Entrepreneurs’ New Year’s Import Resolutions

When we think of New Year’s resolutions we often think of the habits we want to build into our personal lives to reach our goals, but how many of us apply these resolutions to our businesses? There is typically a long list of things business owners want to get to, but struggle to prioritize. This list nags at us, popping up in our minds, quickly followed by the thought of “I’ve got to get to that...” but ultimately placed on the back burner in light of more pressing concerns. This is totally understandable and relatable, entrepreneurs are juggling a lot! So with that in mind, we have drafted a list of easy-to-do or delegate international trade resolutions for your business so that you can kick those nagging “should-dos” to the curb and focus on what you can fit into your busy workday.

Attend A Free, On-demand Webinar On Importing Topics

No time to attend a live webinar? No problem! Watch at your leisure with our library of on-demand courses. These courses are jam-packed with useful information that you can immediately use in your customs process. They are excellent for refreshing your knowledge or bringing a new staff member up to speed on the latest regulations. Our list of on-demand courses currently includes:

• How To Classify A Product
• How To Value A Product For Customs
• How To Import Into Canada
• How To Import Into The US
• How To Import CFIA Regulated Goods
• How To Import FDA Regulated Goods

To see our complete list of educational sessions, please visit The PCB Learning Center.

Review Your Import Transactions With Your Compliance Account Manager

If you are a client of PCB Customs Brokers, you benefit from having access to your own Compliance Account Manager. This manager reviews each and every import for your company to ensure it’s correct before final accounting with Customs, and to ensure that all preferential duty treatments that could have been taken were, mitigating any overpayments of duties and taxes on your behalf.

As you can imagine, this Account Manager becomes very familiar with the commodities you import, and spots irregularities quickly. However, you should also practice your due diligence and review all of your Customs Declarations to ensure they are accurate and complete. We recommend that you stay in regular contact with your Account Manager. Touching base from time to time will help you keep a finger on the pulse of your import transactions and stay up to date on any regulation changes that may affect your imports. 

Your Account Manager can also make recommendations on educational training sessions or consulting services that may be beneficial.

Needless to say, your Account Manager knows a lot about your import activity and they would love to discuss it with you.

Reach out to your Account Manager today by emailing compliance@pcb.ca or tcg@pcbusa.com.

Get An Import Assessment

For many new businesses, it is very important to understand costs so that a selling price can be established. One of the costs to consider is the landed cost of your supplies. What is the rate of duty and tax you will be required to pay upon entry into the country?

This requires a deep dive into the composition, origin, and value of all of the commodities you plan to import, resulting in the accurate application of a Tariff Code.

The Most Crucial Aspect Of Global Trade: HS Tariff Codes

Determining an accurate Tariff Code is a common tripping point for many entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as looking up your commodities in the HS Tariff Classification and using that code. General Rules Of Interpretation and Chapter Notes must first be consulted to ensure the commodity that you are trying to assess actually falls under that category. It can get complicated quickly.

Hiring a Trade Advisor to conduct an Import Assessment on the goods you are looking to import can provide a quick and accurate view of all regulations to follow, steps to take, and costs of importing these particular goods.

An Import Assessment is a 1-hour virtual appointment with a Senior Trade Advisor to ask any question to which you need answers in order to move forward with your business plans. This could include determining the duty rates (and tariff code, valuation, and origin requirements).

Interested in receiving an Import Assessment? Get yours started here.