CARM brought with it big changes in the payment of duties and taxes in Canada. With the new release, all importers are now required to manage their payments to the government through the CARM Client Portal. Overall, this digitization of the process has helped simplify the process for importers.

Many importers appreciate the fact that they do not have to prepay their broker duty and GST or potentially pay disbursement fees for having their broker use their bond. And for Scarbrough customers, combining CARM with our Clarity portal allows them to match shipments to invoices digitally, saving time and stress along the way.

However, as one would expect with the rollout of any new technology, CARM did come with some hiccups and technical difficulties. A complicated registration process frustrated some users, but once clients get past that initial step the portal has been generally well-received. Another complaint our team has heard has revolved around the ticketing system set up to resolve user issues. As it isn’t working in real-time, there have been reports of scenarios resulting in storage if they involve a release.