Besides duty, a US formal entry almost always carries the merchandise processing fee (MPF), and an entry of goods unloaded from a ship at a US port also carries the harbor maintenance fee (HMF). Depending on the product, the same entry summary can include commodity assessments that CBP collects for USDA research and promotion boards (cotton, beef and Hass avocados are examples) and federal excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco. Everything else on a broker’s or forwarder’s invoice, from ISF filing to the bond premium and exam handling, is a commercial charge set by the service provider and not by law.
The two groups behave differently. Government charges are fixed by statute or regulation, are paid to CBP with the entry summary, and are calculated from the entry data: value, HTS number, weight, mode of transport. Commercial charges are negotiable and can vary between providers for the same shipment.
The government charges on an entry
| Charge | Legal source | Basis of calculation | When it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merchandise processing fee, formal entry | 19 USC 58c; 19 CFR 24.23(b)(1) | 0.3464% of value, with a minimum and maximum per entry | Almost every formal entry, unless exempt under 19 CFR 24.23(c) |
| Merchandise processing fee, informal entry | 19 USC 58c(a)(10); 19 CFR 24.23(b)(2) | Flat fee in three tiers | Informal entries (generally $2,500 or less) |
| Manual entry surcharge | 19 CFR 24.23(b)(1)(ii) | Flat surcharge | Formal entries filed manually |
| Harbor maintenance fee | 26 USC 4461; 19 CFR 24.24 | 0.125% of value, no minimum or maximum | Commercial cargo unloaded from a vessel at a covered US port |
| Research and promotion assessments | Commodity orders under USDA statutes, e.g. 7 CFR 1205.510 (cotton), 7 CFR 1260.172 (beef), 7 CFR 1219.54 (Hass avocados) | Per kilogram, per head or per pound, by HTS number | Only the HTS numbers listed in each order |
| Federal excise taxes | Internal Revenue Code; collected by CBP for the Treasury | Per proof gallon, per wine gallon, per thousand cigarettes and so on | Imported alcohol and tobacco products, cigarette papers and tubes |
Antidumping and countervailing duty deposits and the additional duties reported in HTS Chapter 99 also appear on the entry, but they are duties, not fees. They are calculated on value or quantity like any other duty, and the mechanics of Chapter 99 lines and how they stack are a separate subject.
Current amounts for the fixed fees (dated)
As of October 2026, CBP Dec. 26-14 (91 FR 48398, 31 July 2026) sets the following amounts for fiscal year 2027, which runs from 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027. CBP adjusts these each year for inflation under 19 USC 58c(l), so recheck them every October.
| Fee | FY2027 amount |
|---|---|
| MPF ad valorem rate | 0.3464% (unchanged) |
| MPF minimum / maximum per formal entry | $34.58 / $670.86 |
| Manual entry surcharge | $4.15 |
| Informal entry: automated / manual / prepared by CBP | $2.77 / $8.30 / $12.45 |
| Express consignment or hub facility fee, per air waybill or bill of lading | $1.38 |
| Dutiable mail fee | $7.61 |
The HMF rate is fixed in the statute at 0.125 percent and is not inflation-adjusted.
Merchandise processing fee
MPF is charged on the value of the goods determined under 19 USC 1401a, normally transaction value, which excludes international freight, insurance and duties when they are identified separately. The amount is 0.3464 percent of that value, raised to the minimum or cut to the maximum. It applies whatever the mode of transport and whatever the duty rate, so a duty-free product pays the same MPF as a product paying high duty on the same value.
The exemptions are specific: originating goods under USMCA and most US free trade agreements (Jordan and Morocco are exceptions), HTSUS Chapter 98 articles other than the 9802.00.60 and 9802.00.80 provisions, products of US insular possessions and of CBERA countries, among others. The full MPF calculation, with the exemptions and the FTZ weekly entry rule, is in a separate article.
Harbor maintenance fee
The HMF is a tax on port use, imposed by 26 USC 4461 (added by Public Law 99-662 in 1986) and administered by CBP under 19 CFR 24.24. For imports it works like this:
- The rate is 0.125 percent of the value of the commercial cargo, with no minimum and no maximum.
