Temporary import bonds

A temporary importation under bond is filed as entry type 23 and classified in subchapter XIII of HTSUS chapter 98. The goods enter free of duty, but only because they are not being imported for consumption. They are visiting. The entry names the purpose, the purpose has to match a subheading, and the subheading carries its own conditions about what you may and may not do with the goods while they are here.

The provisions we file most

• 9813.00.05, articles brought in to be repaired, altered or processed and then sent back out.
• 9813.00.20, samples used solely for taking orders or as models.
• 9813.00.30, articles imported for examination, testing or experiment.
• 9813.00.35, automobiles and motorcycles brought in to take part in races. This is the one that puts a European race car on a US grid for a season and then sends it home.
• 9813.00.50, professional equipment, tools of trade and camera equipment brought in by a person who is not resident here.

Most subheadings prohibit sale, and several prohibit offering for sale. A trade show exhibit that gets sold off the stand at the end of the week is a breach of the entry, not a lucky day. If a sale is genuinely likely, the honest instrument is a consumption entry, and we will say so.

The bond is double the duty, which now means something

The regulation asks for security of not less than double the duties and taxes that would otherwise accrue. When rates were low that was a rounding error on the freight budget. It is not any more. Machine tools, metal-content articles reached by Section 232, and goods carrying an IEEPA rate all now produce a duty figure large enough that doubling it lands on a real number, and importers working from a quote they remember from a few years ago get a shock at the surety.

The tariff exemption also does not travel with the goods into other agencies. A race car under 9813.00.35 still needs its DOT HS-7 and EPA 3520-1 filed with the correct exemption code. Broadcast and test equipment can still meet an FCC declaration. Wooden crates still meet ISPM 15. A TIB removes the duty, and nothing else.

One year, sometimes three, never automatically

The period runs one year from the date of importation. Most subheadings allow two further one-year extensions, applied for in writing to the port director, which is where the familiar three-year maximum comes from. A few subheadings do not allow extension at all, so we check yours before anyone plans a second season around it.

The application has to be made while the current period is still running. An extension requested after expiry is not an extension, it is an explanation, and CBP is under no obligation to accept it. We keep the expiry dates on our own calendar and start asking about the export ninety days out rather than nine days out.

What happens if the goods stay

The bond is cancelled by exporting or destroying the goods before the period ends and filing the proof with CBP. If that does not happen, CBP claims liquidated damages in the bond amount. Read that again against the previous section: the claim is double the duty you avoided. Letting a TIB lapse is more expensive than never having filed one, and the difference is the whole reason this page exists.

There is usually a way out if you move early. Depending on the subheading and the circumstances, it may be possible to convert to a consumption entry and pay the duty properly, or to obtain an extension that buys time to arrange the export. Both require asking before the clock runs out, not after the claim arrives.

TIB, carnet, or just pay the duty

An ATA Carnet is issued in the United States through the national guaranteeing association and covers commercial samples, professional equipment and goods for exhibitions across many countries on one document. For a touring exhibit, a film crew, or a demonstration rig that crosses several borders in a season, a carnet is usually the better instrument and avoids a separate entry and bond in each country.

A TIB is usually better for a single trip into the United States, for goods a carnet will not cover, and for anything coming in to be repaired or processed. And sometimes the right answer is neither: if the goods are probably staying, a consumption entry on a normal bond costs less today than liquidated damages will cost in a year.

What we need from you

• Description, value and the purpose of the visit, in plain terms
• Intended export date, port and method
• Arrival details: bill of lading or air waybill, and the port
• Who physically controls the goods here and who will handle the export
• Any agency paperwork the commodity carries anyway: HS-7, 3520-1, FCC, phytosanitary