Commercial import accounting: Offsetting and disbursements

Get information on the commercial import accounting reconciliation process affecting trade chain partners doing business with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) using CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM). Learn how credits are applied to your account, how to set up your preferences, request refunds (disbursements) and pay your Statement of Account.

Reconciling your accounts through offsetting

“Offsetting” is the process of clearing debits and credits across accounts within the CARM system (also known as “cross-clearing”). You can view all credits and debits and find out if they have cleared by consulting your “Transaction history” in the CARM Client Portal.

Credits appear on your business account when you make a payment or have an existing credit balance from a prior transaction activity (for example, a refund).

If you have a credit on your account, it will be offset by any amount you have owing on your account on the transaction’s payment due date, unless there are overdue transactions on the account.

Clearing frequency

If you make a payment or a credit is issued on your account but there is already an amount owing on it (an overdue amount), the oldest amount owing will be deducted first, followed by deductions in the prescribed order (refer to How credits are applied).

If you have an amount owing on your account (a debt), it will be offset once a credit has been posted to the account, with the oldest due debt clearing first following the prescribed order.

You can view all credits, including if they have cleared, in your transaction history in the CARM Client Portal (CCP).

Clearing occurs daily for debt that is due based on your offsetting preferences through the CARM Client portal.

Choosing your offsetting preferences

The CARM system executes the clearing process using one of three methods, known as offsetting preferences. The business account manager can set the offsetting preference that best suits their business needs. They can choose offsetting to occur:

at the account level (RM)
across a CBSA program account (that is, intra-program), or
across their legal entity account (that is, inter-program)

The CARM system then orders and executes the clearing process accordingly.

More information on offsetting preferences: User guides: CARM Go-Live Playbook

Disbursements (refunds)

A “disbursement” is the refund of an eligible credit balance after any debt on your account is offset.

If there is debt on your account, no disbursement will be issued. Instead, credits will be used for future offsetting.

Businesses can request a refund of a credit using the CARM Client Portal. Or, they can use any credits to offset other debts at their discretion. Only businesses who have opted in to receive disbursements can receive them.

Note: By default, all accounts are considered to have opted in. You have the option to opt out using the CARM Client Portal.

A credit can be automatically disbursed only if the following conditions are met:

the 15-digit business number (BN15) has not opted out of receiving disbursements on the CARM Client Portal
the business partner and contract object are active
the credit amount is not a payment
the credit amount is greater than $2.00
the contract account does not have a clearing lock or a payment lock
the credit does not have a clearing lock or a payment lock
the BN9 has no overdue debt
total outstanding debt not yet due to the BN9 is less than or equal to the total financial security that the BN9 posted

The CBSA sends disbursements (in the form of a physical cheque) directly to the importer. They cannot be mailed to anyone else.

For manual disbursements, please submit a CARM client support form.

Linking disbursements to transactions

In the CARM Client Portal under “Financial information,” real-time transaction history allows you to access financial transactions that have been posted to the account including refunds.

Reconciling cheques

Public Services and Procurement Canada does not include transaction summaries for cheques. You can view a list of all transactions in the CARM Client Portal.

Lost or damaged cheques

If your disbursement cheque has been lost or damaged, confirm that your mailing address is correct. If you need to update or make changes to your address, please refer to Register for or modify an import-export program account.

Once the address has been updated, submit a CARM client support form with a request to locate your cheque or issue you a new one.

Paying your Statement of Account

You are expected to pay the amount listed as the “Payable balance as of statement date” under “Statement summary” on your importer Statement of Account (SOA). If you submitted a correction after the SOA was issued, you may still need to pay the corrected amount by the payment due date.

Do not deduct from the amount due on your SOA in an attempt to correct the statement yourself. The CBSA applies credits accordingly. Deducting an amount from your total payable can result in late fees and penalties.

If your account is in default and formal collection action has begun, any credit will be applied against your debt.

If you need to know which debt(s) your credit went towards, a request using the CARM client support form.

For payment options, please refer to Commercial import payments.

How credits are applied

Consult How to pay for information on accepted methods and forms of payment.

The clearing steps are executed daily and only affect debts that are due. Clearing occurs in the following order of brackets, beginning with the oldest debt in each bracket:

Cash bond (security deposit)
Promise to pay (payment arrangement)
Interest
Licences
Penalties
Charges (for example, bank charges)
All other document types (for example, miscellaneous invoices, CADs, drawbacks and temporary imports)

Note: If multiple customs brokers are posting debits and credits on a single account, the offsetting preferences and clearing rules remain the same regardless of which broker may have made a payment or regardless of which broker submitted the transaction (for example, the debt posted by Broker A will be offset by the credit posted by Broker B).The remaining credits will stay on the account to reduce the total payable on your next SOA.

Overpayments

Payments are posted to your account and are applied to the amount outstanding. Overpayments will stay on the account and will reduce the next month's balance owing.

Contact us

Please contact CARM client support to discuss your options.

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Date modified:: 2025-05-09

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