Canadian customs record keeping: what importers must keep for six years

Who has to keep Canadian import records?

Subsection 40(1) of the Customs Act applies to "every person who imports goods or causes goods to be imported for sale or for any industrial, occupational, commercial, institutional or other like use". That person must keep records about the goods, in the manner and for the period the regulations prescribe, make them available to an officer within the time the officer specifies, and answer the officer's questions about them truthfully.

Memorandum D17-1-21 reads the obligation broadly. It applies to resident and non-resident importers, owners and consignees of the goods, and exporters abroad who ship commercial goods to themselves in Canada. Non-resident importers "have the same obligations as any resident importer". Using a customs broker does not move the obligation: when the CBSA approves an agent to keep records, D17-1-21 says the importer "continues to be responsible" for subsections 40(1) and 43(1).

Subsection 40(3) adds separate obligations for sufferance and bonded warehouse operators, duty-free shops, persons authorized to account for goods after release, and holders of duties relief certificates. This page is about the importer's obligation.

Which records does the regulation list?

Section 2(1) of the Imported Goods Records Regulations requires an importer to keep "all records that relate to":

• the origin, marking, purchase, importation, costs and value of the commercial goods;
• payment for the commercial goods;
• the sale or other disposal of the commercial goods in Canada;
• any application for an advance ruling under section 43.1 of the Customs Act (CBSA advance rulings).

D17-1-21 defines a record widely: an account, agreement, book, chart, diagram, form, image, invoice, letter, memorandum, plan, return, statement, voucher and "any other proof containing information, whether in writing or in any other form". In practice that reaches purchase orders, contracts, commercial invoices, transport documents, proof of payment, credit notes, royalty and licence agreements, product specifications, certifications of origin and supplier declarations, and your sales records in Canada.

Two further sections add to the list in specific situations:

• Conditional relief. Section 3 applies when goods were released free or at a reduced rate because of their intended use or user. You keep a certificate or record signed by the user showing their name, address, occupation and the actual use, and, if the goods were diverted to another use, records confirming the full duties were paid.
• Customs Self Assessment importers. Section 2(2) adds records of the description and quantity of the goods, their reception, credits and adjustments, accounting, refunds, drawbacks and re-determinations, and a list of vendors and consignees.

Proof of origin is part of the same obligation. Memorandum D11-4-2 says the proof of origin and all other relevant documents for commercial imports "must be retained by importers for six years".

How long does each record have to be kept?

Six years following the importation of the goods (regulations, section 2). Each importation starts its own clock.

Six years outlasts every window in which the records are used, which is why the period is longer than the four years importers usually think about:

A refund claim or a dispute is only as good as the records behind it. If the invoice or the certificate of origin is gone, the four-year refund window is of little use.

Where can the records be kept, and in what form?

At your place of business in Canada, by default (section 40). D17-1-21 says a place of business can be space at another enterprise's facilities, but post office boxes and mail forwarding services are not accepted.

Elsewhere, with approval. An importer can ask the CBSA, through the Agreement to Maintain Records Elsewhere than the Place of Business in Canada (form BSF900) in the CARM Client Portal, to keep records at another place in Canada, with an agent such as a broker or accountant, or outside Canada, but only "specifically in the United States of America or in Mexico". New importers complete the BSF900 when they register their import and export business account in CARM; existing importers add a books-and-records address to their profile. The CBSA issues an approval letter, which you keep as proof. D17-1-21 calls the authorization "a privilege": non-compliance can lead to its cancellation and to penalties.

On a server outside Canada. Records kept in the US or Mexico and accessed electronically "are not considered to be records in Canada". Copies may be accepted if made available to the CBSA in Canada, or where the Minister designates, in a readable and usable electronic format.

In a form an officer can audit. Section 4 of the regulations requires records kept so that an officer can "perform detailed audits" and verify the information behind the duties paid, payable, deferred, refunded or relieved. Section 6 allows electronic records if they can be related back to the source documents and a system can produce a readable copy. D17-1-21 says paper records of account must be kept unless an acceptable electronic format is in place, and that imaging programs must follow the national standard CAN/CGSB-72.34-2017.

