Letter from Customs Dealer About Obligation Deferment (Template for Deferment Utility)

The next is a letter from Common Cargo’s home customs dealer regarding the obligation deferment for importers whose companies are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 20, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP) introduced that importers can request a 90-day deferral to pay sure estimated duties, taxes, and costs in case you are experiencing a important monetary hardship as a result of coronavirus illness (COVID-19). Entries filed in March or April of 2020 are eligible and may be deferred for 90 calendar days from the date that the deposit would in any other case be due. Please learn the necessities as outlined by CBP and confer with the supplied hyperlinks to find out your eligibility. If you need to request the 90 day deferral, please present the next assertion on Firm Letterhead signed by a member of the importer’s firm with the authorized authority requesting your customs dealer to defer obligation funds (Common Cargo clients, please ship these letters to your Account Govt):

On behalf of [IMPORTER], importer of document quantity [XX-XXXXXX], I affirm that my firm satisfies the necessities set forth by CBP within the April 22, 2020 momentary last rule titled, “Short-term Postponement of the Time to Deposit Sure Estimated Duties, Taxes, and Charges In the course of the Nationwide Emergency Regarding the Novel Coronavirus Illness (COVID-19) Outbreak,” printed at 85 Federal Register 22349. I perceive that I could also be required to submit proof of our qualification to CBP and instruct [CUSTOMS BROKER] to defer fee of duties on our behalf for all eligible entries by 90 calendar days from the date that the deposit would in any other case be due. I additional perceive that the deferral doesn’t permit for refunds of duties already paid or apply to sure entries, warehouse withdrawals, antidumping or countervailing duties, or Part 201, 232 or 301 duties. I additionally maintain [CUSTOMS BROKER] innocent of any negligence based mostly on our directions.

Print Title:

Signature: Date:

Upon receipt, your customs dealer will then decide which entries are eligible to defer fee based mostly on CBP’s directions and tips. As a result of it is a dynamic course of in an evolving panorama, customs brokers don’t assure that every one eligible shipments can be postponed; nevertheless, we’ll do our greatest to make sure that eligible shipments are deferred each day.

Vital Monetary Hardship:

CBP has outlined that an importer can be thought-about to have a major monetary hardship if the operation of such importer is absolutely or partially suspended throughout March 2020 or April 2020 as a result of orders from a reliable governmental authority limiting commerce, journey, or group conferences as a result of COVID-19, and because of such suspension, the gross receipts of such importer for March 13-31, 2020 or April 2020 are lower than 60 % of the gross receipts for the comparable interval in 2019.

Documentation:

An eligible importer doesn’t must file documentation with CBP to be eligible for this reduction however should preserve documentation as a part of its books and data establishing that it meets the necessities for reduction. CBP may conduct a assessment of the documentation at a future date to make sure compliance with the necessities.

Eligibility:

This momentary postponement of fee of estimated duties, taxes, and costs doesn’t apply to any entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, the place the entry abstract contains merchandise topic to antidumping duties, countervailing duties and/or Part 201, 232 or 301 duties.

Ineligibility:

With a purpose to reap the benefits of the 90-day postponement interval, importers/filers should guarantee their entries don’t embody merchandise that’s ineligible for the postponed fee. If, for instance, an entry is filed with merchandise topic to antidumping duties, AND merchandise not topic to antidumping duties, the complete entry will NOT be eligible for the 90-day postponed fee. In its place, CBP is authorizing the submission of separate entries pursuant to 19 CFR § 141.52. This authorization solely applies to entries that haven’t but been filed; it doesn’t apply to entries which have already been filed. So if, as within the above instance, a cargo has merchandise topic to antidumping duties, AND merchandise not topic to anti-dumping duties, two separate entries may be made.

[Please note: Customs broker cannot separate entries or docs, customers must separate the docs as desired and create multiple entry requests.]

Cost Timeframes:

Estimated duties, taxes, and costs paid on single pay foundation or Each day Assertion could also be postponed as much as 90 days from the fee due date. Instance:

Unique Due Date 90-Day Postponement
April 30, 2020 postponed to July 29, 2020

Estimated duties and costs paid by way of Periodic Month-to-month Assertion (PMS) could also be postponed as much as three months, as outlined by the fifteenth working day of the third month. Instance: