On May 25, the CBSA’s CARM Client Portal was officially launched.
But what exactly is CARM?
The CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) project is a multi-year initiative that is transforming the collection of taxes and duties for goods imported into Canada. Through CARM, the Canada Border Services Agency is modernizing and streamlining all its processes for importing commercial goods into Canada.
One of the initial steps was for the CBSA to release its online client portal, commonly referred to as “Release 1,” and this is what they did earlier this week on May 25.
It is intended that during Release 1, commercial importers, customs brokers as well as trade consultants will register their businesses with the CBSA through the CARM Client Portal (CCP).
As an importer, this does not mean that you must register on the CCP on Day 1, or even during the first week or first month.
Registration on the CCP is an entirely voluntary exercise at this stage.
For now, it is much more important that business owners and their principal administrators, as well as those employees within their company who are responsible for the customs activity, familiarize themselves with the overall CARM initiative and the changes coming over the next 9 to 12 months. In addition, they need to fully understand “how to” register their businesses successfully through the CCP and be aware of the delegation of authority processes.
However, please note: You can only register once, so it is vital to get it right the first time. Importers must do their homework before registering.
There is a lot of CARM information floating around – be sure to get yours from a trusted source who has your best interests in mind.
To guide its clients through the CARM changes, W2C will be
- Publishing blogs and articles
- Sending mailings and toolkits
- Offering webinars and training
- Posting podcasts and short video snippets
- Offering custom-made CARM consulting services
Nothing is changing in the immediate future regarding how the release and acquittal of your importations are processed by W2C, how your company receives its brokerage invoices and monthly statements or how you process your payments for duties, taxes, GST and brokerage fees. What worked yesterday will still work tomorrow.
That said, although you do not need to rush today to register your business on the CCP, you still shouldn’t wait too long. Find out all you can about CARM as soon as possible. Once you fully understand the registration process, you can then register and create your portal account, link your user accounts with the business account, grant access to relevant employees and delegate authority to W2C.
By being an early user, you can start benefitting from the added visibility tools, payment options and other basic features offered by CBSA on CARM Release 1.
If you need help understanding information about CARM, please contact the experts at W2C.
