Importing crusher and screen parts into Canada: what it costs, how it works, and how to skip the paperwork

The short version

• Wear parts that classify under tariff item 8474.90 enter Canada duty-free; the MFN rate and the United States Tariff rate are both Free, so no origin claim is needed to reach zero duty.
• The real costs are the 5% GST at the border, customs clearance and freight, and all three can be known before you place the order.
• When Frank Aggregate delivers to your Canadian site, we are the importer of record: one all-inclusive customs clearance line, GST or HST on the invoice total at your province's rate, nothing for you to register, post or file.
• Every quote shows both delivery options, so the treatment is clear before you order and the invoice matches the quote.
• Or you take delivery at a US address you name, such as a receiving depot or carrier terminal in a US border town, pay no GST on the sale, and import on your own account.
• Since CARM, a Canadian business importing on its own account needs its own portal account and its own financial security; a broker's bond no longer covers its clients.
• The calculator below gives you the landed number using your own parts value, exchange rate and shipment details.

Most buyers who have imported before are not worried about duty. They are worried about the invoice that shows up two weeks later with a brokerage fee, a bond fee and a disbursement charge nobody mentioned, or about a load sitting at the border because an account was missing. That is a fair worry, and it is avoidable. On parts under 8474.90 the duty is zero. What is left is GST, clearance and freight, and every one of those numbers can be on the page before you commit.

What happens at the border, step by step

Classify the goods. Every item on the entry gets a tariff classification. Canada's Customs Tariff for 2026 lists tariff item 8474.90.00, covering parts of machinery for sorting, screening, separating, washing, crushing and grinding, with an MFN Tariff of Free and a United States Tariff of Free. The statistical suffixes split parts of crushing or grinding machines from parts of sorting, screening, separating or washing machines. Mantles, bowl liners, concaves, jaw dies, blow bars, and screen decks or panels supplied as machine parts fall here. Because the MFN rate is Free, the duty is zero whatever the country of origin, and you do not need an origin claim to get there.

Not everything on a parts list is a machine part. Woven wire cloth, perforated plate, bearings, belting and general hardware are commonly classified under other headings, and those headings can carry duty. That is a classification question, not a guess. Every product page on frankaggregate.com shows the item's HS code, so you or your broker can check before ordering, and the CBSA issues advance rulings on classification if you want the answer in writing for a part you buy repeatedly.

Put a value on the goods in Canadian dollars. For goods shipped directly from US stock to a Canadian buyer, the value for duty is the price paid for the parts, converted to Canadian dollars. Freight from the US shipping point into Canada is not part of that base on a direct shipment. Anything more complicated than a straight purchase belongs with your broker.

Have a commercial invoice that describes the parts. Clear part numbers, plain descriptions of what each item is and what machine it belongs to, quantities, unit prices, currency, and country of origin per line. Vague descriptions are the usual reason a shipment gets questioned.

Present the entry under an importer's account. Under CARM, the entry is accounted for under the importer of record's own business number and program account. That is either your account or the account of whoever is the importer on the entry.

Release. If the importer has Release Prior to Payment, the goods move and the duties and taxes are settled afterward. If not, the goods are released once the duties and taxes are paid. A broker can advance that money at the border, and will charge for doing so.

GST and the input tax credit. The CBSA collects the 5% federal GST on commercial imports, calculated on the value for duty in Canadian dollars plus any duty. The provincial part of HST or PST is not collected at the border on commercial imports; provincial rules apply afterwards. If the importer of record is a GST registrant, it recovers that import GST as an input tax credit on its own return. Only the importer of record claims that credit, which is the single most important thing to keep straight when you decide who imports.

What it costs: a worked example

Here is a real order, priced end to end. The exchange rate is an input, not a quoted rate; substitute your own.

Those clearance components are our broker's published per-shipment rates as of September 2026, in Canadian dollars, and they can change. Ocean or air shipments carry a brokerage entry fee of 105 rather than 85, and an entry with more than three HS codes adds 5 per additional code.

Four things move the number. The exchange rate moves the value for duty and therefore the GST, and it is the biggest single variable on a large order. The number of shipments matters more than the size of any one of them, because the entry fee, the bond and the CARM handling fee are charged per shipment: one consolidated release costs less in clearance than three partials. The number of distinct HS codes on one entry matters past three. And whether the shipment rides on an annual bond or a single-entry bond decides whether the 50 appears at all; an importer with its own annual security does not pay it per shipment, and an occasional importer usually does.

