Commercial Payments and Accounts
Payments

Commercial payments are made to the CBSA through the National Payment Processing Centre located in Ottawa.  Centralization of payments improves the accuracy and reconciliation of client accounts. The Agency is encouraging importers to remit their payments electronically, either by online banking or electronic data interchange (EDI) 820 payment file also known as EDI820; and Customs Broker are encouraged to remit their payments by EDI820. Electronic payment will reduce complex manual adjustment activities, and ensure that your payments to the CBSA are received on time and error free.

All customs brokers and importers who make monthly account payments, i.e. those under the GST Direct Payment Option, or those securing their own goods under the Importer Direct Security Option are required to make interim and monthly payments by either sending a physical payment package to the National Payment Processing Centre, via online banking (importers only) or through EDI820 (importers and brokers). Outside of the following exceptions, payments will no longer be accepted at POEs:

• Customs brokers or importers remitting payment over $25 million who have previously been pre-approved while implementing EDI820; and
• Importers or customs brokers paying by debit card, and
• Credit card payments under the $5,000 limit.

Payments packages are to be sent to the following address:

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
Mailroom
Attention:  Accounts Receivable Management Unit
333 North River Road, Place Vanier, Tower A
Ground Floor, Room 1018
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L8
Telephone: 343-291-5265 (For courier reference)

End-of month envelopes/packages are to contain:  

• Customs Broker/Importer Cheque – Customs Brokers/importers are to provide a single cheque to pay their Statement of Account (SOA). It should be noted that the banking regulations in Canada require payments over $25M to be made electronically. As a result, the National Payment Processing Centre will not be able to accept cheques over $25M. If this is a concern, contact the CARM mailbox.
• Importer Cheques – If importers are under the GST Direct Payment Option or have their own account security and cheques are currently submitted as part of the customs broker payment package, include these cheques in your package. Ensure that the importer business number RM account (BN15) (e.g. , 123456789RM0001) is on the cheque. "G" or "I" importers are, however, encouraged to use electronic payment to make these payments, or they can remit directly to the CBSA by courier to the address above.
• Reconciliation Exception Sheet (RES) – Customs brokers and importers are expected to pay their SOA in full. In exceptional circumstances there may be a requirement to short pay a SOA. If this occurs, complete the RES. A hard copy of the RES should be included in the payment package. The RES should also be emailed to: CBSA.Payments-Paiements.ASFC@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca. The subject line should read: {Month} SOA allocation, {Account Security #} re: Monthly PAS and RES. Ensure your contact information is included on the RES. The RES and the PAS can be submitted in the same email.

Delivery timing

• The payment deadline is 16:00 local time on the day the payment is due.
• Clients should verify cut-off times and delivery commitments with their couriers.
• You can request delivery receipt of your physical payment package through the tracking solutions of your courier.
• The CBSA is flexible in response to unforeseen events. If there are circumstances for your organization in your geographical area which make it difficult to achieve these deadlines contact the CARM mailbox.

Monthly account balances of more than $50,000 must be paid either through online banking or through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 820.

The CBSA is encouraging all clients to make payments electronically. Electronic payment provides a convenient, automated solution to ensure that payments to the CBSA are received on time and error free.

Note: The CBSA does not charge a service fee for either of these options; however, some financial institutions or service providers may. Contact your financial institutions or service providers to ask about fees.

Payments on your account will be applied to outstanding debits with the new offsetting rules in the following order:

Note:

• Custom broker payments will only clear importer transactions that were associated with the customs broker's account security;
• Importer transactions can clear with other importer transactions, consultant tagged transactions, or GST Direct Payment Option/Importer Direct Security Option broker tagged transactions. Importer transactions can never clear against regular broker tagged transactions; and
• The due date and document creation date of the above items is factored in to the CBSA's allocation rules; transactions that are not due may be ignored for allocation purposes.

If a payment is made that does not coincide with the amount owing on a customs brokers statement of account (SOA), a Reconciliation Exception Sheet (RES) must be completed.  A RES is used to explain the difference between the amount that is due on an SOA and the amount that is paid.  It is typically used when a customs broker is short-remitting or overpaying an SOA for a transaction that is corrected post-SOA.  A RES is not required when a customs broker pays their SOA amount in full with a single cheque (or single cheque plus interim payments).

In the case of an overpayment, if a RES is not received or does not equal the difference between the total of the amounts owing per the SOA and the payments offered, the payment will be allocated to the amounts owing for each importer according to the distribution on the customs broker's SOA, and will credit the remaining amount to the customs broker's business number (BN9).

In the case of an underpayment if a RES is not received, the interim payments will be credited to the customs broker's BN9 and all importer accounts will remain in unpaid status until instructions are received.

A payment allocation sheet (PAS) must be submitted when using a single cheque to make payments across different importer accounts, without reference to the customs broker's account balance owing.  A PAS is typically used when providing payment for a specific item prior to appeal, and/or when a customs broker is submitting a payment on behalf of an importer who imports under the GST Direct Payment Option or the Importer Direct Security Option.

Clients can submit requests for corrections to payment information, interest or penalties by submitting a request to the CARM mailbox with the following information:

Use the following format in the subject line: ACCOUNT CORRECTION\[ACCOUNT #]\[MONTH Statement of Account] or [DATE Daily Notice].  ACCOUNT represents either the customs broker's ASEC or the importer's RM account.

In the body of the email, include details of the request, justifying why the adjustment is required and proof of payment.

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.

Interest charges will appear on a client's statement of account in the "Other Transactions" section and will be reflected in the monthly account balance. The importer is liable for all amounts owing until either the importer or their agent submits payment.

Interest is payable to an importer as of the 91st day from the submission of a B2 and ends on the day the Detailed Adjustment Statement is issued.

For additional information on interest, refer to section 52 of Memorandum D17-1-5.

If a client submits two dishonoured cheques within a period of six consecutive months, a certified cheque will be required for all future payments.

Importers

If a cheque is returned for non-sufficient funds (NSF), the importer will be charged the NSF fee. This fee will appear under the 'Other Transactions' section on the importer Daily Notices and Statements of Account.

Customs Brokers

NFS fees incurred by a customs broker directly against their broker account are posted against the customs broker's BN9, not against an importer account (BN15).

Such fees do not appear in any of the BN15 sections. Instead, a 'Brokerage' section appears at the top of the customs broker's statement of account and is identified with the customs broker's legal entity name. This section will appear only when an account contains items associated directly with customs broker BN9.

When accounts become in arrears, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) issues a Notice of Arrears (NOA) advising the client that payment is late. Once an NOA has been issued, the account is sent to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for collection purposes.

While payment arrangements are to be made with the CRA, payments must be made directly to the CBSA, either on-line, through EDI or sent to the National Payment Processing Centre.

Please contact the CRA at the number provided on the Notice of Arears.