CBP Alert: Important Reminder to Pay Deferred Duties

 

Last week, CBP issued CSMS #43324033 – REMINDER: COVID-19 – Due Dates for Estimated Duties, Taxes and Fees Postponed for 90 Days. This reminder is for those importers who opted to defer payment of estimated duties, taxes and fees for eligible entries of merchandise entered or withdrawn from warehouses in March and April 2020.

The details of the notice include:

• For importers paying on a Periodic Monthly Statement, the due date for March entries is July 22, 2020 and for April entries is August 21, 2020. It is important to know the amounts owed for subsequent months is on the normal statement due dates.

• For single pay or Daily Statements, payment is due 90 days from the original due dates. Additionally, estimated internal revenue taxes subject to the deferred excise tax program are payable three months from the original payment due date (July 29, 2020 and August 14, 2020).

• No interest will accrue for the deferred estimated duties, taxes, and fees during this 90-day postponement period. Payments made after the new due date may be subject to interest. In addition, no penalty, liquidated damages, or other sanction will be imposed for the delayed payment of estimated duties, taxes, and fees in accordance with this temporary postponement, if payment is made by the new due dates.

CBP recommends importers/filers work with their financial institutions to ensure they are aware of both the regularly scheduled and postponed deposits of estimated duties, taxes and fees that are owed in the coming weeks. This will avoid ACH defaults and subsequent debit voucher claims.

We encourage you to read the full message for all relevant details including instructions on how to make payment. We also want to stress the importance of adhering to previous CBP instructions from CSMS 42421561 which emphasized that importers and CHBs should NOT prevent pending payment authorizations from occurring.

To help the trade stay up-to-date on all changes related to COVID-19 U.S. Customs has provided the CBP COVID-19 Updates and Announcements webpage.

You may also visit Roanoke’s COVID-19 Response page for additional information and best practices regarding insurance, surety, and ATA Carnet products in this evolving environment.