On January 25, 2016, the first phase of the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CSBA) automated trade reporting and revenue system will be launched with the inauguration of an accounts receivable ledger (ARL) module.

ARL is the first stage of CARM, CBSA’s Assessment and Revenue Management project, which will change how the agency assesses, collects, manages and reports on import revenue and trade information.

CARM is designed to improve service delivery by simplifying processes and expanding opportunities for the commercial trade community to interact electronically with CBSA.

CARM will replace aging and non-integrated systems for revenue and cash management. It will also improve service delivery by simplifying processes and expanding opportunities for the commercial trade community to interact electronically with CBSA.

Anyone importing commercial goods into Canada may be impacted by these changes. CARM is scheduled to be implemented in phases by 2020.

ARL will replace existing revenue and cash management systems. The current daily and monthly K84 documents will be replaced by Daily Notices (DNs) and monthly Statements of Account (SOAs). These documents will include offsetting credits against debits to support account level management.

DNs and SOAs will be sent via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to all EDI-enabled importers and brokers. Daily Notices (DNs) will be provided with transactional detail while the SOA reflects an overall summary of the duty and taxes as provided in the Daily Notices.

Importers and brokers not EDI enabled will be able to receive printed account documents.

Organizations impacted by ARL must adjust their accounting and statement reconciliation processes to take advantage of the new statement information. They must also registering for testing and certification if their systems and complete testing and certification of their systems based on a testing package provided by CBSA’s Technical Commercial Client Unit.