Auditor General's CARM report: what importers need to know (2026)
TariffPlus · Published October 29, 2026
Canada's Auditor General found that CARM, CBSA's $804 million customs revenue system, calculates duties correctly but still runs on at least 38 manual workarounds, and that more than 4,000 importer help requests were unresolved as of June 2026, taking 34 days on average. Because CARM assesses duties only on what importers self-declare, the risk of a wrong HS code or value sits with the importer, and support is slow when something goes wrong.
Source: Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Report 23, tabled October 29, 2026.
What did the Auditor General find about CARM?
The headline is mixed. CARM works: the OAG found it effectively processed customs duties and taxes on the basis of the information importers provide, and replaced mostly paper-based legacy systems (paras 9-10).
But it did not deliver the expected efficiencies or value for money (para 44). CBSA planned to eliminate all workarounds within a year of launch; at least 38 remained as of June 1, 2026, costing at least 92,000 employee hours a year (paras 19-20).
Nine legacy systems slated for retirement were still running as of June 2026, adding $5 million in costs to date (para 17). The 35-year-old Customs Commercial System can't be shut down until at least 2030 (para 22).
And CBSA can't tell if CARM is paying off: 16 of its 19 performance indicators (84%) were not designed to measure benefits or value for money (para 15).
How much did CARM cost?
$804 million from 2010-11 to 2025-26: $499 million to develop and $305 million to maintain (Exhibit 3).
The initial development budget was about $371 million, raised three times to $527 million. Actual development cost of $499 million was under the final budget, but about 35% ($128 million) above the initial one (para 37).
CARM was due in 2021 and launched in October 2024. Moving to the cloud added 14 months and more than $40 million; unplanned Customs Act changes added 17 months and more than $100 million (para 38).
Maintenance has run over too. CBSA covered an $88 million maintenance shortfall from its non-CARM budget (para 39), and expects to spend about $73 million in 2026-27 against $37.1 million in annual funding, so shortfalls are forecast to continue (paras 40, 42).
What did importers experience?
CBSA's helpdesk averaged about 19,000 requests a month: 11,000 calls and 8,000 written requests (para 26).
A 2-10 working day service standard existed before launch but was removed by the time CARM went live. Requests took 34 days on average to resolve; over 4,000 were still open in June 2026, open about 260 days on average and some more than 500 days (para 27).
Importers told auditors the user guides were outdated, too technical and not user-friendly. Registration was a pain point: about 1 in 3 businesses needed help registering (paras 31-32).
What does CBSA say?
CBSA agreed with all five recommendations (Recommendations and Responses). It commits to publish service levels for help requests and explain incident resolution times (June 2027), update learning supports with industry (June 2027), rebuild its performance indicators and do a cost-benefit review of workarounds (September 2027), and build a multi-year funding strategy (December 2027).
In CBSA's October 29, 2026 update, CBSA says the CARM Client Portal is available 99% of the time, 99.65% of imports are processed electronically, more than 263,000 businesses use CARM, and duties and taxes rose from $39.8 billion in 2023-24 to $41.7 billion in 2024-25. These are CBSA's figures, not audited findings.
What does it mean for importers?
CARM calculates what you owe from what you declare. The OAG notes importers can make errors or omissions, and that compliance officers review risky declarations, which can lead to adjustments (para 7, Exhibit 1).
Getting help is slow. With no published service standard until at least mid-2027, a problem you need CBSA to fix could take weeks or longer.
Our reading, not an OAG finding: the report says workarounds reduce the time officers have to assess risky declarations. As those workarounds are cleared, we expect more capacity for compliance reviews, so errors in classification and valuation are more likely to be caught.
What should importers do now?
- Check your HS codes. A wrong tariff classification means a wrong duty rate, and corrections can mean adjustments and interest.
- Confirm your customs values, including freight, assists and currency conversion.
- Keep your CARM registration, delegations and security current, and don't wait until a shipment is stuck.
- Document how you classified and valued each product so you can answer a review quickly.
- Work with a qualified customs broker or a reliable tool, and review what is filed on your behalf.
Check before you declare
Look up HS codes and Canadian duty rates with TariffPlus, and estimate your full landed cost before you import.
FAQ
Does the Auditor General say CARM is broken?
No. The OAG concluded CARM effectively processed duties and taxes, but did not deliver the expected efficiencies or value for money (para 44).
How much did CARM cost?
$804 million from 2010-11 to 2025-26: $499 million to develop and $305 million to maintain (Exhibit 3).
How long does CBSA take to answer a CARM help request?
34 days on average, with no published service standard. CBSA has committed to publish service levels by June 2027 (para 27; response to recommendation 30).
Who is responsible if a CARM declaration is wrong?
The importer. CARM is built on self-declaration under the Customs Act and calculates duties on what is declared (para 7).
Will CBSA do more compliance reviews?
The report does not say so. Our reading: as workarounds are cleared, officers should have more time for risky declarations, which the OAG says workarounds currently crowd out.
When will CBSA fix the issues?
CBSA agreed to all five recommendations, with completion dates from June 2027 to December 2027.
Got a CARM notice about your RPP security? See the January 15, 2027 deadline guide.