Your Broker Knows Blog

Imagine you have a sports car that was entirely manufactured in the US. Repairing it requires specialty skills, equipment, and parts, so you send it to a specialized Canadian company. After getting the repairs, you arrange to have the car shipped back home. The question at the heart of today’s post is this - is that import dutiable in the eyes of Customs and Border Protection?

Antidumping duty, or ‘AD,’ and countervailing duty, or ‘CVD,’ are two of the key ways that the International Trade Administration and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) work together to protect US businesses. AD/CVDs are safeguard actions, known as Trade Remedies, that are intended to utilize these organizations’ unique position to balance the marketplace and keep US businesses competitive in an increasingly large global marketplace.

With tax season still fresh on everyone’s mind, now is the perfect time to test your importer health. When it comes to taxes, most businesses scrutinize their internal processes every year to help keep things running smoothly and avoid the worst effects of a potential audit - often going so far as to hire an outside consultant to serve as a kind of test auditor.

This week, we thought we would explore a little-known US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulation on relationships: what is the relationship between the Importer of Record and the international seller? In other words, are they Related Parties?

Rarely does a single hole sink an entire ship, and never has that been more true than in the mini case study we have for you today. There are many valuable issues tackled in this one, including: Is corporate identity theft a real thing?

For those who don’t know what ‘classification of goods’ at Customs is, it is the declaration, in precise detail, of the exact nature of an import. It is a process that uses a sophisticated system referred to as the ‘Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System” or the HS Code.

Before we begin with this week’s blog post, there are a few questions you should answer: Are you a commercial importer importing into Canada or the US? Do some or all of your imports fall under one of the following categories? They are imported and then later exported as-is.

In today's compliance driven world, where US Customs is enforcing rules more than ever and issuing penalties, importers are left wondering how...

Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) | So you have just cleared your first shipment into the U.S. and the prospects for increasing exports to the U.S. are high; your business plan is coming together.

You have made your sale, shipped the goods to your US buyer, and the shipment is on its way to the border. Then, without warning, the goods are stopped at the port of entry, and the customs broker requests an IRS number. At this point, you are likely wondering what an IRS number is and why it is needed. To help you understand, let's dive into this scenario a little deeper.