Special authority codes on the CAD: the live surtax remission codes, what each needs, and how to audit them

What is the special authority field?

Each line of a Commercial Accounting Declaration has a field for a special authority: the order in council (OIC) that gives the goods on that line a relief the tariff schedule alone does not. The CBSA notices on surtax remission call it the Special Authority OIC field. CBSA Memorandum D17-1-10, written for the B3 form (field 26), sets the rules that still explain how the codes are built:

• the OIC number is shown as year and number, so P.C. 1985-277 becomes 85-277;
• the number is repeated on every line it applies to;
• where an OIC has been amended, the original number is quoted and the amending order's number is ignored.

That last rule is why a code does not change when its order does. The Steel Derivative Goods Surtax Remission Order was made by P.C. 2026-145, and its codes start 26-0145. It was rewritten on October 23, 2026 by P.C. 2026-1014 (SOR/2026-227), and the codes still start 26-0145. The letters and digits after the number, set by the CBSA in each customs notice, say which ground or schedule item is claimed.

This page covers the codes of the surtax remission orders, which is where most special authority codes on recent CADs come from and where most of the money is. Older OICs (duty deferral, goods returned, sector remission orders) use the same field and format.

Which surtax remission codes were live on November 11, 2026?

The code tells you the ground, but the ground carries its own conditions. The main ones by order:

China surtax remission (25-054). Schedule 1 goods, matched by tariff item and description, qualify if imported from October 22, 2024 to December 31, 2026, if they are not the subject of a SIMA order or finding on the date of importation, and if they are not later exported to the United States in the same condition (paragraph 1(2) of SOR/2025-12). Schedule 2 items are importer-specific, each with its own period, and Customs Notice 25-05 maps them to codes 25-054B to M.

US surtax remission (25-0466). Customs Notice 25-19 maps codes to end-use grounds (A public health and safety, B health care, C manufacturing, processing and packaging, S01 motor vehicle and aerospace manufacturing, S02 mining and oil and gas extraction), to product schedules (D, M, E, P01 to P04, T01, N for certain vehicles) and to importer-specific schedules (Q01, R01 to R25). Customs Notice 25-19 now refers the product and importer schedules to the Remission List published by the Department of Finance. The order's date windows were being amended when this page was written; read the version of CN 25-19 and the Remission List in force on the line's date, and see why your CAD shows the wrong surtax for how the US remission interacts with the US surtax orders.

US motor vehicles (25-0465, 26-0302). Both are importer-specific: only importers whose business number is in the schedule, up to the number of vehicles set for each, for CUSMA-originating vehicles. The 2025 order (SI/2025-60) covers vehicles imported from April 9, 2025 to April 8, 2026; the 2026 order (SI/2026-13) and Customs Notice 26-10 cover April 9, 2026 to April 8, 2027.

Steel quota remission (25-0976). 25-0976A for goods in transit on or before August 1, 2025 and imported on or after that day; 25-0976A01 for goods in transit after August 1 and on or before December 26, 2025 and imported on or after December 26; 25-0976B for goods matching a class and description in the schedule, imported on or after June 27, 2025. The quota surtax itself is covered in steel TRQs and the over-quota surtax.

Steel derivative remission (26-0145). A and B for listed health, safety and defence uses; C for Schedule 1 goods; D for qualifying wind towers; E01 for Schedule 2 items 1 and 2 imported before March 31, 2027; E02 for grinding balls imported before October 23, 2026; F01 to F09 for importer-specific Schedule 3 items. The detail is in steel derivative surtax remission.

Which claim window applies to the US remission order?

On November 11, 2026, the two primary sources disagreed. Paragraph 5(c) of the consolidated United States Surtax Remission Order (2025), current on Justice Laws to October 19, 2026, requires the claim "within two years after the date of importation". Customs Notice 25-19, updated November 9, 2026, lists "within four years after the date of importation" among the conditions. The consolidated text showed no amendment after September 8, 2026. The notice reflects an amending order made on November 5, 2026 (P.C. 2026-1073), whose text had not yet been published in the Canada Gazette or on Justice Laws on November 11, 2026. Until the amended text is published, the safe course on any US surtax line is to file the claim within two years of importation, which meets either reading.

