Business Systems Review
Can you afford to overpay duty by $400,000? That’s how much Frontier was able to retrieve for one importer alone. How do you know you are not overpaying?
CBSA is no longer scrutinizing declarations as they arrive for complete accurate information as they have done in the past. Over the last 5 years CBSA have slowly moved to an audit type review, similar to your income taxes. Responsibility has been placed directly on the IMPORTER to ensure complete and accurate information is being deposited with CBSA, and the Automated Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) has been introduced to keep the importing community in line. Customs has up to 5 years to penalize an importer for incorrect information, in addition to charging duty, tax and interest if applicable.
The integrity of an import declaration is no longer secure and without risk after 90 days as they used to be. Now it is not secure until audited by a third party or by Canada Customs or until risk management processes are built in.
The consequences of non-compliance in Canada, in addition to duty, taxes and interest, range from $100 for some first offences to 20% of value for duty for others, up to jail time for prosecutions where intent can be proven.
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