Customs bond is an agreement relating to a specific transaction between an importer and a customs office. Under U. S. customs regulations, customs bond is a requirement for export to the U.S. A customs bond is a financial guarantee between the guaranteeing company that submits the declaration, the importer, and Customs Border Protection (CBP). The security guarantees that CBP will collect from the guaranteeing company all import duties, taxes, or penalties if it cannot collect them from the importer himself. CBP requires all importers to lodge an import guarantee for customs clearance, even if the goods are exempt from duty.
Types of customs bond
The guarantee can be recorded as continuous (covering all import operations during 12 months) or transactional, on a single consignment. Most importers prefer to have continuous submissions. This is due to lower costs, shorter processing times for declarations, quicker customs review returns, and more robust reporting possibilities.
We stand out:
- The FTZ bond covers and secures the customs provisions related to all activities of the foreign trade zone, including the transfer of goods to foreign trade zones for operations such as storage, exhibition, assembly, production, and processing.
- Drawback Bonds covers and secures the activity of drawback, i. e. the process by which an importer applies for recovery of duties paid on imported goods when these goods are exported or destroyed.
- Warehouse Bonds covers operations involving the movement or storage of imported goods that have not been placed yet on the market in the United States for export or subsequent placing on the market at a later date or location.
Customs bond costs
Customs bond is a kind of insurance policy. Its cost varies depending on whether the reports are transactional or continuous. The typical amount of import guarantees is USD 50 000. In most cases, the amount of the bond must be at least 10% of the total duties and taxes paid to CBP annually, at a minimum of USD 50,000. This means that the duties, taxes, and penalties that the guarantor will pay for each annual guarantee period are $50,000.