- For imports the value is the CBP appraised value under 19 USC 1401a, the same value used for duty (19 CFR 24.24(e)(2)(i)).
- The importer is liable at the time of unloading, and the fee is paid on the entry summary.
- It applies only to commercial cargo loaded on or unloaded from a commercial vessel at a “port” as defined in 19 CFR 24.24(b)(1): a listed US channel or harbor where federal funds have been used for maintenance. Air cargo is not vessel cargo and pays no HMF.
- Imports eligible for informal entry are exempt (19 CFR 24.24(d)(3)).
- For goods admitted to a foreign trade zone, the applicant for admission pays the HMF quarterly on CBP Form 349 (19 CFR 24.24(e)(2)(iii)), so it is settled at admission and not when the goods are later entered for consumption.
Because the trigger is unloading at a US port, goods shipped by sea to a Canadian or Mexican port and then trucked or railed across the border do not pay HMF on that move. The HMF on exports was struck down: in United States v. United States Shoe Corp., 523 U.S. 360 (1998), the Supreme Court found that the harbor maintenance tax is a tax and held that it “violates the Export Clause as applied to exports.”
The cap is where HMF and MPF part ways. On a $120,000 ocean entry, MPF is $415.68 and HMF is $150. On a $400,000 ocean entry, MPF stops at the $670.86 maximum while HMF rises to $500. Above roughly $537,000, HMF on a sea entry is larger than MPF.
Commodity assessments that depend on the HTS number
This is the part of the fee picture where classification decides the charge directly. Several USDA research and promotion orders require importers to pay an assessment through CBP at entry, and each order identifies the goods by HTS number.
The cotton order is the best-known example. Under 7 CFR 1205.510(b), importers pay $1 per bale plus a supplemental assessment of five-tenths of one percent of the value of cotton, converted into a rate in cents per kilogram for each HTS number listed in the table in paragraph (b)(3). Raw cotton lines carry the base rate; for cotton-containing products the table applies a conversion factor that estimates the raw fibre content per kilogram of the article. As of October 2026 the eCFR text gives 1.3247 cents per kilogram for raw cotton under heading 5201, so 20,000 kg of raw cotton would carry an assessment of about $264.94. For a finished cotton garment or textile, the rate depends on the conversion factor for that exact 10-digit number.
Two other orders show the same design. The beef order (7 CFR 1260.172(b)) charges $1.00 per head on imported live cattle and a per-kilogram amount on beef and beef products, each listed by HTS number from heading 0201 to subheading 1602.50, remitted to CBP upon importation. The Hass avocado order (7 CFR 1219.54(c)) charges importers per pound on fresh Hass avocados entered under HTS 0804.40.00.10, paid through Customs when the fruit is released.
The consequence for compliance is that a misclassification can create or remove a commodity assessment, separately from any duty effect. A cotton article declared under a man-made fibre number avoids the cotton line on the entry, and that is an underpayment of the assessment as well as a classification error. Fibre-content questions of this kind are a familiar source of HS classification mistakes. Programs are added, changed and terminated over time, and the rates are revised, so check the Agricultural Marketing Service order for the commodity and the HTS list in the current eCFR before you quote an amount.
Federal excise taxes collected at import
For distilled spirits, wine and beer from foreign countries, the federal excise tax “is collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), along with any import duties”, in the words of a TTB final rule published in the Federal Register on 22 December 2016. The same arrangement covers imported tobacco products and cigarette papers and tubes. These are internal revenue taxes, not customs duties, but they are paid on the entry summary, and the amount depends on classification details such as alcohol content, product type and container size.
Fees that exist but are not on your entry summary
Several CBP user fees are paid by someone other than the importer, or outside the entry summary:
- The express consignment and hub facility fee is charged per air waybill or bill of lading and paid quarterly by the facility operator (19 CFR 24.23(b)(4)). Express carriers may recover it through their own charges.
- Arrival fees for commercial vessels, trucks and railroad cars, and the customs broker permit user fee, are set in 19 CFR 24.22 and paid by the carrier or the broker.
- The dutiable mail fee applies to dutiable items in the mail processed by CBP.
