Calculating the Size of a Customs Bond

If you have never made a large overseas shipment before, you might easily underestimate its process. But this experience can be overwhelming especially if it’s your first time. The amount of paperwork and documentation involved in the customs clearance procedure is enough to stress you. For many experienced importers and exporters, it can be a familiar and smooth experience as they have done it several times before. But for first-timers, an attempt to filing out customs documents on their own and submitting them to respective department and customs agents can be risky, stressful, and time-consuming.

A customs surety bond is one of the important documents in this process. It is required by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to import goods into the US. If you don’t have a customs bond while importing in the US, it is against the rules and regulation and you may have to reimburse heavy penalty for that. Your shipment might get delayed at customs for several days or weeks in absence of properly signed and approved documents.

The best way to avoid any tragedy like this, many international shippers take help of customs brokers or freight forwarding companies. The brokers are licensed professionals who work for individual importers as well as for freight forwarding companies to clear the goods through customs.

They complete a range of jobs on behalf of the owner of merchandise like obtaining sufficient customs surety bond, filling the forms, classifying the merchandise, and many other tasks.

There are two common types of bonds – Continuous Customs Bond and Single Entry Bond. A single entry bond is never less than the total value of goods. This means the value of goods plus duties, taxes, and fees. A continuous customs bond is quite different. The size of a continuous bond is 10% of duties, taxes, and fees paid by the importer for the 12-month period. The minimum continuous customs bond amount is $50,000.

An insufficient bond may lead to longer delays in importations and sometimes customs denies releasing the goods. Once your customs bond gets terminated it can return to sufficient status after 15 days of the request. The importers need to inform the broker or surety company about the insufficient bond and they will guide them about further process.

Calculating the adequate bond size is essential to avoid heavy penalty costs. Make sure your broker is licensed and have the knowledge to rightly fill the information about the freight to obtain an appropriate bond. They offer valuable guidance about obtaining correct customs bond and stay connected with the importer until his or her shipment is completed safely.

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Created on Sep 11th 2019 01:44. Viewed 379 times.

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