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Customs Notice 25-01: Non-Resident Importers: Determining if shipments are deemed Commercial or Casual

Ottawa,

1. The purpose of this Customs Notice is to clarify the procedures in relation to Non-Resident Importers (NRI), and to determine whether their shipments are deemed commercial or casual.

Commercial vs Casual Goods

2. The Accounting for Imported Goods and Payment of Duties Regulations has definitions for both commercial and casual goods as follows:

casual goods
goods imported into Canada other than commercial goods; (marchandises occasionnelles)
commercial goods
goods imported into Canada for sale or for any commercial, industrial, occupational, institutional or other like use; (marchandises commerciales)

Non-Resident Importers (NRIs)

3. In order to decide if the nature of the goods being imported by a NRI is commercial or casual, who the importer is and the purpose of the importation must be determined.

4. If an individual in Canada purchases goods from a foreign vendor for their personal use (online or otherwise), and has them shipped by a courier on their behalf, the goods are considered casual. However, if the same goods are purchased by the same individual and imported by the owner of the goods, such as a foreign sales company or an eCommerce vendor, then the goods are considered to be a commercial importation by a NRI.

5. In the case of NRIs who choose to use their Business Number (BN) to obtain release and account for goods destined to casual importers, when the NRI is a business, the importation of goods by that NRI is deemed commercial, regardless if the shipment is destined to a casual importer. As such, these goods are subject to the same provisions and requirements as all other commercial imports, such as ensuring compliance with Other Government Department (OGD) requirements and the maintenance of books and records set out in section 40 of the Customs Act.

6. NRIs located outside North America seeking to enrol in the CBSA’s importer program will need to designate a licenced customs broker, accountant, or other authorized agent to maintain their books and records within Canada on their behalf.

7. As per Section 9 of the Customs Act the importer or the owner of the imported goods can authorize a licensed customs broker to account for the goods and pay applicable duties and taxes in relation to both commercial and casual importations (excluding casual goods imported via the Courier Low Value Shipment (CLVS) Program) on their behalf.

8. Casual goods released outside the CLVS program (e.g., on an Integrated Import Declaration (IID)) may only be accounted for using an authorized broker’s BN15. The use of a Courier BN is not permitted outside the CLVS program. This approach aligns with the CBSA position that non-commercial importers are not required nor will be issued an importer BN15.

9. The CBSA’s authority to assess and collect PST/HST is limited to the importation of casual goods.

10. NRIs collecting PST/HST at the point of sale from consumers in Canada, are required to remit provincial taxes directly to provinces or to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

11. If an NRI collects the PST/HST at the point of sale, this does not change the fact that such importations are commercial and therefore, PST/HST is not to be included or remitted on the CAD.

12. For more information on how to remit PST/HST directly to provinces, or assistance in determining the tax status of a good, please contact the province's tax authority or the Canada Revenue Agency for participating HST provinces.

Courier Low Value Shipments (CLVS)

13. As per Memorandum D17-4-0: Courier Low Value Shipment Program, casual goods imported through the CLVS Program must be accounted for using the CLVS participant’s (“courier”) BN. All commercial goods imported via the CLVS Program require the commercial importer to use their own BN15 to account for the goods.

14. As a result of the implementation of the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) system, the CBSA introduced a number of interim policy measures in order to assist industry with the transition to CARM and ensure continued border fluidity and timely submission of accounting and payment of duties. Included in the transition measures is allowing customs brokers to use their BN15 to account for both commercial and casual CLVS goods for a period of 12 months after the launch of CARM on .

15. A full list of transitional measures that have been implemented is specified in Customs Notice 24-27: CARM October Implementation – Transition Measures.

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