What do all the surtax remission codes have in common?

The CBSA notices for these orders repeat the same rules (Customs Notices 25-05, 25-17, 25-19, 26-07 and 26-10 give the reason codes):

1. Declare the surtax, then claim the code. "Where remission has been granted, surtax must be declared in addition to the applicable remission." Surtax code and field 85 stay on the line (field 85 in CBSA's notices, field 68 in D17-1-10's electronic coding; the CAD field by field explains both).
2. Correction before the payment due date. A correction with reason code R5-00-COT relieves the surtax owing.
3. Adjustment after it. An adjustment with reason code R2-74-1-GR-53 refunds the surtax paid. The process is in CBSA Memorandum D17-2-1, and the wider routes in correcting a Canadian entry.
4. One relief per surtax. Each order makes remission conditional on no other relief of the surtax having been granted under the Customs Tariff, so a line that recovered the surtax through drawback or duties relief cannot also claim remission.
5. Evidence on file. Customs Notices 25-19 and 26-07 ask that claims be supported by documents such as the CAD, purchase order, invoice and bill of lading, and end-use claims by records of the use.

A worked CAD: four special authority codes, two of them wrong

The figures are illustrative. One CAD released November 2, 2026, four lines, all with a free customs duty rate. Every line carries a 25% surtax.

Line 1 is on Schedule 1 of the China remission order (item 7.1), the China surtax is 25% under section 3.1 of the China Surtax Order (2024) and its code is 24187B (Customs Notice 24-36). CAD 100,000 × 25% = CAD 25,000, remitted. The same coils released on January 5, 2027 would fall outside the Schedule 1 window, which ends December 31, 2026, unless the order is extended: CAD 25,000 owed.

Line 3 is the underpayment. Grinding balls moved to Schedule 2, item 3, of the steel derivative remission order, available only for goods imported before October 23, 2026. A November 2 release has no remission: CAD 120,000 × 25% = CAD 30,000 is owed. Because the CAD declared the surtax, the fix is to remove the code by a correction or adjustment so the CAD 30,000 is paid, not to add a surtax line.

Line 4 nets to the right money, since desks of 9403.10.00.91 are in Schedule 1. But the CAD should carry 25267A, CAD 10,000 in field 85 and the code. The re-filed line declares CAD 10,000 and claims it back.

The total at stake on this CAD is CAD 30,000 underpaid, plus the GST on it: 5% of the extra CAD 30,000 of value for tax, CAD 1,500.

How do you audit special authority codes across past entries?

1. Export every line with a special authority code since October 2024, with the code, surtax code, field 85, tariff item, origin, importer business number and release date.
2. Map each code to its order and ground using the table above and the current customs notice.
3. Test each condition: tariff item and description against the schedule, the import date against the window, the business number against importer-specific schedules, end-use evidence for A, B, C and S codes.
4. Check the code matches the surtax. A 26-0145 code on a line with a US surtax code, or a 25-0466 code on a steel derivative line, claims relief under the wrong order.
5. Check that the surtax is declared wherever a remission code is entered.
6. Then the other direction: every line that paid a surtax with no code, tested against every remission order that could relieve it.
7. Sort by deadline. Most windows are two years from importation, much shorter than the four years for an ordinary refund under section 74 of the Customs Act.

TariffSense reads CAD/B3 lines and broker accounting exports, maps every special authority code to its remission order and ground, checks the tariff item, description, date window and importer against that order's conditions, and flags codes that do not hold as well as paid surtax lines that could have claimed one, with the time left to file. Filing stays with your broker or your own CARM account. The full Canadian audit is in auditing CAD/B3 entries after accounting, and the stacking of the surtax orders themselves in is my product on the steel derivative surtax list.

What should you do next on your own entries?

Run the two lists side by side: lines with a code, tested for grounds, and lines with surtax and no code, tested for missed remission. File the missed claims oldest first, because the two-year windows from importation close first, and correct the codes that do not hold. Confirm any filing with a licensed customs broker.