Canada

Questions and answers about Canada

  • CANADIAN BUSINESS NUMBER (BN)

    QUESTION: My Canada operation is acquiring another company. Can that new company, once fully acquired, start using my Canada company’s Business Number including RM suffix, or will they need their own? ========== Answers: It will obtain its own corporate business number if the acquisition is made by shares. And the suffixes that apply for importing […]

  • DECLARING CANADIAN ASSISTS CHINA IMPORTS

    QUESTION: Does NAFTA allow for favorable treatment on assists of Canadian origin when the product is manufactured in China? Situation: US parent company has a facility in Canada. This facility has 4 employees and 1 consultant who perform design, engineering and artwork which are all confirmed assists. The US parent company ultimately pays for the […]

  • GST RECOVERY FOR NRI

    QUESTION: Our US operations act as NRI on shipments to non-related end users in Canada and pay the GST. Although we have a related party operating in Canada they are not involved in these transactions. Are there options for recovery of the GST under this circumstance? ***************** Answers: Yes it is possible to recover the […]

  • CANADA – SAUDI ARABIA TRADE

    QUESTION: Is Saudi Arabia allowing imports of Canadian products ? Due to a diplomatic dispute, for a time items were not clearing Customs. ========== Answer: Yes, you can still export from Canada to Saudi Arabia – they threatened to embargo Canada but it has not happened. My company still sells regularly there and ships direct […]

  • CANADA TO US PROCESS FLOW

    QUESTION: We are in the process of providing written work instructions to our suppliers for exports from Canada to U.S. Does anyone in the membership have the responsibilities for all parties involved in the transaction and the process flow for each? We just want to ensure we don’t miss any important steps and we are […]

  • CANADIAN RECORD RETENTION

    QUESTION: We had a Canadian Customs audit in 2007, which ended and has been closed for more than 10 years. How long do we need to keep records for?  Five years is the norm but when there is an audit I’m not sure if that changes the length of period we should maintain all the […]

  • Canadian Related parties

    QUESTION: We have shipments that customers in Canada order from our Canadian subsidiary. In the U.S., we fill the order and sometimes ship them directly to the subsidiary. For the import value into Canada, does it have to be the sales price to the Canadian end user customer? I believe Canadian Customs doesn’t view the […]

  • PARS# for Canada Shipments

    QUESTION: Our company is in the process of switching brokers on the Canadian border. We ship one truckload with one BOL and PARS. However, with the Canadian Customs regulation, we have multiple invoices due to the 999 line requirement. Our current broker uses the one BOL and only one PARS to clear CBSA for all […]

  • CANADIAN GST AVOIDANCE

    QUESTION: So I see that one generally pays 5% GST on the value of imported goods/customs entries into Canada. My question is: Is there any scenario in which one does NOT pay the GST? For example, NAFTA eligible goods? Temporary imports? Goods reimported after repair? ========== Answers: There are product, re-export and processing based exemptions. […]

  • CA SINGLE WINDOW ISSUE

    QUESTION: We received an email from our Canadian broker stating “with SWI starting April 1 we need to have the manufacturer listed on the commercial invoice.” Does anyone know of any work arounds or the best source for updates in regards to SWI. We’ve been told the April 1 go live date will most likely […]

  • SHIPMENT TO A PACKAGER IN CANADA

    QUESTION: We are a company located in the USA and we have a client located in the USA, who wants us to ship our products, which is sold to them in the USA direct to a “packager” in Canada. We have tried to tell them that they are the USPPI not us and that they […]

  • CANADIAN RIGHT TO MAKE ENTRY

    QUESTION: Does Canada have the same law as in the US in regards to being able to import on behalf of related entities? (i.e. right to make entry). We have several divisions operating under their own EIN but only 2 are registered to be the non resident importer into Canada. Can we import on their […]