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CBP Issues 90-Day Postponement of Payment for Certain Duties, Taxes & Fees
Good evening,

We wanted to let you know that effective Monday, April 20th, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued this Temporary Final Rule (TFR) issuing a 90-day postponement of payment for certain duties, taxes and fees. In addition, CBP issued the following guidance and payment instruction messages this evening pertaining to the TFR. 

We look forward to your feedback and any questions.

Thank you.

Brandon



CSMS #42423171 - COVID-19 - 90 Day Postponement of Payment for the Deposit of Certain Estimated Duties, Taxes, and Fees


On April 20, 2020, the Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be postponing for 90 calendar days the deadline for payment for the deposit of certain estimated duties, taxes, and fees for importers experiencing a significant financial hardship due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This temporary postponement applies to formal entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption (including entries for consumption from a Foreign Trade Zone) in March 2020 or April 2020.  CBP will not return deposits of estimated duties, taxes, and fees that have already been paid.
This temporary postponement does not apply to any entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, where the entry summary includes merchandise subject to one or more of the following:
  • Antidumping duties,
  • Countervailing duties,
  • Duties assessed pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962,
  • Duties assessed pursuant to Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, and
  • Duties assessed pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
No interest will accrue for the postponed payment of such estimated duties, taxes, and fees during this 90-day postponement period. No penalty, liquidated damages, or other sanction will be imposed for the postponed payment of the deposit of estimated duties, taxes, and fees in accordance with this temporary postponement.
This temporary postponement does not apply to deadlines for the payment of other debts to CBP, including but not limited to deadlines for the payment of bills for duties, taxes, fees, and interest determined to be due upon liquidation or reliquidation, deadlines for the payment of fees authorized pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 58c (except for merchandise processing fees and dutiable mail fees), or deadlines for the payment of any penalty or liquidated damages due to CBP.
To determine the amount of estimated duties, taxes, and fees owed, the date used for calculation remains the date that would have otherwise applied in the absence of the 90-day postponement period.
For entries eligible for this temporary postponement, the requirement to pay the deposit of estimated duties, taxes, and fees for the purpose of establishing the time of entry stated in 19 CFR § 141.68 is waived.
 
The timeframe for entry summary filing is not changed.
 
SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL HARDSHIP
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.
ENTRIES NOT ELIGIBLE FOR THE 90-DAY POSTPONEMENT
This temporary postponement of payment of estimated duties, taxes, and fees does not apply to any entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, where the entry summary includes merchandise subject to antidumping duties, countervailing duties and/or Section 201, 232 or 301 duties.   
In order to take advantage of the 90-day postponement period, importers/filers must ensure their entries do not include merchandise that is ineligible for the postponed payment. If, for example, an entry is filed with merchandise subject to antidumping duties, AND merchandise not subject to antidumping duties, the entire entry will NOT be eligible for the 90-day postponed payment.   As an alternative, CBP is authorizing the submission of separate entries pursuant to 19 CFR § 141.52.  This authorization only applies to entries that have not yet been filed; it does not apply to entries that have already been filed.  So if, as in the above example, a shipment has merchandise subject to antidumping duties, AND merchandise not subject to antidumping duties, two separate entries can be made.
PAYMENT TIMEFRAMES
Estimated duties, taxes, and fees paid on single pay basis or Daily Statement may be postponed up to 90 days from the payment due date.
Example:
Original Due Date
90-Day Postponement
April 30, 2020
July 29, 2020
 
Estimated Internal Revenue Tax paid via the deferred tax schedule may be postponed up to three months from the payment due date.
Example:
Original Due Date
3 Month Postponement
April 29, 2020
July 29, 2020
May 14, 2020
August 14, 2020
 
Estimated duties and fees paid via Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS) may be postponed up to three months, as defined by the 15th working day of the third month.
Example:
Original Due Date
3 Month Postponement
April 21, 2020
July 22, 2020
May 21, 2020
August 21, 2020
 
PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS
To facilitate this temporary postponement, CBP encourages importers and filers to take advantage of Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) for electronic payment to the greatest extent possible.
The authorization of 90 additional calendar days without penalty for payment applies whether an entry summary is paid as a single-pay check, ACH Daily and Monthly Statement, or PMS.  
 
