Between 4 March 2025 and 1 September 2025 a 25 % surtax applied to a long list of goods originating in the United States. That order has been repealed, but the money paid under it did not become unrecoverable. It became a claim with a deadline.
They are often discussed as one tariff. They are not, and the difference decides whether you have a claim.
| Order | In force | Status now | Surtax code |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States Surtax Order (2025‑1), general goods | from 2025‑03‑04 | Repealed 2025‑09‑01 | 25066A |
| United States Surtax Order (Steel and Aluminum 2025) | from 2025‑03‑13 | In force | 25095A |
| United States Surtax Order (Motor Vehicles 2025) | 2025 | In force | see CN 25‑15 |
The surtax was declared by you, not calculated for you. It sits in field 85 of the Commercial Accounting Declaration, and where the CARM self-declare option was used, the amount was entered by hand.
The United States Surtax Remission Order (2025) grants remission for whole categories: goods for public health, public safety and national security, and goods used as inputs in Canadian manufacturing, processing, agricultural production, and food and beverage packaging. It has been amended repeatedly, and the categories and end dates moved each time.
To take it at the time of import, a special authority OIC code had to be entered in the Special Authority OIC field of the CAD. If nobody entered it, the surtax was simply paid. Nothing in the system objects, and nothing tells you afterwards.
| Your situation | Route | Reason code | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still at the time of import | Claim the OIC code on the CAD | — | Surtax not charged |
| Declared, payment not yet due | Correction | R5‑00‑COT | Relieves the surtax owing |
| Already paid | Adjustment | R2‑74‑1‑GR‑53 | Refund of the surtax |
The Remission Order sets the condition plainly: the importer must make the claim within two years after the date of importation. It is not four years, and it is not counted from when you found out.
A shipment that cleared in March 2025, the first month the surtax applied, therefore runs out around March 2027. Every month you wait, the oldest entries fall off the end.
Is there an amount in field 85? If a CAD from between March and September 2025 carries surtax, the question is only whether it should have.
Is the Special Authority OIC field empty on those lines? An empty field with a surtax amount beside it is exactly the pattern that leaves money at CBSA. It is not proof of anything on its own, and it is the first thing worth checking.
Neither of those is difficult to look at. It is only tedious across two years of entries, which is why almost nobody does it, and it is what our check does line by line.
It cuts both ways, and we will tell you so. If the surtax was under-declared, that is a correction you owe within 90 days of having reason to believe it, and leaving it can bring interest and AMPS penalties. We report what we find in either direction.
Read 2026-08-23. Remission categories and end dates have been amended repeatedly. Check the order against your own import dates, or send us the entries and we will check each one against the version that was in force on its date.