The forms we file, a plain-language field guide for importers, and straight answers to the questions that come up most. For the overview, head back to the main site; forwarders looking for handling-agent terms can go straight to the agents page.
Customs brokerage is the practice of filing specific government forms correctly, on time, in the right system. Below is the operating manual of an inbound ocean entry: the forms we file, the agencies they go to, and the systems we file them through.
Most importers never see these documents directly — your broker handles them. But if you've ever wondered what exactly you're paying a broker for, this is the answer.
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, and the reciprocal and fentanyl/trafficking duties terminated days later. If you paid those tariffs on entries between February 2025 and February 2026, that money is potentially recoverable — with interest. Through its CAPE system in ACE, CBP had accepted $136.6 billion in refunds and paid out roughly $126 billion in duties plus interest, across more than 21 million entries, as of early October 2026. Where your entries sit determines your path: (1) Unliquidated or recently liquidated entries — your broker files a CAPE declaration; refunds generally issue 60–90 days after acceptance. (2) Liquidated more than 80 days ago but within 180 days — outside CAPE’s window but inside the protest period: a protest under 19 USC 1514 preserves the claim, and CBP is building CAPE functionality for entries with open protests. (3) Finally liquidated — past 180 days with no protest. CAPE Phase 3 opened October 6, 2026, but only for importers holding their own CIT reliquidation orders (the first rollout covers plaintiffs whose IOR information reached CBP by July 30). On October 8 the CIT certified a nationwide class in Freestyle World, Inc. v. United States for importers who paid IEEPA duties and never sued — but the refund order itself is still pending and the government’s Federal Circuit appeal on non-plaintiff relief is unresolved, so class membership alone does not open Phase 3 today. We prepare the entry package and route those files to outside trade counsel. Section 301 and 232 duties were not affected and remain owed. Refunds stall if CBP doesn’t have your ACH details on file — and since October 10, changing ACH refund details in ACE requires an emailed security token — so fix that first.
TL;DRIdentify every IEEPA entry Feb 2025-Feb 2026. Unliquidated = CAPE declaration. Liquidated = protest within 180 days. Finally liquidated = your own CIT order, or wait on the class. ACH on file.
When importers see a sudden duty jump on the same product from the same supplier, the cause is rarely the supplier. It's usually one of four things stacking: (1) the Section 301 forced-labor tariff that took effect July 24, 2026 — 10% on goods from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Canada and the EU, 12.5% from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and Korea — which landed on the first entry after the temporary Section 122 tariff expired (see Field Note 05), (2) a Section 301 China list change or an exclusion that lapsed, (3) an HTSUS classification "correction" your broker made silently — sometimes correctly, sometimes not — moving the line into a higher-duty subheading, or (4) an ADD/CVD case where your supplier's parent company got added to a scope ruling and you weren't told. The first thing to check: pull the last 3 entry summaries from ACE and compare HTSUS lines, duty rates, and every 9903 line. If anything changed, your broker should be able to explain when, why, and whether it's reversible via PSC or protest.
TL;DRPull recent 7501s. Compare HTSUS & every 9903 line. Any change traces to a specific cause — often correctable.
A CBP Form 28 ("Request for Information") means a customs officer is questioning something on your entry — usually classification, value, country of origin, or eligibility for a preference program. You have 30 days to respond. Ignoring it leads to a CF-29 ("Notice of Action") which proposes a duty adjustment — and if you don't respond to that either, CBP just enacts it and you'll see a supplemental duty bill. The right response depends entirely on what they're asking: sometimes it's a one-paragraph clarification with a commercial document, sometimes it requires a binding ruling request to defend the classification. Never respond defensively; never speculate. Provide exactly what's asked, in writing, with supporting documents.
TL;DRCF-28 = 30-day clock. Respond precisely with documents. Silence becomes CF-29 becomes a bill.
CBP entry types determine paperwork, bonding, and review intensity. Type 11 (informal entry) applies to shipments under $2,500 commercial value and certain personal-use imports — no continuous bond required, simpler filing, faster release. Type 01 (formal consumption entry) applies to everything else: commercial shipments above $2,500, anything subject to AD/CVD, anything requiring a PGA filing, and any shipment where the importer wants to claim FTA preference. Most first-time importers default to Type 01 even when Type 11 would have worked, paying the unnecessary brokerage overhead. Conversely, some importers try to break up shipments to stay under the Type 11 ceiling — which CBP treats as "splitting shipments to evade entry requirements" and penalizes.
TL;DRUnder $2,500 + no PGA = Type 11. Above, or PGA-flagged, or AD/CVD = Type 01. Don't split.
On July 24, 2026 — the day the temporary Section 122 tariff expired — USTR's Section 301 forced-labor action took effect against 60 economies. It adds 10% for 19 of them (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Canada, Taiwan, the EU and the UK among them) and 12.5% for 41 (China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Türkiye among them), on top of the base HTSUS rate and any existing Section 301 China list duty. The additional duties sit at 9903.05.20–9903.05.84; product exclusions at 9903.05.85–.92, with country-specific carve-outs after that. Three things worth checking: (1) articles already subject to Section 232 are exempt — the two do not stack. (2) For the EU, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland the add-on is capped so base plus forced-labor duty does not exceed 10% or 12.5%. (3) Goods loaded before 12:01 a.m. ET July 24 and entered before July 28 were excepted — if a container on the water was charged the full rate, that is a post-summary correction.
TL;DR10% / 12.5% on 60 origins since 7/24/26. 232 goods exempt. Check exclusion & in-transit lines on July entries.
The administration revived Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 against Canada. A 50% additional duty (HTSUS 9903.03.12–9903.03.14) took effect August 22, 2026 on covered dairy, alcoholic beverages and motor vehicles; on September 15 the lists were modified, adding more than 120 classifications (ATVs and additional dairy among them) and dropping items such as rock salt and cement. On September 29 part of the duty became an import ban: packaged beer, wine and spirits, certain dairy and whey products, and motorcycles over 800cc can no longer be entered for consumption, admitted to an FTZ, warehoused or moved in-bond (CSMS #70050970); covered goods already imported before that date can still be entered at the 50% rate. Two traps: USMCA origin does not exempt a covered good, and the September 15 proclamations removed the earlier carve-out for Section 232 articles, so on covered metals and construction materials Section 338 now stacks on top of the 232 duty. For PAPS shipments that means every Canadian HTS line gets screened against the current annexes before the truck leaves the dock — CBP rejects entries that contain a banned line.
TL;DRCanada: 50% (9903.03.12-.14) since 8/22; bans on packaged alcohol, some dairy, 800cc+ motorcycles since 9/29. USMCA origin = no relief. Screen every line.
More field notes available on request — we publish a quarterly compliance brief for clients covering CBP rulings, Section 301 updates, UFLPA enforcement trends, and ADD/CVD case changes.
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