GUIDE FOR ACTIVATING YOUR BUSINESS ACCOUNT ON THE CARM CLIENT PORTAL (CCP)

Link for CARM: CARM (canada.ca)

The following is a guide to assist you with onboarding a business account to the CCP. The information that will be required may need to come from various sources. For greater details please refer to:  User Guide – Onboarding to the CARM Client Portal – with MFA – March 2024

1. Identify your Business Account Manager (BAM). The first individual who links their user account to the business automatically becomes the BAM. The BAM is responsible and accountable for all activities associated to the management of the business account in the CCP. A BAM is able to see and do all things linked to the business account e.g. view financial information, submit information to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), delegate customs brokers, register for new programs, make payments for all program accounts etc.

2. Create User Credentials of BAM. The BAM must log in using their financial institution’s log in service (Sign-in partner), an existing GC Key that has been created for another CBSA portal (e.g. eManifest, CERS) or another Government department (except the CRA) or create a new GCKey specifically for the CCP.
The CCP can be accessed using this link. CARM (canada.ca)

NOTE: Each GCKey/Sign-in Partner account can only be used to register/access a single BN9. If multiple businesses are to be registered, a unique GCKey/Sign-in Partner account must be used for each BN9. The CBSA has employed a multi-factor authentication for security purposes. All users will be prompted to provide an email address to receive a six digit passcode required to access the CCP.

3. Create the BAM User profile in the CCP. The BAM will need to create a user profile for the CCP. They will be asked to select security questions and provide answers, a telephone number and email address that the CBSA will use to authenticate their identity in the event they need to contact the CARM Client Support Help desk (CCSH). Once they create the user profile, a screen will be displayed with two options, Request access to my employer or Register my business.

4. Register My Business – Business Number/Importer Program Account. Once the BAM selects “Register My Business” they will need to enter the business number (BN9) and importer/exporter program account (RM) identifier (for example: RM0001). This number may be found on CBSA related documents such as a completed B3 Canada Customs Coding form, a Daily Notice (DN), Statement of Account (SOA), a completed B2 Adjustment Request, and/or Detailed Adjustment Statement (DAS). If your business does not have a BN, OR an RM account, you will need to register with the CRA:  How to register for a business number or Canada Revenue Agency program accounts – Canada.ca

5. Activate the business account – Name and address of the business. The BAM will need to enter the legal or operating name and address of the business currently on file with the CRA.

Legal entity name or Operating name: The name must be precise and reflective of the type of business. For Corporations it is found on the Articles of Incorporation. For sole proprietors, the legal name is the first and last name of the owner of the business. For partnerships, the legal name is the first and last name of each partner or legal name of the corporations that are in partnership. You must enter the information exactly as it has been provided to the CRA. For example, Incorporated must be entered in full and not in short form (Inc.) if that is how it was registered. The legal name is printed on CBSA related documents such as a Daily Notice (DN), Statement of Account (SOA), and/or a Detailed Adjustment Statement (DAS).

Physical or mailing address of the legal entity of the business: The legal address may be found on Articles of Incorporation, financial statements and tax returns. It may also be printed on CBSA related documents such as a DN, SOA, and/or a DAS. For international companies, other than US companies, you will not need to include a postal/zip code.

6. Answer the affinity questions based on your program account activity.  Affinity questions are used to verify that the person registering the business is affiliated to the business. For businesses with multiple importer program accounts, the information must correspond with the importer/exporter program account (RM) identifier selected in Step 4. You will be asked to answer 1 or 2 of the following 3 questions regarding your business. Only the questions that apply to the chosen RM account will be presented. If there hasn’t been any activity on the account, you will not be required to answer the questions. Responses to the affinity questions should be entered using numbers and decimals only. Using dollar signs and commas will result in errors.

B3 Transaction number: The BAM will be asked to enter the 14 digit transaction number (without a space or hyphen) and the amount of duties and taxes (field 51 on Form B3) of a B3 transaction that is linked to your business and was accepted by the CBSA within six years of the current date. To prepare, obtain a list of transactions from your records or your customs broker and the total duties and taxes for each. Transactions cleared under the Courier Low Value Shipment (CLVS) Program are not posted to an importer’s RM account and cannot be used for this question.

Statement of Account (SOA): The BAM will be required to enter the date (MM/YYYY) of the statement they wish to use that is within six years of the current date, and the amount owing to the CBSA or credit balance owing to the business from a SOA generated by the CBSA. If you receive your own SOA, then you will need to know date of the SOA and the sum total of Line I (Importer total payable) and J (Broker total payable). If you do not receive a SOA as you have contracted the services of a licensed customs broker, you will need to request the information from them. Ask them to provide you with the SOA date and Line I (Importer total payable) for your BN9/RM account. Zero dollar ($0.00) amounts are not accepted. If either of these amounts is a 0.00 balance, you will need to locate a SOA that has a positive or negative value.

Payment Amount: The BAM will be required to provide the date (MM/YYYY) and amount of a payment made to the CBSA within six years of the current date. The payment amount is the amount of duties and taxes paid to the CBSA excluding any fees paid to the customs broker therefore, this may not be the same amount as a payment that was made to the customs broker. Please note that it may take up to seven business days for an electronic payment to be received by the CBSA.