Run your own parts value, exchange rate and shipment details through the calculator below.

CARM changed who can do this

CARM is the CBSA's system for commercial importers. Two things matter to anyone importing on their own account.

Since CARM became the CBSA's system of record on October 21, 2024, a commercial importer must post its own financial security, either a written security agreement (a surety bond) or a cash deposit, to use Release Prior to Payment. A customs broker's security no longer covers its clients; the transition period that let importers keep riding on a broker's security ended in the spring of 2025. Goods are accounted for under the importer's own business number and import program account.

Security is sized from your own activity: the CARM system calculates it from your highest monthly accounts receivable with the CBSA, duties and taxes including GST, over the previous 12 months. A written security agreement must cover at least 50% of that amount, a cash deposit 100%, with a minimum of $5,000 per import program account.

The plain consequence for a plant that imports three or four times a year: you need a CARM Client Portal account and an import/export program account on your business number, and then you choose. Post your own security and get release before payment, or skip the security and pay the duties and taxes before the goods are released on every shipment. Both are legitimate. Neither is something your broker can cover for you on its own security any more. How long registration takes and what a bond costs depend on your business and your surety provider; the CBSA and a surety provider are the places to get those answers.

Where the goods are delivered decides the GST

This is the part that surprises people, and the rule is simpler than it sounds. Under the Excise Tax Act, a sale of goods is made in Canada when the goods are delivered or made available to the buyer in Canada, and made outside Canada when they are delivered or made available to the buyer outside Canada. The Canada Revenue Agency sets this out in its place of supply guidance. A supply made outside Canada is not subject to GST on the sale, whoever the seller and the buyer are. It turns on where delivery happens, not on the nationality of the seller.

Frank Aggregate is a Canadian company based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, registered for GST/HST, and our parts ship from stock in the United States. So the rule lands on us in two different ways depending on the delivery terms you choose, and the delivery terms are stated on the quote.

When we deliver to your Canadian site, the sale is made in Canada, and the invoice carries GST or HST at the rate of the province where we deliver, because for goods the place of supply is the province where they are delivered: 13% HST in Ontario, for example, and 5% GST in Alberta. The CRA's rate table lists every province, and a registrant recovers the amount as an input tax credit in the ordinary way. Provincial sales tax, in provinces that have one, is a separate matter and outside this guide. When you take delivery at a US address, the sale is made outside Canada and there is no GST on the invoice; you import on your own account, pay the 5% GST to the CBSA at the border, and as importer of record and a registrant you claim that GST as your own input tax credit. Confirm the treatment on your own return with your accountant, but the rule itself is not ambiguous.

Two ways to buy from Frank Aggregate

Every quote shows both options, priced, so you can compare them before you order.

The US address on option 2 is whatever you name: a freight receiver or parcel depot in a border town, a carrier terminal, or your own US location. You or your carrier then bring the goods across and import them. The crossings buyers use most often, by region:

• Ontario: Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York; Port Huron and Detroit, Michigan; Ogdensburg, New York.
• Quebec: Champlain and Plattsburgh, New York; Derby Line, Vermont.
• British Columbia: Blaine and Sumas, Washington.
• Alberta: Sweet Grass, Montana.
• Saskatchewan: Portal, North Dakota.
• Manitoba: Pembina, North Dakota.
• New Brunswick: Houlton and Calais, Maine.
• Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland: usually routed through New Brunswick.

Option 2 makes sense if you already import regularly, already have your security posted, and have a truck or a carrier account that makes the border leg cheap. Option 1 makes sense if you do not want an import file at all.

What appears on a Frank Aggregate invoice

On a delivered order, the invoice has four lines and a total:

• Parts
• Freight
• Customs clearance, as one all-inclusive line
• GST or HST on the total of the above, at the rate of the province where we deliver
• Total

There is no separate import-GST line, because we paid that GST at the border as importer of record and we recover it ourselves. You are buying goods in Canada from a Canadian registrant. You claim the GST or HST shown on our invoice as an input tax credit in the ordinary way, the same as any domestic purchase.

