http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5108-eng.html

This breakfast session will focus on increasing customs compliance as well as highlighting the government reporting changes that are taking place over the next two years (ACI vs. CSA).

See our blog post regarding the differences between ACI and CSA.

Personal invites to follow. In the meantime, if you’re interested, please contact us.

Come by our booth and learn how our Customs Self Assessment (CSA) solutions can help you improve your compliance and reduce your importation costs!

Our offices will be closed today, however the MEPS CSA portal system is still online and will continue to work around the clock, processing and manging your data.

I found an interesting article published by KPMG in 2006 that weighs the pros and cons of both and thought that it would help our readers as well. So, here it is:

http://www.allbusiness.com/trade-development/international-trade-import/10551547-1.html

If you have any questions regarding CSA and the MEPS software solution, please contact us.

“MS Dynamics GP is a well known accounting and ERP system, so it just made sense to develop the plug-in” stated Neal Santin, Director of Technical Development for MEPS.

The fact that MEPS has developed a plug-in to Dynamics GP will lead to shorter implementation timelines for those customers that use GP as their accounting system

Neal added that “there are literally thousands of Dynamics GP users out there, so when we plan a CSA implementation, this plug-in will reduce the implementation timelines as well as reduce our costs. Those costs get passed on to our customers and allow them to save even more money by moving to a CSA solution.”

“We worked closely with our parent company, WebSan Solutions Inc (www.WebSan.com), who is a Microsoft Dynamics Partner.” Continued Neal. “WebSan has experience with numerous other ERP systems and we’re working on standard interfaces for many more.”

MEPS is a leading provider of Customs Self Assessment (CSA) software solutions and is rapidly growing their presence in the Canadian importation market.

Contact MEPS at : www.Meps.ca

Is CSA right for my company?

The first question to ask yourself is : Do you want to reduce importation costs and improve Customs Compliance?

Here are some Operational qualifying questions :

• Does my company currently have a process that compares customs declarations to our commercial invoices?  Could it be better?
• Do we want to improve your level of compliance with customs regulations?
• Do we want to reduce the amount of manual paperwork we complete for Canada Customs?
• Does our operation depend on assured movement of goods across the border into Canada?

Here are some Financial qualifying questions :

• Do we process more than 400 importation transactions per year?
• Do we spend more than $10,000 per year with Customs brokers?
• Do we want an import process that is driven by our own systems and financial records, rather than a third party?
• Do we want to minimize our exposure to Customs penalties?
• Do we want to substantially reduce the amount of amending entries we make?

If you answered YES to any of the above Operational or Financial questions, then CSA is definitely worth a look. MEPS has a process that makes CSA easy to achieve and affordable. We typically reduce our clients’ importation fees by 40% in the first year, while also improving their customs compliance! Contact us now to meet with our team of CSA experts.

If you would like to understand more about CSA, I invite you to look around our website, namely the following page : What is CSA?

Some are under the impression that:

• it takes up to two years to implement.
• it can be incredibly complicated and tie up internal resources for months just to get the process mapping done.
• IT personnel think that the integration to the Canadian Customs and Border Services Agency will be a nightmare.

So here is our response to the above:

• our average implementation timeline is between 3-5 months
• not true! Our resources help with the process and streamline it, to get it done in a timely manner
• We have “plug-ins” to most of the ERP systems used today (eg: Microsoft Dynamics GP plug-in) that enables quick integration between systems and the Canadian Border Services Agency

Fact : $400 BILLION of goods cross the Canadian border each year. Studies show that a large percentage of imports are mis-reported by the customs brokers. CSA achieves almost 98% compliance!

Fact : 25% of all goods coming into Canada are imported utilizing the Customs Self Assessment program

Fact : MEPS currently provides services to a large portion of the Customs Self Assessment importer market

So…what are you waiting for? Contact us now to see how you can get on the Customs Self Assessment program and start reducing your costs and increasing your compliance today!

PS – if you don’t believe me, check out the CBSA web site to learn more : http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/csa-pad/menu-eng.html

Find us on the official CBSA website, it can be difficult to find, so here’s the link :

http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/eservices/sp-fs/03-eng.html

Check us out on the CBSA website and then contact us to learn more about what Mercury E-Portal Solutions can do for your business! We’ll help you get on CSA and increase your compliance and reduce your importation costs!