CBP - Customs Border Patrol

If you are mailing merchandise from the U.S. insular possessions or from Caribbean Basin countries, you should follow different procedures than if you were mailing packages from any other country. These special procedures are described in the section on Unaccompanied Purchases.

In addition to duty and, at times, taxes, CBP collects a user fee on dutiable packages. Those three fees are the only fees CBP collects; any additional charges on shipments are for handling by freight forwarders, customs brokers, and couriers or for other delivery services. Some carriers may add other clearance charges that have nothing to do with customs duties.

Note: Customs brokers are not CBP employees. Broker fees are based on the amount of work they do, not on the value of the items you ship. Travelers sometimes find the fee to be high in relation to the value of the shipment. The most cost effective option is to take your purchases with you if at all possible.

Unaccompanied Baggage
Unaccompanied baggage is anything you do not bring back with you. These may be items that were with you when you left the United States or items that you acquired (received by any means) while outside the United States. In general, unaccompanied baggage falls into the following three categories.

U.S. Mail Shipments
Shipping through the U.S. mail, including parcel post, is a cost-efficient way to send items to the United States. The Postal Service sends all foreign mail shipments to CBP for examination. CBP officers then return packages that do not require duty to the Postal Service, which sends them to a local post office for delivery. The local post office delivers them without charging any additional postage, handling costs, or other fees.

Packages that contain fruits, vegetables, meat or other items of agricultural interest are inspected to ensure that items meet the requirements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine. The CBP agriculture specialist encloses a Mail Interception Notice, PPQ Form 287, to document any agriculture items that are removed from the package. The package is returned to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery. Information on importing agriculture items is located on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Website at ( USDA ) .

If the package does require payment of duty, CBP attaches a form called a mail entry, CBP Form3419Alt, which indicates how much duty is owed and charges a $5 processing fee as well. When the post office delivers the package, it will also charge a small handling fee.

Commercial goods—goods intended for resale—may have special entry requirements. Such goods may require a formal entry in order to be admitted into the United States. Formal entries are more complicated and require more paperwork than informal entries. Generally, informal entries are personal packages or commercial items worth less than $2,000. CBP employees may not prepare formal entries for you; only you or a licensed customs broker may prepare one. For more information on this subject, please see the brochure U.S. Import Requirements.

If you believe you have been charged an incorrect amount of duty on a package mailed from abroad, you may file a protest with CBP. You can do this in one of two ways. You can accept the package, pay the duty, and write a letter explaining why you think the amount was incorrect. You should include with your letter the yellow copy of the mail entry (CBP Form3419Alt). Send the letter and the form to the CBP office that issued the mail entry, located on the lower left-hand corner of the form.

The other way to protest duty is to refuse delivery of the package. Then within five days, send your protest letter to the post office where the package is being held. The post office will forward your letter to CBP and will hold your package until the protest is resolved.

For additional information on international mailing, please see the brochure International Mail Imports, or visit the CBP web site at www.cbp.gov.

Express Shipments
Packages may be sent to the United States by private-sector courier or delivery service from anywhere in the world. The express company usually takes care of clearing your merchandise through customs and charges a fee for its service. Some travelers have found this fee to be higher than they expected.

Freight Shipments
Cargo, whether duty is owed on it or not, must clear customs at the first port of arrival in the United States. If you choose, you may have your freight sent, while it is still in CBP custody, to another port for clearance. This is called forwarding freight in bond. You, or someone you appoint to act for you, are responsible for arranging to clear your merchandise through CBP or for having it forwarded to another port.

Frequently, a freight forwarder in a foreign country will take care of these arrangements, including hiring a customs broker in the United States to clear the merchandise through CBP. Whenever a third party handles the clearing and forwarding of your merchandise, that party charges a fee for its services. This fee is not a CBP charge.

When a foreign seller entrusts a shipment to a broker or agent in the United States, that seller usually pays only enough freight to have the shipment delivered to the first port of arrival in the United States. This means that you, the buyer, will have to pay additional inland transportation, or freight forwarding charges, plus broker fees, insurance, and possibly other charges.

If it is not possible for you to secure release of your goods yourself, another person may act on your behalf to clear them through CBP. You may do this as long as your merchandise consists of a single, noncommercial shipment (not intended for resale) that does not require a formal entry. In other words, if the merchandise is worth less than $2,000 and you must give the person a letter that authorizes that person to act as your unpaid agent.