Quotes are in US dollars and the customs clearance line appears on the quote, not after the fact, so the invoice matches what you approved.

Questions buyers actually ask

Is there duty on crusher wear parts coming from the US?

Not on parts that classify under 8474.90. The 2026 Customs Tariff shows MFN Free and United States Tariff Free for that item, so mantles, bowl liners, concaves, jaw dies, blow bars, and screen decks or panels supplied as machine parts come in at zero duty regardless of where they were cast. Because the MFN rate is already Free, you do not need an origin claim or origin certification to get that result on those parts.

Do I need a customs broker?

Only if you are the importer. If we deliver to your site, we are the importer of record and there is no entry in your name, so you need no broker, no bond and no CARM account. If you take delivery at a US address and bring the goods in yourself, you need an account under CARM and either your own security or payment before release, and most buyers in that position use a broker to file the entry.

What is CARM and do I need it?

CARM is the CBSA's system for commercial importers. You need a CARM Client Portal account and an import/export program account on your business number if your company is the importer of record. Since CARM went live in October 2024, a broker's security no longer covers its clients, and goods are accounted for under the importer's own business number. If you never appear as importer, none of it applies to you.

Do I pay GST if I pick the parts up in the US?

No GST on the sale. Delivery takes place outside Canada, so the supply is made outside Canada and our invoice carries no GST. You then pay the 5% GST to the CBSA when you import, and as importer of record and a registrant you claim it as your input tax credit.

How is GST or HST handled when you deliver, and can I claim it back?

We pay the 5% GST at the border as importer of record and recover it ourselves as the importer. Your invoice shows GST or HST on the invoice total at the rate of the province where we deliver, 13% HST in Ontario or 5% GST in Alberta for example, which is a normal domestic sale, and you claim that amount as an input tax credit on your return. You never see two GST charges, and there is no import-GST line on your invoice. Your accountant can confirm the treatment on your specific return.

What happens if one item on my list is classified outside 8474.90?

Then it is assessed under its own heading, and that heading may carry duty. Woven wire cloth, perforated plate, bearings, belting and general hardware are the usual examples. Every product page shows the item's HS code, so you can see before ordering which lines are machine parts and which are not, and the CBSA issues advance rulings if you want a binding answer on an item you buy repeatedly. On a delivered order this is our problem, not yours, because the clearance line is all-inclusive.

What about heavy castings, like a set of liners on one skid?

Weight changes freight, not duty or clearance. Parts move by courier or LTL, and a single skid over roughly 6,000 lb needs a flatbed. Freight is quoted per order to the address you give us. The clearance components are per shipment, so combining a heavy skid with the rest of the order on one release is cheaper than splitting it.

Can you quote in Canadian dollars?

Our quotes are in US dollars, because the parts are priced and stocked in US dollars. What we can do is show you the Canadian landed number at an exchange rate you name, using the calculator above, so you can budget in the currency you report in. The exchange rate is an input we agree on, never a rate we present as current.

Price a real order

If you want the number yourself, put your parts value, exchange rate, freight and shipment details into the calculator above and you will have the landed cost in Canadian and US dollars, with the clearance components broken out.

If you would rather we did it, send a parts list for a landed quote with your machine make, model and delivery address. We will come back with both delivery options priced, the customs clearance line shown in full, and the freight quoted to your site. We stock crusher wear parts, screen parts and bearings for Metso and Nordberg, Telsmith, KPI-JCI, Terex Cedarapids and Superior equipment. If you want to talk through a classification question or a delivery option first, contact us.

Sources

• Canada Border Services Agency, Customs Tariff 2026, Chapter 84 (tariff item 8474.90.00, parts of crushing and screening machinery: MFN Free)
• Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 3-3, Place of Supply (where a sale of goods is made in or outside Canada)
• Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST rates and place-of-supply rule for goods (which rate to charge)
• Excise Tax Act, section 212 (5% tax on imported goods)
• Excise Tax Act, section 215 (value of imported goods for tax: value for duty plus duties)
• Excise Tax Act, section 169 (input tax credits)
• Canada Border Services Agency, CARM: Assessment and Revenue Management
• Canada Border Services Agency news release, February 2025: importers must submit their own financial security under CARM
• Canada Border Services Agency, CARM, Release Prior to Payment: get ready to enrol (how financial security is calculated, minimum and maximum)