How far back can I claim a refund of duty in Canada?

Four years from the date the goods were accounted for. That is section 74 of the Customs Act. It works the other way too: if a declaration is wrong and you owe money, section 32.2 gives you 90 days from the day you have reason to believe it is wrong.

What actually gets filed, and who files it?

An adjustment request against the Commercial Accounting Declaration, with the reason code and the supporting documents. We prepare the complete package and follow it until CBSA answers. The filing is made by YES Express, a licensed Canadian customs broker, under its own licence.

Do I have to change my customs broker?

No. The look back is on entries that were already filed and closed. Your current broker keeps clearing your new shipments the whole time.

Nothing unless money comes back. The share is agreed in writing before any work starts, and nothing is filed with CBSA until you tell us to.

What do you need from me?

The Commercial Accounting Declarations your broker sends after each clearance, plus the matching commercial invoices. If they are not to hand, they are in your CARM Client Portal under Transaction History. Send as many or as few as you have.

The duty was right but the GST looks wrong. Does that come back too?

GST works differently and it is worth knowing before you expect a cheque. CBSA will accept the adjustment, but if you are a GST registrant the amount reaches you as an input tax credit from the Canada Revenue Agency, not as a credit on your CBSA account.

What happens if you cannot prove a line?

We say so. The report names the document that would close it and who it has to come from, and we chase it with you. We will not guess at a line to make a number look better, and we cannot promise a supplier overseas will answer.

New: 25 % surtax on wood cabinets and vanities — safeguard code 26169A CBSA’s latest verification round: 89 % of closed cases on bags and cases came back wrong 10 % surtax on canned vegetables — safeguard code 26135A Paid the 25 % surtax on US goods before it was repealed? It comes back by adjustment — two years from import to claim it

Customs errors are expensive.
We find them.

Audit your Canadian customs entries for classification, duty, tax, valuation, origin and compliance errors, before they cost you more.

Drop a CAD you already filed

Recheck a filing free. No call, no account.

Browse files

NORQUIN

ENTRY CHECK REPORT · 2026-08-19 · SAMPLE

Entry check
report

CAD SAMPLE-0000000000001

Housewares and accessories

China and the United States to Ontario

Entry no.	SAMPLE-0000000000001
Type	AB · version 1
Cargo control	SAMPLE-CCN-0001
Release date	2025-10-02
Mode · office	Marine · 0497
Filed by	Previous broker
Report	SAMPLE · 2026-08-19

CORRECT

3 of 5 lines

Classification, unit, treatment, rate, duty math and GST all match T2025. Filed and due agree to the cent.

OVERPAID — 1

$651.00

Line 3 was rated at 9 % where the tariff carries 6.5 %. Recoverable by adjustment.

CANNOT PROVE — 1

$2,028.60

Line 5 claims United States origin at 0 %. The certification of origin is not in the documents.

Findings

what is wrong and what to file

FINDING 1.1Ornaments rated at 9 % where the tariff carries 6.5 %

$651.00

Line 3 is classified 3926.40.90.00, statuettes and other ornamental articles of plastics. The MFN rate for that tariff item is 6.5 %. The entry applied 9 %. The classification itself is not in question; only the rate applied to it is.

	AS FILED	SHOULD BE
Duty on line 3	2,232.00	1,612.00
GST on line 3	1,351.60	1,320.60

To file: one adjustment covering line 3. Duty of $620.00 comes back from CBSA. The $31.00 of GST reaches a registrant as an input tax credit from the CRA, not as a credit on the CBSA account. The corrected declaration boxes are set out in section 03; they are not repeated here. ↩ back to the lineCustoms Tariff T2025, Chapter 39 · heading 39.26

Lines

as filed, with the check result on each line

			AS FILED		SHOULD BE
LN	GOODS AS FILED	VALUE FOR DUTY	DUTY	GST	DUTY	GST	CHECK
1	Plastic pen holders3926.10.00.90 · MFN 6.5 %	4,180.00	271.70	222.59	271.70	222.59	✓
2	Plastic storage boxes3926.90.99.90 · MFN 6.5 %	2,940.00	191.10	156.56	191.10	156.56	✓
3	Plastic ornaments3926.40.90.00 · MFN 6.5 %	24,800.00	2,232.00	1,351.60	1,612.00	1,320.60	✗ 1.1
4	Plastic sun visors6506.91.00.00 · MFN 9 %	1,650.00	148.50	89.93	148.50	89.93	✓
5	Handbags, textile outer4202.22.90.20 · UST %	18,400.00	0.00	920.00	0.00	920.00	? 2.1
	Total	51,970.00	2,843.30	2,740.68	2,223.30	2,709.68

These line totals roll up into boxes 113 · 119 · 120 · 123 · 129 · 130 of the declaration — shown box by box in section 03 below.

