CBSA Customs Notice 25-19: US Surtax Remission Order (Updated May 1, 2025)

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been authorized to provide a process from Finance Canada’s Remissions process, one that may immediate repayment of surtaxes payable under 3 tariff orders:

Covered in this process are goods imported for use, in Canada, in the manufacture or processing of any good or the packaging of a food or beverage, where, under the Customs Tariff, processing and manufacturing, in respect of goods, includes the adjustment, assembly, or modification of the goods.

Claims for relief would need to be supported by all relevant documents (e.g., Commercial Accounting Document (CAD), purchase order, commercial invoice, Canada customs invoice, bill of lading, waybill) to show that the following criteria are met:

  • the good was imported into Canada before October 16, 2025;
  • no other claim for relief of the surtax has been granted under the Customs Tariff in respect of the good; and
  • the importer makes a claim for remission to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness within two years after the date of importation.

Important: Special authorization code 25-0466C is to be entered to claim relief for goods imported for Manufacture, Processing or Packaging.

Complete information, including full conditions, and how to apply, is available on the CBSA website, linked here: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/cn-ad/cn25-19-eng.html

Additional information on completing the CAD is available on the CBSA website: Memorandum D17-1-10, Coding of Customs Accounting Documents.

More information on remission orders is available on the CBSA website: Memorandum D8-4-1, Information Pertaining to Remission Orders.

Finance Canada’s Tariff Remissions Process (Updated May 1, 2025)

Finance Canada is administering a tariff remissions process, for tariffs on products from the United States (U.S.) that applied beginning on March 4, 2025. Under specific circumstances, remission allows for relief from the payment of tariffs, or the refund of tariffs already paid.

For requests for remission of Canadian tariffs that applied after March 4, 2025, this process considers requests to address the following:

  • Goods that are used as inputs that cannot be sourced domestically, either on a national or regional basis, or reasonably from non-U.S. sources.
  • On a case-by-case basis, other exceptional circumstances that could have severe adverse impacts on the Canadian economy.

The process is meant to address exceptional and compelling circumstances that, from a public policy perspective, are found to outweigh the primary rationale behind the application of the tariffs.

In this process, the Department of Finance reviews processes, in consultation with other relevant federal departments. Any request for remission could be subject to consultation with other interested parties, including domestic producers.

Recommendations will be made to the Minister of Finance. To take effect, an Order in Council also needs to be approved by the Governor in Council, so this would be expected to be a slower process than the CBSA remissions process.

In order to ensure that remission requests are properly substantiated and can be assessed in a timely manner, all requests that are within the confines of the instances outlined above must provide the information requested in the template available on the Government of Canada website.

The template and full instructions are available on the Government of Canada website: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/programs/international-trade-finance-policy/process-requesting-remission-tariffs-that-apply-on-certain-goods-us.html