Not in CARM alone. D17-1-21 is direct: eManifest and CARM Client Portal users "are required to retain separate records", and the portals "are not to be used for record-keeping". The CAD in CARM shows what was declared; it does not hold the invoice, the contract or the proof of payment that show whether the declaration was right.

What happens if you cannot produce a record?

The CBSA asks for records through a verification letter, an officer's request under section 40, or a notice under section 43, which can require "any record at a place specified by the Minister and within any reasonable time". Contravention C157 treats 30 days as reasonable for a first request and 15 days for later requests for the same records.

The Administrative Monetary Penalty System pages listed these penalties when checked on November 11, 2026:

Each carries a 36-month retention period, the window in which a later contravention counts as a repeat. D17-1-21 adds two non-monetary consequences: the CBSA may detain later imports under section 41 until the importer complies, and preferential tariff treatment "may be denied or withdrawn" for goods whose records were not kept or not produced.

The bigger cost is usually the duty. A missing record does not just trigger a penalty; it removes the evidence for the declaration. Without the certificate of origin, the preference falls. Without the royalty agreement, the officer decides what the royalty was. Without proof of payment, the transaction value is open to question.

Which records does each audit check need?

A post-entry audit and a CBSA verification test the same declarations, so they need the same records. Map each check on the CAD line to the record that proves it:

Two records are worth chasing first, because they are usually the ones missing: supplier certifications of origin for preference claims, and agreements for payments made outside the invoice.

How does a records request turn into a finding?

An importer receives a verification letter covering 60 CAD lines from one fiscal year and has 30 days to produce the records. Rates and values below are illustrative.

The preference line costs more than all the penalties together, and it does not stop at 8 lines: a verification finding carries into same and similar goods across the reassessment period (what happens after a verification).

The penalty depends on whether a record was kept. C157 and C298 apply when records exist but are not made available or provided in time. If the proof of payment had never been kept at all, the finding is C299 instead: its guidelines apply when a person "has not kept all of the prescribed records in the prescribed manner", not only when no records exist, and the penalty is a flat CAD 25,000 per audit.

How do you check your records before the CBSA asks?

1. Start from the accounting export, not the filing cabinet. List every CAD line for the last six years by importation date, with tariff item, tariff treatment, origin, value and surtax. Each line is a set of records you must be able to produce.
2. Attach the records to each line. For every line, link the invoice, proof of payment and transport document; for preference lines the certification of origin; for surtax lines the origin evidence; for conditional relief lines the end-use records.
3. List the gaps by risk. A missing certificate on a preference line is a duty exposure; a missing packing list is usually not.
4. Fix where the records live. If records sit with a broker, an accountant or a US affiliate, check the BSF900 approval covers that place and that the copies can be produced in Canada in a readable format.
5. Keep records separately from CARM. Download what you need from the portal and file it with the source documents.
6. Set retention by importation date. Destroy nothing before six years have passed from the importation it relates to.

TariffSense reads CAD/B3 lines and broker accounting exports, checks each line against the measures in force on its accounting date, and lists the record each finding depends on, so a preference claim without a certificate on file, or a surtax line without origin evidence, shows up before a verification letter does. See the post-entry audit page, the CAD/B3 audit guide for the line checks, and the duty calculator for rates by tariff item, origin and date.

How does this differ from US record keeping?

Importers who file in both countries often run one retention policy. The US rule sets its own period, its own list of required records and its own penalty for failing to produce them, and a US-based server holding Canadian records still needs a BSF900 approval on the Canadian side. Keep Canadian records for six years from each importation, whatever the US policy says. The US side is covered in customs record keeping under 19 CFR 163.

What should you do next on your own records?

Pick ten CAD lines at random from three years ago, including preference and surtax lines, and try to produce every record the table above lists for each within 30 days. The gaps you find are the gaps a verification would find. Confirm that your BSF900 approval matches where the records really are, and that nothing is kept only in the CARM Client Portal. If missing records mean a declaration cannot be supported, correct it under section 32.2 rather than wait for the CBSA (correcting a Canadian entry). Confirm any correction with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel.