Canada is trying to bring the system responsible for collecting $40 billion a year in tax revenue into the 21st century, but a new digital portal seems to be confusing shippers.
Driving the news: An antiquated duty payments system, run by paper and people, was leaving millions in revenue falling through the cracks every year, so the Canada Border Services Agency has rolled out an online portal that makes it easier to keep track of duties.
- Under the old system, shippers were mislabelling commercial goods, and possibly paying lower duties on them, about 20% of the time.
- By catching more of those incorrect claims, the feds say the online portal could provide a $216 million windfall.
Why it matters: Importers complain that registering for the online portal has been challenging. In 2023, there were over 163,000 import businesses in Canada, but as of last week, only 99,300 shippers had registered to use the new online platform.
- One Canadian customs company says it even had to hire additional staff to help its clients get set up on the new portal.
Bottom line: Some insiders say that the delays in getting importers registered could cause shipping bottlenecks and even lead some to stop shipping to Canada altogether.—LA