Shelley McIlwain, Senior Manager – United States Trade Advisory Services

Shelley McIlwain, Senior Manager – United States Trade Advisory Services
Shelley is a Licensed Customs professional, with greater than 20 years of experience in import compliance complemented by a tax accounting background. Shelley’s experience includes both consulting and in-house Compliance Department management. Shelley specializes in the development of processes, procedures, and tools to support import compliance, the appraisement of Import Merchandise, Preparation for Focused Assessment Audits, the development and implementation of internal audit programs, and the application and Implementation of Trusted Trader Programs. Shelley holds a Customs Brokers license and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Oregon

Recent Posts

Reconciliation Filings are “Entries”

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Since 1993, Reconciliation entries have been a pivotal tool for US importers to simply and expediently make changes to certain elements of an import entry. While some very, very limited classification and 9802 changes can be made using reconciliation filings, the vast majority of adjustments are for value changes after importation or retroactively claiming a free trade agreement like USMCA and 9802. 

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Topics: Import Consulting, North America

FTA Recon: What's Involved in that ABI Transmission?

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On January 27th, Tradewin published our ‘Reconciliation Step by Step’ guide. For those interested, a copy is available for download below:

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Topics: Reconciliation, Free Trade Agreements

Don't Miss CBP's Reconciliation Webinar

Webinar

For those of you who have been involved in Customs Entry Reconciliation, you know how complex the program can be.  We are excited to see that CBP will be hosting a webinar that will cover reconciliation fundamentals and provide insight into the various issues the trade community and CBP Centers of Excellence and Expertise (Centers) experience when filing and processing reconciliation entry summaries.  This information was presented to the Trade community on April 11, 2022, in Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) #51568660.

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Topics: Reconciliation, Compliance Training

US 2022 HTS Change Update – Changes Delayed to January 27

122821-HS blogEarlier this year, the World Customs Organization (WCO) released 2022 Harmonized System (HS) Updates. These updates mark the most significant change in the HS nomenclature in five years and require an adjustment of HS codes in member countries. Since this release, US importers have been preparing for the implementation scheduled for January 1, 2022, while monitoring changes in other import markets.


A preliminary release of the 10-digit HTS US changes was made in the US on September 28, 2021.
This release has allowed US importers to start preparing for the impact of this change. CBP has delayed the implementation of these code changes from January 3 to January 27, 2022.


This slight delay will give importers much appreciated time to prepare. If you are looking for help navigating this change, either in the US or globally, please feel free to reach out to Tradewin.


If you would like to read other publications from Tradewin on HTS classification changes, please read Tradewin’s blog originally posted on October 15, 2021, “HS2022: The codes they are a-changin'

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Topics: HS Classification

Did You Know First Sale for Export Isn't Just for Apparel?

081716-first-sale-for-export.pngFirst Sale for Export is a duty mitigation program that is designed to reduce the dutiable value of eligible products imported into the United States. Usually, an importer would pay a higher duty amount based on the value of goods purchased from what is known as the ‘second sale’. This is the transaction between the importer and the middleman (vendor) which usually includes the middleman’s markup. Through the First Sale for Export program, importers are able to declare value on the goods purchased on the ‘first sale’, or the transaction between the middleman and the factory. In declaring First Sale valuation, an importer is able to cut out the middleman markup and to minimize the amount of duty paid when importing goods into the United States.

This duty savings program is especially popular among the textile and apparel industries where commodities have excessive middle man markups and duty rates as high as 32%. With a large potential to save on duty, it logically follows that this industry makes up the majority of the goods declared under the First Sale program.

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Topics: Export Consulting