3. For each payment, select the payee “Canada Border Services Agency” or “CBSA customs duties taxes” and enter the amount of the payment
  4. Use your 15-digit business number RM account (example: XXXXXXXXXRM0001) as the account number for the payee
  5. Once submitted, the financial institution will send you a confirmation number for your own records

Note 1: Consult your financial institution to determine their daily cut-off times to ensure that the CBSA receives your payments on time.

Note 2: Business Number RM Account (BN15) is a 15-digit number assigned by the CRA (made up of a 9-digit business number and a 6 digit alpha-numerical number), used to uniquely identify the business’s import-export accounts (example: XXXXXXXXXRM0001)

Online payment via the electronic data interchange 820

Businesses paying multiple RM accounts or brokers making payments on behalf of importers may do so using the electronic data interchange (EDI) 820.

Clients using the EDI payment method are responsible for knowing and adhering to their financial institution's EDI cut-off time in order to avoid late payment.

For further information or to sign up for EDI820, submit a Client support contact form.

Payments via the CARM Client Portal

You may access online payment options in the CARM Client Portal via the “Transaction history” page or through the “Make payments” page. The options available for payment are:

Trade chain partners (businesses) may register for pre-authorized debit by filling out an agreement form. Trade chain partners are able to choose an effective date for their first pre-authorized debit payments.

To make a change to an existing agreement, the current agreement must be cancelled and a new agreement submitted. Future-dated pre-authorized debit agreements are only displayed in the CARM Client portal once they become active. The agreement has an accompanying PDF document which can be downloaded.

Monthly pre-authorized debit payments are initiated on the payment due date however withdrawals may take a few days to process with your financial institution. The amount owing must be available in the bank account at the time of withdrawal.

A pre-authorized debit can only be processed via a Canadian financial institution or a Canadian subsidiary of a US bank.

Note: Using the CARM Client Portal, brokers can request “delegation of authority” from the importers to get online access to their accounts. This allows the broker to view the transactions and make online payments, by debit or credit cards.

Payment by cheque

When it is not possible to make an electronic payment, importers and customs brokers may provide a payment by cheque made payable to the Receiver General for Canada and send to:

333 North River Road, Place Vanier, Tower A
Ground Floor, Room 1018
Ottawa, ON K1A 0L8

A separate cheque must be provided for each importer’s RM business account and the business number must be indicated on the cheque.

Note: Cheques over $25 million will not be accepted

If you have questions regarding cheque payments you may submit a Client support contact form.

Payment in person

Importers who do not participate in the Release Prior to Payment (RPP) program are required to pay duties and taxes upon the release of their imported goods at the port of entry where the goods are released.

Payment options include:

For additional questions about making a payment, you may submit a Client support contact form.

Making payments from outside of Canada

Non-resident importers (NRIs) may use a customs broker to make payments to the CBSA on their behalf. Payments must be in Canadian funds.

If you do not have a customs broker, you can make an electronic payment or pay by cheque.

Note: Using the CARM Client Portal, brokers can request “delegate of authority” from the importers to get online access to their accounts. This allows the broker to view the transactions and make online payments, by online banking, debit or credit cards.

For additional questions about making a payment, you may submit a Client support contact form.

Payment history

If you make electronic payments, they will appear on your daily notice and Statement of Account or under transaction history on the CARM Client Portal.

Payments made via the portal will be reflected immediately on your “Transactions history” page. Credits are applied to your account every time you make a payment.

Payments made by cheque may take 5 to 10 business days from the date the payment is received by the CBSA to be reflected in your account.

If you made a payment to the CBSA which should have gone to the CRA, submit a Client support contact form. Include the payment amount and the date that payment was sent.

If you made a payment to the CRA which should have gone to the CBSA, contact the CRA business number at: 1-800-959-5525 (English) or 1-800-959-7775 (French).

Related link

Memorandum D17-5-1: Payment of duties and taxes on imported commercial goods

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