You may see these passed through on an invoice, but they are not assessed against your entry.
Charges that look like customs fees but are not
A broker’s or forwarder’s invoice often groups the following under “customs”, although CBP does not set or receive any of them:
- Entry preparation or brokerage fee. Licensed customs brokers set their own fees.
- ISF filing fee. The Importer Security Filing under 19 CFR Part 149 is required for ocean cargo, but CBP charges nothing to receive it; the charge is the filer’s service fee.
- Customs bond premium. A formal entry needs a bond under 19 CFR Part 113, and the premium is paid to the surety company that issues it.
- Examination costs. CBP does not charge a user fee for the examination itself, but under 19 CFR 151.6 “the importer shall bear any expense involved in preparing the merchandise for Customs examination”, which in practice means cartage, devanning and handling charges from the exam station or terminal.
- Disbursement or advance fees, charged by a broker for paying duties and fees on the importer’s behalf.
- Terminal handling, demurrage, detention and drayage.
None of these is wrong to charge, but they are prices, so they can be compared and negotiated. The government lines can only be checked against the law. When you build a landed cost for a US import, keep the two groups in separate columns.
A worked entry
An importer brings in machine parts by ocean, entered value $120,000, no FTA claim, formal entry filed electronically, entry date in FY2027:
| Line | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Duty | Depends on the HTS rate and any Chapter 99 duties | (outside this article) |
| MPF | $120,000 x 0.3464% = $415.68, between the FY2027 minimum and maximum | $415.68 |
| HMF | $120,000 x 0.125% | $150.00 |
| Government fees | $565.68 |
The same goods by air pay $415.68 and no HMF. If the shipment were a USMCA originating good from Mexico arriving by sea, the MPF would be zero and the HMF would still be $150, because the FTA exemption does not reach HMF. The duty side of the same entry is built line by line here.
Questions people ask
Who pays customs fees on a DDP sale?
The law makes the importer of record liable for MPF and HMF. Under a DDP sale the seller agrees to bear import duties and clearance costs, so the seller (or its agent acting as importer of record) pays them. An Incoterm allocates the cost between buyer and seller; it does not change who CBP looks to. The allocation of import costs under each Incoterms 2020 rule shows where DDP differs from DAP.
Can MPF and HMF be recovered when the goods are exported?
19 CFR 190.3(a) lists merchandise processing fees and harbor maintenance taxes among the charges on which drawback is allowable. Whether a claim recovers them depends on the drawback type and the facts of the claim.
Do customs fees apply to duty-free goods?
Yes. MPF and HMF are calculated on value, not on duty. A free rate of duty does not remove either fee; only the specific exemptions in 19 CFR 24.23(c) remove MPF, and the exemptions in 19 CFR 24.24(c) and (d) remove HMF.
When a fee line depends on the HTS number, as the commodity assessments do, the classification has to be right before the fee can be. I work on classification questions of that kind and can be reached through the contact page.
Sources
- 19 CFR 24.23, Fees for processing merchandise (eCFR)
- 19 CFR 24.24, Harbor maintenance fee (eCFR)
- 19 U.S.C. 58c, Fees for certain customs services (LII)
- 26 U.S.C. 4461, Imposition of tax (harbor maintenance) (LII)
- CBP Dec. 26-14, Customs User Fees To Be Adjusted for Inflation in Fiscal Year 2027, 91 FR 48398 (Federal Register)
- United States v. United States Shoe Corp., 523 U.S. 360 (1998) (LII)
- 7 CFR 1205.510, Levy of assessments (cotton) (eCFR)
- 7 CFR 1260.172, Assessments (beef) (eCFR)
- 7 CFR Part 1219, Hass avocado promotion, research and information (eCFR)
- TTB, Amendments to streamline importation of distilled spirits, wine, beer, malt beverages, tobacco products (Federal Register, 22 December 2016)
- 19 CFR 151.6, Expense of examination (eCFR)
- 19 CFR 190.3, Duties and fees subject or not subject to drawback (eCFR)
This article explains the law and practice in general terms. It is not legal advice on a specific product or shipment; for that, check the current official sources or ask a qualified adviser.