Declaration totals

every box, as filed against what the check says

BOX	DECLARATION TOTALS	AS FILED	SHOULD BE
113	Total Value for Duty	51,970.00	51,970.00
114	Total PST / HST	0.00	0.00
115	Total PST Cannabis Amount	0.00	0.00
116	Total Prov. Alcohol Tax Amount	0.00	0.00
117	Total Prov. Tobacco Amount	0.00	0.00
118	Declaration Total Relieved	0.00	0.00
119	Total Amount	5,583.98	4,932.98
120	Total Customs Duties	2,843.30	2,223.30
121	Total Excise Duties	0.00	0.00
122	Total Excise Taxes	0.00	0.00
123	Total GST	2,740.68	2,709.68
124	Total Anti-Dumping	0.00	0.00
125	Total Countervailing	0.00	0.00
126	Total Surtaxes	0.00	0.00
127	Total Safeguards	0.00	0.00
128	Total Interest	0.00	0.00
129	Total Duties & Taxes with Interest	5,583.98	4,932.98
130	TOTAL Duties & Taxes	5,583.98	4,932.98

Boxes shown exactly as on the declaration. Marked values are what was filed; bold is what the check says the box should read.

Open items

cannot be proven from the CAD; each names what closes it

OPEN 2.1Line 5 claims United States origin; the certification is not in the documents

$2,028.60

Line 5 is entered under tariff treatment UST at 0 %. Nothing in the declaration or the commercial invoice states the origin criterion, and no certification of origin was supplied with the entry. Without it the goods fall to MFN 10.5 %, which is duty of 1,932.00 and GST of 96.60 on this line. We are not saying the claim is wrong. We are saying it is not proven, and on a verification it would be assessed. Closes with: a CUSMA certification of origin from the exporter covering the date of this shipment. ↩ back to the lineD11-4-2 · CUSMA certification of origin

Check log

every check we run, per line or group

LN	GOODS	CLS	UOM	TRT	RATE	MATH	VAL	REL	GST	SIMA	REF
1	Plastic pen holders 3926.10.00.90	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	–	✓	✓
2	Plastic storage boxes 3926.90.99.90	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	–	✓	✓
3	Plastic ornaments 3926.40.90.00	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	–	✓	✓	1.1
4	Plastic sun visors 6506.91.00.00	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	–	✓	✓
5	Handbags, textile outer 4202.22.90.20	✓	✓	?	✓	✓	✓	–	✓	✓	2.1

– = the check does not apply to this entry (no relief or special authority was claimed).

Sources

every rate and rule above traces to one of these

Customs Tariff T2025, Chapter 39 — https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2025/html/00/ch39-eng.html (Wayback 2025-10-17)
Customs Tariff T2025, Chapters 42 and 65 — https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2025/html/00/ch42-eng.html · …/ch65-eng.html (Wayback 2025-10-17 / 2025-10-06)
D11-4-2, Proof of origin of imported goods — https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d11/d11-4-2-eng.html
Codes: D17-1-10 (Field 14 tariff treatments) — https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d17/d17-1-10-eng.pdf · T2025 list of countries — https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2025/html/countries-pays-eng.html

How much duty we already saved.

Why do you have errors

The code nobody re-checked

It was picked years ago, by someone else, and copied forward ever since.

The tariff moved. The entry did not.

Rates change, surtaxes arrive and get repealed. Filings do not follow.

Four years of entries, no way to read them

And if one of them is wrong, it is the importer’s name on it.

CBSA releases your entry in seconds. It can reopen it for four years.

The moment you fileCBSA releases it without reading it.Learn more

On every shipment after thatThe same code is filed again.Learn more

Within 90 days of knowingYou must correct it yourself.Learn more

Any day in the next four yearsCBSA can come back and verify it.CBSA’s own results

Four years after it clearedYour refund window closes for good.Learn more

The alternativeIt gets checked before it is filed, with Norquin.Learn more

The offer

We check every entry and claim back what you overpaid.
A licensed Canadian broker files it.

Book a demo

A release is not an audit. Norquin is the platform that reads every CAD and files the correction.

An entry clears in seconds and is never read again. Every rate on it was chosen once, by somebody, and copied forward. We read all of them, on every entry you send, and show the tariff item behind each one.

Read every lineClassification, unit, treatment, rate, duty arithmetic and GST — on every line, against the tariff in force the day it was filed.

Price the differenceWhat was overpaid, what is still owed, and what cannot be proven from the documents you hold.

File the correctionWe prepare the adjustment package and follow it until CBSA answers. A licensed Canadian broker files it under its licence.

Try it on one entry See the full sample report

Every new entry, before it is filed.

Industries we help

Food and beverage

Automotive

Every industry buying from the US

Fashion and accessories

Electronics and lighting

Poultry and meat

277 %

duty on the supply-managed line

CBSA trade compliance verification priorities, July 2026

Who checks it. Three people, one of them licensed.

Daniel Park

Licensed Canadian customs broker

Vlad Pustobaev

Product and engineering

Roman Kiritsev

Sales and outreach

Customs errors are expensive.
We find them.

How much duty we already saved.

Why do you have errors

The code nobody re-checked

The tariff moved. The entry did not.

Four years of entries, no way to read them

CBSA releases your entry in seconds. It can reopen it for four years.

A release is not an audit. Norquin is the platform that reads every CAD and files the correction.

Industries we help

Who checks it. Three people, one of them licensed.

No CAD to hand? Tell us what you import.

Questions. Answered straight.

Customs errors are expensive.We find them.

How much duty we already saved.

Why do you have errors

The code nobody re-checked

The tariff moved. The entry did not.

Four years of entries, no way to read them

CBSA releases your entry in seconds. It can reopen it for four years.

A release is not an audit. Norquin is the platform that reads every CAD and files the correction.

Industries we help

Who checks it. Three people, one of them licensed.

No CAD to hand? Tell us what you import.

Questions. Answered straight.

Customs errors are expensive.
We find them.