Tariffs & HS Codes

Classification calls, duty rates, rulings and disputes

just now

Broker wants full origin paperwork and mill certs on a parcel of branded giveaways worth under a thousand dollars: is this normal now?

We sent a small parcel to a new US office: branded shirts and mugs, a handful of spare steel fittings, some stickers. Total value under a thousand dollars. Our broker is treating it like a full commercial entry: manufacturer and origin details for the textiles, mill certificates for the steel, and a flag that some of the codes we gave him could carry antidumping or countervailing exposure. DHL has moved this kind of parcel for us before without asking any of this. So before I push back on the invoice: is a broker filing a formal entry on something this small doing his job properly, or padding the file?

Tomás Ferreiranl155 replies

just now

FedEx's IEEPA portal shows refunds 'received' as far back as May: nothing paid out, no explanation of channel

We were named importer of record on entries FedEx filed under their own bond, and the portal has shown some of them as refund received since May. FedEx's own site said payment would start on 10 August, but nobody there, not the portal and not customer service, will say by what channel: wire, cheque, or credited back to whatever was used at entry. Customer service just redirects you to the same portal that already told you nothing. Is the hold-up something in how the refund itself moves through the system, or is this a courier sitting on money it already has?

Tomás Ferreiranl155 replies

just now

Classification that used to take five minutes now takes four hours. How is anyone pricing that?

I have spent close to four hours today classifying a single article out of Brazil. Two years ago it was a five-minute job. The article has not changed. Everything around it has. I am not asking anyone for their rate. I am asking how the work is being priced now, because a flat entry fee written when classification was quick does not survive this. Either the fee moves or the time comes out of somewhere else, and there is nowhere else. Per line? Hourly on top of the entry? Absorbed and renegotiated at renewal? I want to know what is actually holding up in practice, not what sounds defensible.

Dale Whitcombus135 replies

just now

What is everyone actually running for tariff calculation, beyond Excel and the published schedule?

Every quote I put together right now starts the same way: pull the schedule, work the layers by hand, hope nothing has shifted since the last one I ran. Fine for one shipment. Not fine when I am pricing five in a morning and the client wants an answer before lunch. Plenty of desks are still doing this in a spreadsheet, and that is a perfectly good answer if it actually holds up at volume. What I want to know is what people use once it stops holding up: something built for this, something homegrown, or is the spreadsheet still the honest answer even at scale?

Tomás Ferreiranl84 replies

just now

USMCA entry will not take the forced-labour exclusion: tried 9903.05.93 and 9903.05.86, neither transmits

We have a USMCA entry that will not accept the forced-labour exclusion. I have tried it under 9903.05.93 and again under 9903.05.86, and neither one goes through. The filing comes back rejected without telling me anything useful about why. Meanwhile the box is sitting, and the demurrage clock does not care which subheading turns out to be the right one. So before I start paying storage on a question of nomenclature: is this a real classification problem at my end, or is the system refusing a combination that is actually legitimate? If anyone has got this exclusion to transmit on a USMCA entry recently, I would like to hear how the line was built rather than which code you used.

Tomás Ferreiranl123 replies

just now

Is anyone actually filing for the IEEPA Phase 3 refund yet, or is everyone still waiting like we are?

My company has been holding off on filing for the Phase 3 refund under IEEPA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs, mostly because nobody above me can tell me whether the uncertainty is a reason to wait or just an excuse to keep not deciding. I do not have a strong view either way, I am genuinely asking. Has anyone here actually gone ahead and filed while this is still unsettled? I want to understand what waiting is actually buying us, if anything, before I bring a recommendation upstairs.

Hana Satojp64 replies

1d ago

Smart thermostat classification: 8537 or 9032? CBP just questioned our ruling

We import Wi-Fi thermostats with learning algorithms. We have classified under 9032.10 (thermostats) for years, but CBP is now arguing 8537.10 as a 'control panel with multiple apparatus' because of the relay board and app control. The duty delta is 2.1 points plus 301 exposure. Has anyone defended 9032 for smart thermostats recently, and did GRI 3(b) essential character hold up?

Marieke van der Bergnl185 replies

Webinar Q&A1w ago

Q&A: Section 232 origin documentation (thread stays open)

Questions from the July 8 session plus everything you thought of afterwards. Isabel is still answering here, melt-and-pour documentation cases especially welcome. Recording is linked on the webinar page.

Isabel Torresmx113 replies

1w ago

Section 301 exclusion extensions: how is everyone monitoring expiry dates?

Between the machinery exclusions, the reinstated product exclusions and the solar carve-outs, we now track 40+ exclusion lines with different expiry dates. USTR notices land with little warning. Is anyone maintaining a shared tracker, or paying for a service that does this well? Spreadsheet fatigue is real.

Kenji Tanakajp133 replies

1w ago

Transfer pricing year-end adjustment: do you reconcile customs value retroactively?

Our group applies a year-end TP true-up that retroactively lowers intercompany purchase prices by ~3%. Tax is happy; I am not, because 40 import entries now overstate customs value. Do you file voluntary amendments for downward adjustments (and claim refunds), or only correct upward ones? What have EU customs authorities accepted?

Chiara Rossiit91 reply