Canadian Duty Drawback Specialists

You paid duty on goods you sent back out of Canada. Get it back.

If you import into Canada and later export — to the U.S. or anywhere else — the CBSA may owe you a refund of the duty you paid. We find it, prove it, and file it for you.

See what you could recover How it works
✓ No recovery, no fee
✓ Claims up to 4 years back
✓ We handle CBSA end-to-end

How much could you recover?

A 20-second rough estimate. No email required.

$0
estimated recoverable per year

Illustrative only — not a quote. Actual recovery depends on your import/export records and CBSA eligibility, which we confirm in a free review.

$1B+ in duty goes unclaimed in Canada every year 4 years — how far back a claim can reach $0 upfront — we're paid from what we recover
What is duty drawback?

The refund most importers never claim

Canada's Duty Drawback program lets you recover customs duties paid on imported goods that are afterward exported — whether you ship them out as-is, or after manufacturing, processing, or packaging. It's legitimate, it's federal, and it's badly underused because the paperwork is brutal.

📦

You imported it

You brought goods into Canada and paid customs duty at the border — on a commercial invoice, through a broker or courier like DHL or FedEx.

🌎

You exported it

Some or all of those goods later left Canada — sold to U.S. or international customers, returned, or shipped to a foreign warehouse.

💸

You're owed the duty

Because the goods didn't stay in Canada, the duty you paid is refundable. We assemble the proof CBSA requires and file the claim on your behalf.

How it works

We do the heavy lifting. You approve and get paid.

The reason most businesses never claim is the traceability — matching every export back to the exact import it came from. That's exactly what we're built for.

1

Free eligibility review

Tell us what you import and where it goes. We assess your eligibility and give you a realistic recovery range — no cost, no obligation.

2

We pull and reconcile your records

We gather your import entries (broker/courier customs data) and your export records, then build the import-to-export traceability CBSA requires — line by line, using proper FIFO attribution.

3

We prepare and file the claim

We assemble the drawback claim package — sample documentation, invoices, proof of export — and submit it to CBSA, then manage any follow-up questions or correction requests.

4

You get your refund

CBSA issues the refund to you. Our fee comes only from what's actually recovered — so we're not paid unless you are.

Do you qualify?

You're likely owed money if any of these sound like you.

Most clients are surprised they qualify. If you import into Canada and any of it leaves the country, it's worth a look.

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Why Clawback

Built by operators who file these claims for real

Clawback grew out of a Canadian e-commerce business that recovers its own duty every year. We're not a call center — we're customs operators who've done the reconciliation work ourselves, on real CBSA claims.

100%
contingency — no recovery, no fee
4 yr
retroactive claim window we mine
Line-level
import-to-export traceability
End-to-end
we manage CBSA, not just the math
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Questions

What people ask before getting started

Nothing upfront. We work on contingency — our fee is a percentage of what we actually recover for you. If we don't recover anything, you owe nothing.

Generally up to four years from the date the goods were imported. That means a first claim can often capture several years of refunds at once.

The program is legitimate and federal — the complexity is in the documentation, not the legality. We build the import-to-export traceability CBSA expects and present it cleanly, which is exactly what keeps a claim defensible.

Access to your import entries (from your broker or courier) and your export/sales records. We tell you exactly what to pull, and do the reconciliation from there.

It depends on claim size and CBSA processing times, but the review and package preparation typically move quickly once we have your records. We keep you posted at every stage.

Free eligibility review

Find out what you're owed.

Send us a few details and we'll come back with a realistic recovery estimate and next steps — usually within two business days.

  • ✓ No cost and no obligation
  • ✓ Your information stays confidential
  • ✓ A real person reviews it — not a bot

Start your free review

Takes about a minute.

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Thanks — we're on it.

Your details are on their way to our team. We'll get back to you within two business days with your recovery estimate and next steps.

Learn

How CBSA duty drawback actually works

A plain-English guide to the program, who qualifies, and the rules that decide how much you can recover. Have a question we don't cover here? Ask us in a free review.

The basics

What is the duty drawback program?

Canada's duty drawback program, administered by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), lets businesses recover customs duties paid on imported goods that are later exported. The goods can leave Canada in the same condition they arrived, or after being processed, assembled, or repackaged here.

Even goods that become obsolete or surplus and are destroyed under CBSA supervision can qualify. Claims are filed on CBSA Form K32, and the refund flows to whichever party in the import-and-export chain is entitled to it.

Timing & eligibility

Who qualifies — and how far back can you claim?

If you imported goods into Canada, paid duty, and those goods (or goods made from them) later left the country, you're likely eligible — whether you're the importer, the exporter, or the processor in between.

The catch is the deadline: a claim must generally be filed within four years of the date CBSA released the imported goods. Miss it and the duty is gone. The upside — a first-time claim can reach back across several years of imports at once, which is why an initial filing is often the largest.

Exporting to the U.S.

The CUSMA "lesser duty" rule

If you export to the United States or Mexico, CUSMA (formerly NAFTA) adds a wrinkle. For goods that are manufactured or transformed in Canada before export, drawback can be limited to the lesser of the duty paid in Canada or the duty paid entering the other country.

But there's a key exemption: goods exported in the same condition as imported — common for DTC brands re-shipping finished inventory to U.S. customers — are generally not subject to that limit and can qualify for full recovery. Knowing which bucket your goods fall into is what protects the size of your claim.

Documentation

What CBSA needs to see

A drawback claim lives or dies on traceability. CBSA needs a clean line from the duty you paid at import to the specific goods that left the country: the import accounting declaration (B3 / CAD), commercial invoices showing duty paid, and proof of export.

Where most claims stall is matching exports back to the right imports as inventory turns over. We build that linkage line by line using first-in, first-out (FIFO) attribution, so every dollar claimed is backed by a document CBSA can follow.

This is general information about the CBSA duty drawback program, not legal or customs advice. Eligibility and recovery amounts depend on your specific records, which we confirm in a free review.