CBP to Offer Limited Tariff Deferrals

The President issued an Executive Order to extend deadlines for estimated duty, tax and fee payments for importers experiencing financial harm during COVID-19 crisis for 90 days. The deferrals do not apply to goods subject to anti-dumping or countervailing duties or section 301, 232, 201 duties. CBP initiated the new deferral plan on April 20 and will accept any comments on deferral for one month.

Importers experiencing ‘significant financial hardship’ due to actions taken to mitigate COVID-19 are eligible for duty deferral. Deferrals apply to products entered or withdrawn from a warehouse for consumption during the months of March and April.

‘Significant financial hardship’ is defined as an importer which had:

• Operations fully or partially suspended during March & April due to government mitigation policies;
• Gross receipts off 60 percent from March 13–31 or April 2020 for same periods in 2019.

For the official announcement, please click here.