90 Day Postponement of Payment of Certain Duties, Taxes, and Fees
CBP has announced the postponement of payment of duties, taxes, and fees for importers experiencing significant financial hardship due to COVID-19 for 90 days. This postponement applies to entries entered from March 2020 through April 2020. Note that CBP will not return duties and fees already paid.
There are restrictions on which entries can receive a postponement in duties. Entries subject to any of the following are NOT allowed to receive a postponement in payment:
- Antidumping duties
- Countervailing duties
- Section 232 duties
- Section 201 duties
- Section 301 duties – This is a very important restriction as it covers a large percentage of imports from China.
Furthermore, in order to qualify for the postponement of payment, importers must be able to demonstrate that they have experienced “SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL HARDSHIP” during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is defined by Customs as follows:
An importer will be considered to have a significant financial hardship if the operation of such importer is fully or partially suspended during March 2020 or April 2020 due to orders from a competent governmental authority limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings due to COVID-19, and as a result of such suspension, the gross receipts of such importer for March 13-31, 2020 or April 2020 are less than 60 percent of the gross receipts for the comparable period in 2019.
An eligible importer does not need to file documentation with CBP to be eligible for this relief but must maintain documentation as part of its books and records establishing that it meets the requirements for relief. CBP may also conduct a review of the documentation at a future date to ensure compliance with the requirements.
If an importer believes that they qualify for the delay in duty payment, it is imperative that the importer contact our operations and accounting team as soon as possible. Cargocentric cannot certify which importers qualify. We will not be able to apply the 90 day postponement of payment unless directly authorized by the importer.
