CARM is now mandatory for every commercial importer in Canada. Here's what it is, how to register, and how to avoid the compliance mistakes causing border delays.
If you import goods into Canada, you've probably seen the acronym CARM pop up in emails from your customs broker, freight forwarder, or the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) itself — usually with some urgency attached. CARM (the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management system) is now the official system Canadian importers use to register with CBSA, manage customs accounting, and pay duties and taxes. If you're not registered correctly, your shipments can sit at the border while you scramble to fix it. This guide breaks down what CARM actually is, who needs to register, how the process works, and what it means if you're sourcing products from overseas suppliers.
CARM stands for the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management system. It's a multi-year initiative by the Canada Border Services Agency to modernize how it collects duties and taxes on commercial imports. Before CARM, most of this happened behind the scenes through customs brokers and legacy CBSA systems. Now, every business that imports commercially into Canada is required to have its own CARM Client Portal account, register as an importer, and — in many cases — post its own financial security instead of relying solely on a broker's bond.
In practice, CARM shifts a meaningful amount of compliance responsibility from the broker to the importer. That's a change worth understanding well before your next shipment lands, especially if you're new to importing or you're scaling up order volumes from suppliers in China, Vietnam, or elsewhere.
CBSA processes millions of commercial shipments a year, and the old system relied on paper-based and broker-mediated processes that were slow to update and hard to audit. CARM was designed to centralize import accounting into one online portal, give CBSA real-time visibility into who is importing what, and make it easier to verify that duties, tariffs, and GST are being paid correctly and on time. For importers, the upside is a more transparent, self-serve system. The downside is that the responsibility for getting registration and classification right now sits more squarely with you, not just your broker.
If your business imports commercial goods into Canada — regardless of size — you need a CARM Client Portal account. This includes:
Even if you've been importing for years and never had issues, CARM registration is not optional. Businesses that ship without a properly linked CARM account risk delays, and eventually CBSA will not release commercial shipments without one.
Registration happens directly through the CARM Client Portal, and the process generally follows these steps:
This isn't a five-minute task, particularly the financial security piece, so it's worth starting well before you have an active shipment in transit. If you already work with a customs broker, they can usually walk you through delegation, but the actual registration and account ownership sits with your business.
CARM has rolled out in phases rather than as a single switch-flip, which is part of why so many importers are still catching up. The CARM Client Portal itself has been available for registration for some time, giving businesses a window to create accounts and get familiar with the system before enforcement tightened. Since the mandatory registration phase took effect, CBSA has moved toward requiring that all commercial importers have an active, properly delegated CARM account before shipments are released — with reduced tolerance for last-minute registrations. If you haven't registered yet, or you registered but never completed broker delegation, it's worth treating this as urgent rather than optional, particularly heading into higher-volume shipping periods like Q4.
Because CBSA has continued to refine enforcement and portal functionality since launch, it's also worth checking the CARM Client Portal periodically for updated guidance, rather than assuming the process you followed a year ago still matches what's required today.
One of the less-discussed effects of CARM is how much easier it makes it for CBSA to flag inconsistencies across your import history. Because your account centralizes classification, valuation, and duty payment data in one place, patterns that used to be harder to spot — like consistently undervaluing shipments or misclassifying a product under a lower-duty HS code — are now far more visible to CBSA's systems. If your account is selected for a compliance verification, you'll typically be asked to provide supporting documentation for recent import declarations, including commercial invoices, bills of lading, and proof of valuation method.
The best defence here isn't complicated: keep your documentation organized as you go, use consistent and accurate HS codes across shipments, and don't treat classification as a one-time decision. Product specs change, suppliers change, and an HS code that was correct for one shipment may not be correct for a modified version of the same product down the line.
A common misconception is that having a customs broker means you don't need to worry about CARM. That's no longer accurate. Under CARM, the importer of record — your business — is directly responsible to CBSA for duties, taxes, and compliance, even when a broker files the paperwork. Your broker acts on your behalf once you've formally delegated authority to them inside the portal, but the legal and financial responsibility stays with you.
It's also worth having a direct conversation with your broker about how they're managing your account inside CARM day to day — whether they're monitoring for compliance flags on your behalf, and how quickly they can respond if CBSA requests additional information. Not all brokers offer the same level of proactive account management, and under CARM, that gap matters more than it used to.
This is especially important to understand if you're new to importing and unclear on what an importer of record actually is. Our importer of record guide covers this relationship in more detail, including what happens if HS codes or valuations are filed incorrectly.
Since CARM rolled out, a few recurring issues have caused avoidable delays for Canadian importers:
Getting your duty calculations right matters here too — our Canada import duty calculator guide is a useful starting point if you're unsure how tariffs and GST are being applied to your shipments.
For businesses sourcing products from factories in China, Vietnam, or elsewhere, CARM adds one more compliance layer to an already detailed process — but it doesn't need to be a bottleneck. If you're working with a sourcing partner who coordinates directly with your freight forwarder and customs broker, CARM registration is simply another piece of onboarding paperwork to knock out early. Businesses new to importing, including first-time Amazon FBA sellers, benefit from having this sorted before their first production order even leaves the factory. If you're still mapping out the end-to-end process, our guide on how to import from China to Canada walks through where CARM registration fits alongside sourcing, shipping, and customs clearance.
If you haven't fully worked through CARM yet, here's a practical checklist to run through before your next order leaves the factory:
None of this needs to be complicated, but it does need to happen before your goods are in transit rather than after. Importers who treat CARM compliance as an ongoing part of their sourcing process — alongside supplier vetting, quality control, and shipping logistics — avoid the scramble that catches so many businesses off guard.
CARM stands for the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management system — the Canada Border Services Agency's platform for managing import registration, customs accounting, and duty and tax payments.
Yes. Any business importing commercial goods into Canada needs a CARM Client Portal account. CBSA has been phasing in enforcement, and shipments without a properly registered and delegated account can face delays or refusal of release.
Most businesses still use a customs broker for filing declarations and managing classification, but you must delegate authority to them inside the CARM portal. The legal responsibility for accuracy and payment stays with you as the importer of record.
Creating the account itself can take under an hour, but setting up financial security and delegating broker authority often takes longer, especially for first-time importers. It's best to start at least a few weeks before your first shipment.
Your shipment can be held at the border until registration and broker delegation are completed, which creates delays, storage fees, and disrupted timelines — particularly costly if you're restocking Amazon FBA inventory or fulfilling customer orders.
Navigating CARM registration on top of sourcing, production, and shipping is a lot to manage alone, especially if this is your first time importing from overseas. Epic Sourcing Canada helps Canadian businesses coordinate the full journey — from finding and vetting the right manufacturer to making sure customs, duties, and compliance pieces like CARM are handled correctly before your goods ever leave the factory. If you want a partner who can help you avoid border delays and unexpected costs, get in touch with our team to talk through your next import.
