Customs compliance

The various trade agreements signed between Canada and multiple countries aim to promote and facilitate international trade. However, it is important to follow the rules to avoid any penalties.

Our experts offer customs consultancy services that will allow you to develop or maintain good customs compliance practices within your company and prepare you for possible customs audits.

As a Canadian importer, it is essential to ensure that all your practices follow Canada customs regulations to avoid penalties that could prove costly. Therefore, it is very important to make sure that your import documentation is compliant.

What is customs compliance?

Generally speaking, there are four pillars of customs compliance: customs classification (“harmonized code” or “hs code”), determination of origin, determination of value and audit trails. These have a direct impact on the duties and taxes to be paid and penalties that the customs authorities may impose on you if they determine, during an audit, that there is reason to believe that your transactions are incorrect and that these were not corrected within the prescribed timeframe.

Customs audits are a reality and it is best to prepare yourself to reduce your level of risk. Generally, the customs authorities will establish the sectors of activity covered by the audits throughout the following year. Audits can also be triggered by the discovery of an erroneous transaction in a specific sector of activity. The customs authorities will then locate a checklist of importers likely to follow this type of transaction. Therefore, it is essential for any importer to find out how to declare in-bond goods.

Our customs consultants can help you reduce your risk level by conducting a pre-audit of your customs transactions, which will allow you to identify weaknesses in the classification of your goods, establish their value and their origin.

Consultation services offered by W2C

Here are some services in customs compliance that our customs consultants offer:

• Assessing the classification of your goods according to the harmonized codes in the Canadian tariff (HS codes) in Canada or US tariffs (for US exportations);
• Establishing the value of your goods;
• Determining the origin and labelling of your goods;
• Simulated Audit – Compliance diagnostic, assistance and preparation in case of customs audits are requested by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) ;
• Assistance in writing a compliance plan;
• Requests for advance rulings;
• Application for voluntary disclosure;
• Assistance during complex import and export operations;
• Assistance with importing controlled and TRQ goods (permits and licenses);
• Audits and recourses.

Note that W2C also offers customs compliance and classification training that can be very beneficial to you. Visit our customs training site to learn more.