Steel Surtax Remission Orders: What Filing Under Section 115 Means for Your Next Import

The Remission Twist Nobody Planned For

PC 2026-334 just amended the Surtax on Imports of Certain Steel Goods Remission Order, 2025. If you’re importing structural steel, plate, or rebar that caught the surtax back when the order first dropped, this amendment changes the scope of what qualifies for remission and how CBSA expects you to document it on the CAD.

Remission orders aren’t waivers. They’re post-assessment relief instruments made under section 115 of the Customs Tariff, which means you still pay at the border, then apply for refund. The operational problem: you need to flag eligibility at time of import or you lose your four-year adjustment window. Most importers I’ve worked with think remission is automatic if the order exists. It isn’t. You file the CAD clean, reference the remission order in the narrative or as a supporting doc in CARM, and then submit a detailed B2 (Canada Customs Adjustment Request) once you have proof the goods meet the order’s conditions.

What Actually Changed

The original 2025 order applied remission to certain steel imports where the importer could prove Canadian supply wasn’t available at the time of contract. The amendment tightens the proof-of-unavailability threshold and narrows the tariff classifications covered. Specifically, it pulls a handful of subheadings under 7308 (structures and parts of structures) out of scope and adds a new certification requirement from the ultimate consignee, not just the importer of record.

That last part matters. If you’re importing on behalf of a buyer who’s taking title at destination, they now need to sign off on the unavailability statement. You can’t do it unilaterally as the IOR. CBSA will reject the remission claim if the consignee signature isn’t on file, even if everything else is clean. I’ve already seen two refusals in the last month on the original order where the broker filed but the importer didn’t loop in the end buyer.

How This Hits Your CAD Workflow

When you’re releasing steel goods that might qualify, you have three options:

Option 1: Pay the surtax at release, file the CAD with full duty and tax, then submit a B2 once you have all the remission docs. Cleanest for brokers, safest for compliance, but you’re fronting cash.

Option 2: File the CAD with a notation that remission will be claimed, pay the base MFN duty but not the surtax, and attach a placeholder statement in CARM. This only works if your compliance setup is airtight and you’ve pre-cleared the approach with your CBSA POE. I don’t recommend it unless you’re on a weekly release cadence with the same officer reviewing your entries.

Option 3: Hold the goods at a sufferance warehouse while you finalize the remission paperwork, then release clean. This burns demurrage and warehouse fees, but if the surtax is 25% on a $200K shipment, two weeks of storage at a Montreal sufferance facility is cheaper than fronting $50K in cash flow.

Most importers pick Option 1 because CARM’s document upload flow still isn’t reliable enough to trust real-time adjudication on remission claims. You’re better off getting the release, then filing the B2 with everything bundled: purchase order, supplier correspondence, unavailability cert from the consignee, and ideally a letter from your steel distributor or industry association confirming Canadian supply was constrained.

The SIMA Overlap Problem

If your steel is also subject to SIMA duties, you’re now managing two separate post-release processes. SIMA normal values and Section 115 remission orders don’t talk to each other. You can qualify for remission on the surtax and still owe anti-dumping duty, or vice versa. The trap: if you file a B2 for remission and forget to address the SIMA component, CBSA treats it as a partial adjustment and won’t re-open the file later without a full compliance review.

I’ve had two clients in the last year get stuck in this gap. Both filed remission claims on structural steel from Vietnam, got the surtax refunded, then got hit with a SIMA verification notice six months later because the original CAD declared a non-subject HTS even though the goods were clearly subject. The remission claim drew attention, CBSA pulled the full entry, and now they’re in a D11-4-2 re-determination with interest accruing.

If you’re importing steel from a SIMA-listed country, cross-check the CBSA SIMA registry before you decide whether to front-load the surtax or go straight to remission. Don’t assume your broker is doing this automatically. Most brokers flag SIMA at classification, but remission orders are a separate lookup and not every shop has it in their workflow.

Timing and the CARM Reality

Remission claims filed as B2s in CARM are taking 90–120 days for initial response, longer if CBSA kicks it to HQ for policy review. The original 2025 order generated enough volume that Ottawa set up a dedicated remission unit, but the amendment just reset the queue. If you’re filing under the amended order, expect Q3 2026 before you see refund deposits, even on clean claims.

One upside: remission refunds bypass the normal RPP reconciliation cycle. You get a separate payment directly from the Receiver General, so it doesn’t mess with your CARM financial security balance. But that also means you can’t net it against upcoming entries the way you can with a regular overpayment adjustment.

Documentation Checklist

If you’re planning to claim remission on an upcoming steel import, here’s what your broker needs before release:

• Full commercial invoice with HS at the 10-digit level
• Proof of contract date and unavailability of Canadian supply at that date
• Signed certification from the ultimate consignee (new requirement under the amendment)
• Supplier’s country of origin declaration (separate from CUSMA cert if applicable)
• If applicable, mill test reports or third-party inspection certs showing the goods meet the order’s spec limits

Most importers send the invoice and hope for the best. That doesn’t cut it anymore. The amendment added teeth because too many claims under the original order were filed with minimal backup, and CBSA started rejecting in bulk.

One Last Thing

Remission orders are published in Part II of the Canada Gazette, but the digest entry often drops weeks before the final text is posted. If you’re importing steel between now and when SOR/2026-70 officially publishes on May 6, you’re in a gray zone. Technically the amendment isn’t in force yet, but CBSA processing officers are already applying the new consignee-signature rule because the Privy Council order is live. File clean, reference PC 2026-334 in your narrative, and keep the original 2025 order handy in case the officer at your POE hasn’t seen the amendment yet.

If you’ve got entries sitting in CARM with surtax paid and you’re not sure whether the amendment opens a remission window you didn’t have before, that’s exactly the kind of file review we handle daily. Reach out and we’ll pull the tariff classifications and walk through whether a B2 is worth filing.

Source: CSCB