Importers/Filers who choose to take advantage of the additional 90 calendar days for the payment of the deposit of estimated duties, taxes and fees have the responsibility to schedule payments accordingly. CBP will not adjust statement dates. Any adjustments to the April PMS must be made prior to 11:59PM eastern time on Monday, April 20, 2020.
Effective Sunday, April 19, 2020, CBP is deploying updates to the ACE SU statement transaction to give the importer/filer more flexibility when removing entries from a PMS:
1.     Entries removed from statement no longer have to be submitted as single pay. The importer/filer can reschedule entries that were removed from one statement for another statement.
2.     The importer/filer can now remove Remote Location Filing (RLF) entries from a PMS, including the April PMS, and schedule those entries for another statement.
3.     The importer/filer can now schedule the month further out than two months, so that they do not have to further push the Periodic Daily Statement (PDS) date. This will allow the importer/filer to file an entry with an April PDS date and schedule for the July monthly statement.
 
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The trade community should monitor CSMS and the CBP COVID-19 Updates and Announcements webpage for additional changes related to COVID-19. Policy questions should be directed to the Office of Trade, Trade Policy and Programs at OTentrysummary@cbp.dhs.gov.

Cargo Systems Messaging Service


CSMS #42421561 - COVID-19 - Payment Instructions for 90-Day Postponement of Payment for the Deposit of Certain Estimated Duties, Taxes, and Fees


On April 20, 2020, the Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be postponing for 90 calendar days the deadline for payment for the deposit of certain estimated duties, taxes, and fees for importers experiencing a significant financial hardship due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This temporary postponement applies to formal entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption (including entries for consumption from a Foreign Trade Zone) in March or April 2020.  CBP will not return deposits of estimated duties, taxes, and fees that have already been paid.
In addition to the instructions provided in CSMS #42423171, the following payment instructions are provided for entries that qualify for the temporary 90-day postponement period.
Filers can submit payment for single-pay entry summaries within the 90-day postponement period. For example, a single-pay entry summary with a payment due date of 4/30/2020 may be paid up to 7/29/2020.
 
Filers can submit an entry summary with a statement date up to 90 days in the future. As such, statements may be scheduled up to 90 days in the future.
 
·   If the entry was originally scheduled for and is due on the April Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS) on 4/21/2020 and the desire is to still pay it on a PMS, it can be scheduled as late as the July PMS which will be due on 7/22/2020.
·   If the entry was originally scheduled for and is due on the May PMS on 5/21/2020 and the desire is to still pay it on a PMS, it can be scheduled as late as the August PMS which will be due on 8/21/2020.
 
For ACH Daily Statements, filers can submit an entry summary with a statement print date up to 90 days in the future and follow up with the ACH Debit authorization or ACH Credit payment.
 
For ACH Debit PMS paid via ACH Debit, filers will still need to place the entry summary on a Periodic Daily Statement (PDS) and submit the ACH authorization before the preliminary Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS) prints (default is the 11th working day of the month). If the importer/filer wants to schedule on a PMS more than two months out, they will need to either:
Schedule their Periodic Daily Statement (PDS) print date further out. (For example, preliminary print date in May can be scheduled for a July monthly statement)
Submit a statement update to reschedule the entry summary print date for April with a July statement date. This will be allowed on an ACE SU transaction.
In both cases, the statement authorization must be submitted before the July PMS prints
o    As an example,  
§  Entry summary submitted 4/20/2020
§  PDS can be scheduled to print 5/15/2020 for a July PMS
§  Or, entry statement can be updated via an SU transaction to change the statement date to an April date for a July PMS
§  Must be authorized before July PMS prints
 
  For ACH Credit PMS, filers will still need to place the summary on a PMS daily statement and submit the ACH authorization before the 11th working day of the PMS. The filer can initiate the ACH Credit payment up to the 90 day postponement.
 
PENDING ACH DEBIT AUTHORIZATIONS
Any debit authorizations that have already been submitted to CBP will be sent for withdrawal on the regular schedule. Under certain conditions, if an importer or filer realizes they do not want their account debited on the same day they transmitted the authorization, they can negate debit authorizations through the RM transaction in ACE. Authorizations submitted on a previous day have already been processed and cannot be negated.
For debit authorizations submitted a previous day for a PMS daily statement, the authorization cannot be negated, but the entry can be rescheduled for a future statement via the SU transaction in ACE.
It is important that importers and filers follow the above two options when addressing pending authorizations and refrain from requesting their financial institution prevent payment to CBP.   Situations in which a financial institution prevents payment to CBP will result in bounced payments and will prevent importers/filers from paying these same statements via ACH Debit on a future date. This will cause unnecessary debit vouchers and may include the assessment of interest and liquidated damages.    
For status updates regarding an ACH application already submitted please contact ach-customs@dhs.gov or call 317-298-1200, extension 1098
For status updates regarding Periodic Monthly Statement activation requests already submitted please contact periodicstatement@dhs.gov or call 317-614-4545
Questions from the importing community concerning ACE Daily Statement and/or Periodic Monthly Statement processes should be referred to their CBP Client Representative.


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