TradeLane

What do treadmills, party decorations, stereo equipment, and fun, sleeved blankets have in common? 

These are all products that have appeared on duty drawback claims that have been filed with U.S. Customs. Many everyday products that are sold in the U.S. are also sold in other countries. Items that are imported duty-paid into the U.S. prior to moving to their final destination outside the U.S. are eligible for a duty refund. 

If a company wants to import 6,000 fun, sleeved blankets in November the company must pay U.S. duty and fees on all 6,000 blankets. If the company has the intention of only selling 1,000 in the U.S. for holiday family pictures and chooses to send 5,000 to Canada for the start of indoor curling season, the company can get a refund of 99% of the duties and fees paid on the 5,000 blankets exported to Canada to warm those stylish curling fans. 

Often when I ask importers about their duty liability the response I receive is, “Yes… but its only 5%.”  Well if I had 5% of the 5% for every time I ask…. you get the picture.  Whilst the duty paid on individual importations may not amount to a substantial cost, over time the “only 5%” can add up to significant sums.  If you are still not convinced, consider what’s more challenging: expanding your sales to increase net profit by 5%, or reducing the cost of the imported product through duty mitigation?

I suspect many of you have continued reading, so allow me to introduce a valuable duty mitigation method: the Tariff Concession System. In Australia the Tariff Concession System was designed to help industry become more competitive in the international markets by allowing duty-free importation of certain products that are eligible for a Tariff Concession Order (TCO).  Upon application, a TCO is made in respect of goods if substitutable goods are not produced in Australia, in the ordinary course of business.  In this context, substitutable goods are Australian produced goods which have a use corresponding to a use of the imported goods. A number of goods are excluded from TCO eligibility, such as clothing, foodstuffs and some passenger motor vehicles.

A few months back, I posed the question to you, “Do I really need a trade compliance expert?”  The overwhelming response, was that yes, in fact, I (you) do.  However, let’s dive a little deeper into some of the reasons why you need an expert.

As seasons change, so does the make-up of your product line. If you are an apparel company, last season’s shorts and tee shirts can turn into next season's flannel underwear and parkas. Maybe you work for a technology company and the cases you make for last season’s hot phone have become less in demand since the new model came out.

So, what happens to all that unsold merchandise? Do you recycle it? Do you throw it in the dumpster in the warehouse? Does it get used for kindling at your company’s annual fall cookout? Bottom line, are you recovering any import duty on that unused merchandise that you are destroying? There’s an ‘app’ for that. Apply for Duty Drawback privileges on destroyed merchandise.

Compliance manuals are excellent vehicles to help importers and exporters ensure that they are doing everything they can to operate in conformity with the various laws and regulations under which they operate. The trick, however, is in deciding what actually needs to go into the manual.

A good jumping off point is to take a realistic look at the way your enterprise operates, and then ascertain what kinds of risk your various activities present to a regulator.