Canadian Duty Drawback · Recovery & Filing
You already paid the duty.
We get it back.
Klarhaus recovers refundable customs duties, tariffs and surtaxes for Canadian importers — up to four years back. We handle the entire claim, end to end, and our fee comes only out of what you recover.
No retainers No hourly fees No recovery, no fee
What duty drawback is
Most importers overpay the border. Few ever collect.
Duty drawback is a long-standing CBSA program: when goods you imported duty-paid later leave Canada — or are destroyed — the duties, and in many cases the surtaxes, you paid at the border can be claimed back. Claims reach back four years, and the refund arrives as a payment from the Receiver General for Canada.
Exported as imported
Goods that leave Canada in the condition they arrived: orders shipped to U.S. customers, stock transferred to a foreign warehouse, returns sent back to the vendor.
Common in e-commerce, distribution and cross-border retail.
Used to make what you export
Imported materials, parts and components consumed in producing goods you then ship abroad — the duty on those inputs is recoverable.
Common in food processing, apparel, machinery and fabrication.
Written off, not written down
Obsolete or surplus stock destroyed rather than sold can qualify for a refund of the duties paid on it — turning a write-off into cash back.
Common with expired, damaged or end-of-life inventory.
Why it goes unclaimed
If drawback is your money, why does almost nobody claim it?
Because the government doesn't send it back on its own — you have to prove every dollar. Most companies look at what that takes, and quietly walk away.
The paperwork gauntlet
A claim reconciles your import accounting documents (B3/CAD), commercial invoices and proof of export — line by line, often across multiple brokers, carriers and years of records. One shipment can mean a dozen documents.
Zero tolerance for error
CBSA verifies claims against the paper. A mismatched value, date or tariff classification doesn't get a shrug — it gets the claim questioned, delayed or rejected. Everything has to be right, everywhere, or the refund stalls.
It's nobody's day job
Your broker's mandate largely ends when goods are released. Your finance team is running the business. Refunds sit in a gap between departments — money with no owner is money that gets abandoned.
A maze of rules
Three eligibility streams, special limits on certain exports to CUSMA countries, four-year deadlines, classification questions, evolving surtax provisions. Knowing what applies to your goods is half the work.
A drawback claim must reconcile to the dollar, the date and the document. That isn't a side project — it's a discipline.
A twenty-second estimate
What's sitting at CBSA with your name on it?
Illustrative only. Actual recovery depends on your entries, classifications and export documentation.
How an engagement runs
You forward what you have. We do everything else.
Assessment
Share your import profile through the form or a fifteen-minute call. Within one business day you get a written eligibility read: your streams, a rough recovery range, and a plain verdict on whether a claim is worth pursuing.
Assembly
We collect and reconcile the record: entry data, commercial invoices, proof of export. We coordinate directly with your broker and carriers. Our goal is under an hour of your team's time, start to finish.
Filing
The claim is built to CBSA's verification standard and filed on Form K32. If CBSA has questions, they come to us — we answer every query and see the file through to decision.
Refund
The Receiver General pays you directly. Our fee is invoiced only from what's recovered — then, if you like, we put filings on a quarterly or annual cycle so the refunds keep coming.
Why Klarhaus
Boutique on purpose. Senior on every file.
Klarhaus does one thing: Canadian duty drawback. Nine years of it — assembling, filing and defending claims through every kind of entry, industry and CBSA query.
Because we're a specialist practice, your file is never handed down. The person who scopes your claim is the person who builds it, files it and answers CBSA on it. No juniors learning on your refund, no call centre in the middle.
And nothing about your existing setup changes: your broker keeps clearing your goods. We work alongside them — we're the recovery side of the equation, not a replacement.
klar — German: clear. It's the name and the filing standard. Entries that reconcile; claims that clear.
One discipline, not a department
Drawback is the entire practice — not a sideline of brokerage or freight. Depth beats breadth when a refund hangs on the details.
Built around your broker, not against them
We request records, reconcile data and file claims without disrupting the people who move your goods.
Confidential by default
Import records are commercially sensitive. Files are handled discreetly, and we'll sign your NDA before seeing a single document.
What we take off your plate
- Eligibility screening across all drawback streams
- Tariff classification review of your import entries
- Data collection from brokers, carriers and your systems
- Claim preparation and Form K32 filing
- CBSA correspondence, verification and query responses
- Ongoing quarterly or annual drawback programs
Pricing
One fee. It comes out of the refund.
Our fee is a percentage of what we actually recover, agreed in writing before any work begins. It's deducted from the refund — never from your operating cash. If the recovery is zero, the invoice is zero.
- No retainers or monthly minimums
- No hourly billing
- No filing or disbursement charges
- No fee of any kind on unrecovered claims
You keep the majority of every dollar recovered. Our fee comes from the rest.
If duty-paid goods ever leave Canada again, you're a candidate.
FAQ
The questions importers ask first
Do we actually qualify?
If you import duty-paid goods and any portion is later exported, returned to a foreign supplier, shipped to customers abroad or destroyed as obsolete stock — very likely, yes. Certain manufactured goods exported to CUSMA countries carry special limits, which we screen for in the assessment. If you're not sure, that's exactly what the free assessment is for.
How much could we recover?
Broadly: your annual dutiable imports × your average duty rate × the share of goods that leave Canada. Because claims reach back four years, a first claim is often the largest cheque — it captures everything you didn't file. The assessment turns that arithmetic into a real figure based on your actual entries.
What will you need from us?
Access to your import records (entry documents, commercial invoices) and evidence of export — bills of lading, export declarations, carrier records. In practice, we collect most of it directly from your broker and carriers with your authorization. Our goal is under an hour of your team's time on the entire engagement.
How long until we see money?
Assembling a claim typically takes a few weeks, depending on how quickly records come in. CBSA's review time varies with the size and complexity of the claim — straightforward files move faster; multi-year recoveries take longer. We give you a realistic timeline after the assessment, not a promise built for a brochure.
What does it cost?
A success fee only: a fixed percentage of the recovered amount, agreed in writing before we start, deducted from the refund. No retainers, no hourly billing, no filing charges. If we recover nothing, you owe nothing.
Do we have to change customs brokers?
No. Your broker keeps doing exactly what they do — clearing your goods. Klarhaus handles the recovery side, and we coordinate with your broker for records rather than around them. Brokers generally welcome it: it's work outside their mandate that makes their client money.
Will filing a claim invite CBSA scrutiny?
Drawback is a standard, decades-old CBSA program — claiming it is using the rules as written. Claims are routinely verified against documentation, which is precisely why ours are built to verification standard before they're filed. If CBSA has questions, they come to us and we answer them.
What about the recent surtaxes on U.S. goods?
Where surtax-paid goods later left Canada, those amounts may be recoverable through drawback and related refund mechanisms — and because surtax rates run far above normal duty, the dollars involved are often the largest on the file. The provisions have evolved quickly; we screen every surtax entry as part of the assessment.
Next step
Find out what CBSA owes you.
Fifteen minutes gets you a written eligibility read — your streams, a rough recovery range, surtax exposure flagged. If a claim isn't worth pursuing, the read says that too. Plainly, and at no cost.
15 minutes No obligation No recovery, no fee