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Commercial payments and accounts: Payments

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

On this page

What to pay

If you are an importer and need to see what to pay this month, look at the amount on I. If this amount is in brackets, you have a credit. You do not have to pay anything.

When to pay

Note: Exceptions to payment due dates are communicated via CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) bulletins. To sign up for our bulletin mailing list, submit a Client support contact form.

Exceptions for 2023
Month Due date Deferred to date
February
March
April
September
Exceptions for 2022
Month Due date Deferred to date
December

Note: is a bank holiday in the province of Quebec. Clients who are required to pay their SOA at a bank in Quebec have until a.m. local time to submit the payment without incurring late payment penalties and interest.

Advanced payments

Importers who are part of the GST Direct Payment Option or Importer Direct Security Option may make a payment in advance.

Advance payment options include:

Debit and credit card payments must be made in person at a port of entry (POE).

More information

Late payments

The CBSA will issue a Notice of Arrears (notice) when payment is late. Once a notice has been issued, the account is sent to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for collection.

While you do need to make payment arrangements with the CRA, you still need make the actual payments directly to the CBSA, either online, through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or via the National Payment Processing Centre.

To pay by cheque, print your business number RM account on the back of your cheque and send the Importer Advance Payment form to:

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
Mailroom
Attention: Accounts Receivable Management Unit
Ground Floor, Room 1018
333 North River Road, Place Vanier, Tower A
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0L8

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

How to pay

All payments must be made in Canadian currency.

Note: the CBSA does not accept:

  • electronic fund transfers
  • direct deposit
  • wire transfers
  • automated clearing house direct payments

If you have a customs broker, check with them before making a payment to avoid duplicate payments.

The CBSA encourages clients to make payments electronically to ensure that we receive them on time and error free. Monthly account balances of more than $50,000 are not accepted at ports of entry and must be paid either by:

Online banking for importers via your financial institution

Importers making their own monthly payments are able to do so online through participating financial institutions.

When filing directly with the CBSA (including those on the Goods and Services Tax option or the Importer Direct Security option), you must use your financial institution's online banking service to make a payment online.

Step 1: Select the correct account

Use your importer's business number (BN15, for example, 123456789RM0001) as your account number (not the Canada Revenue Agency RT account number). Clients using online banking will receive a confirmation number from their financial institution.

Step 2: Add the correct recipient

For further questions and confirmation regarding the payee name, please contact your financial institution directly.

Online payment for brokers via the Electronic Data Interchange 820

Brokers cannot make payments online for their statement of account. They must make payments 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.

Pre-authorized debit (PAD) and credit card through the CARM Client Portal

You can make payments on the CARM Client Portal if you are:

Cash B3 payments and pre-paid B2 adjustment payments will not be permitted via the CARM Client Portal. These payments should be made at a port of entry.

A message indicating that your transaction was approved will appear after you make a payment using the portal. You may print and keep this page as your transaction receipt.

Paying by mail or cheque

You should verify cut-off times and delivery commitments with your couriers. You may request delivery confirmation of your cheque through courier tracking.

The CBSA is flexible in response to unforeseen events. If there are circumstances for your organization which make it difficult to meet these deadlines, submit a Client support contact form.

Cheques should be made payable to The Receiver General for Canada and sent to:

Canada Border Services Agency
Attention: Accounts Receivable Management Unit
333 North River Road, Place Vanier, Tower A
Ground Floor, Room 1018
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0L8

Telephone: 343-291-7747 (for courier reference)
Alternate: K1L 8B9

Importers and customs brokers must provide a cheque for each RM business number on their Statement of account (SOA). Include on the memo line the 9-digit business number.

For example, if you have 2 RM accounts (123456789RM0001 and 123499999RM0002), you would send:

If you have further questions, submit a Client support contact form.

In person

Cash payments

Payments accepted at all POEs are:

Anyone paying duties and taxes at time of importation must pay at the POE where the goods are released.

Debit or credit card

Monthly account payments of less than $5,000 can be made by debit or credit card at a POE (subject to the limit imposed by the card's financial institution).

The accepted credit cards are:

If you have any questions about making a payment, submit a Client support contact form.

Making payments outside of Canada

If you have a broker, the broker can send the payment to the CBSA on your behalf.

If you do not have a broker, you can make payments by online banking by using the Electronic data interchange payment file (EDI820).

Payment history

If you make electronic payments, they will appear on your Daily notice (DN) or SOA within 2 to 3 business days.

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 take 5 to 10 business days from the date the payment is received by the CBSA.

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

Commercial debt

All commercial debt is posted to your import/export (RM) account. Debts associated to a broker's account security (ASEC) will be tagged with the broker ASEC on the client's RM account and will appear on the broker's SOA.

Correcting your payment information

Account holders, or their delegated authorities, can submit requests for corrections to payment information, interest or penalties via the Client support contact form.

The request will be reviewed and, if accepted, the required adjustment will be processed.

If a correction is not processed before the issuance of the SOA, clients must pay the full balance owing on the SOA by the payment due date. The correct will appear on your next SOA.

Missing payment on your statement of account

It can take up to 10 business days (2 to 3 for electronic and 5 to 10 for cheques) for payments to be processed and appear on your account.

Payments need to be posted to the account before they show up on a SOA which are sent on the 25th of every month.

The date the CBSA receives your payment is the date the CBSA begins the processing time. You will not be charged interest if a payment is sent on time and is being processed by the CBSA.

Reconciling your payment with your statement of account

If an importer, broker or a delegated representative makes a cheque payment that does not match the amount owing on the SOA, Reconciliation Exception Sheet must be completed.

To obtain a Reconciliation Exception Sheet (RES), submit a Client support contact form.

Use this form to explain the difference between the amount that is due and the amount that you are paying. Send a hard copy of the completed form along with the cheque package.

You must also email an electronic copy.

If you did not submit a RES form and have overpaid, the allocations team will not know which accounts or transactions should be paid.

Overpayments

If you do not submit a reconciliation form and overpay, we will contact your broker to request one. If the broker does not respond to the request by the 15th of the month, we will allocate amounts owing for each importer (according to the distribution on the customs broker's SOA). The remaining credit will stay on the customs broker's ASEC.

Underpayments

If you do not submit a reconciliation form and underpay, we will contact your broker to request one. All importer accounts will remain unpaid, and the payment will stay on the custom broker's ASEC until we receive the completed form.

Note: if you are submitting payment by EDI820 do not submit a reconciliation form.

Related links

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