What is customs value (transaction value)?
Under 19 U.S.C. 1401a, transaction value is the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export to the US, plus packing costs, selling commissions paid by the buyer, the value of assists (tools, moulds or materials supplied free to the maker), royalties or licence fees that are a condition of the sale, and proceeds of any later resale that go back to the seller.
International freight and insurance are not part of US customs value when they are identified separately. Many other countries, including the EU, value goods on a CIF basis that includes them, so the same shipment can have a different dutiable value abroad.
When transaction value cannot be used (for example between related parties where the price was influenced), the law falls back to other methods in a fixed order.
Sources
Related terms
- Ad valorem dutyA duty charged as a percentage of the goods' customs value, such as 3.4%.
- De minimis (Section 321)The rule that let shipments worth $800 or less per person per day enter the US free of duty and with minimal paperwork. It is currently suspended for all countries.
- Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF)A CBP user fee of 0.3464% of the customs value on formal entries, with a minimum and maximum per entry that CBP adjusts each fiscal year.