Once you have done this, that person may fill out the CBP declaration and complete the entry process for you. Your letter authorizing the person to act in your behalf should be addressed to the “Officer in Charge of CBP” at the port of entry, and the person should bring it along upon arrival to clear your package.

CBP will not notify you when your shipment arrives, as this is the responsibility of your carrier. If your goods are not cleared within 15 days of arrival you could incur expensive storage fees.

Unaccompanied Purchases From Insular Possessions and Caribbean Basin Countries
Unaccompanied purchases are goods you bought on a trip that are being mailed or shipped to you in the United States. In other words, you are not carrying the goods with you when you return. If your unaccompanied purchases are from an insular possession or a Caribbean Basin country and are being sent directly from those locations to the United States, you may enter them as follows:

• Up to $1,600 in goods will be duty-free under your personal exemption if the merchandise is from an insular possession.
• Up to $600 in goods will be duty-free if it is from a Caribbean Basin country.
• Of these amounts ($1,600 or $600), up to $800 in goods will be duty-free if the merchandise was acquired in a place other than the insular possessions or the Caribbean Basin. However, merchandise that qualifies for the $800 exemption must be in your possession when you return (must accompany you) in order for you to claim the duty free exemption. The duty-free exemptions for unaccompanied baggage apply only to goods from the insular possessions and the Caribbean Basin countries listed earlier.
• An additional $1,000 in goods will be dutiable at a flat rate if they are from an insular possession, or from a Caribbean Basin country. (See chart under Paying Duty.)
• · If you are sending more than $2,600 from an insular possession or more than $1,600 from a Caribbean Basin country, the duty rates in the Harmonized Tariff Schedules of the United States will apply. The Harmonized Tariff Schedule describes different rates of duty for different commodities. For example, linen tablecloths will not have the same duty rates as handicrafts or plastic toy trucks.

To take advantage of the duty-free exemption for unaccompanied tourist purchases from an insular possession or a Caribbean country:

Step 1. At place and time of purchase, ask your merchant to hold your item until you send him or her a copy of CBP Form 255 (Declaration of Unaccompanied Articles), which must be affixed to the package when it is sent.

Step 2. (a) On your declaration form (CBP Form 6059B), list everything you acquired on your trip, except the things you already sent home as gifts; (b) check off on the declaration those items you are not bringing with you--that is, the unaccompanied items. You must also complete a separate Declaration of Unaccompanied Articles form (CBP Form 255) for each package or container that will be sent to you after you arrive in the United States. This form may be available where you make your purchase. If not, ask a CBP officer for one when you clear the customs area.

Step 3. When you return to the United States, the CBP officer will: (a) collect duty and tax on the dutiable goods you have brought with you; (b) check to see that your list of unaccompanied articles, which you indicated on the CBP Form 255, agrees with your sales slips, invoices; (c) validate the CBP Form 255 as to whether your purchases are duty-free under your personal exemption ($1,200 or $600) or whether they are subject to a flat rate of duty. Two copies of this three part CBP Form 255 will be returned to you.

Step 4. Send the yellow copy of the CBP Form 255 to the foreign shopkeeper or vendor holding your purchase, and keep the other copy for your records. (When you make your purchase, it is very important to tell the merchant not to send your package to the United States until he or she gets the copy of form CBP Form 255.)

Step 5. When the merchant gets your CBP Form 255, he or she will put it in an envelope and attach the envelope securely to the outside wrapping of the package or container. The merchant must also mark each package “Unaccompanied Purchase.” Please remember that each package or container must have its own CBP Form 255 attached. This is the most important step to follow in order to gain the benefits allowed under this procedure.

Step 6. If your package has been mailed, the U.S. Postal Service will deliver it after it clears customs. If you owe duty, the Postal Service will collect the duty along with a postal handling fee. If a commercial courier delivers your package, the delivery service will notify you of its arrival so you can go to the CBP office holding the shipment and complete the entry procedure. If you owe duty or tax, you can pay it at that time. You could also hire a customs broker to do this for you. However, be aware that brokers are not CBP employees, and they charge fees for their services.

Storage Charges: If freight or express packages from your trip are delivered before you return and you have not made arrangements to pick them up, CBP will authorize their placement in storage after 15 days. This storage will be at your risk and expense. If they are not claimed within six months, the items will be sold at auction.

Packages sent by mail and not claimed within 30 days will be returned to the sender unless the amount of duty is being protested.