Last night, the White House issued an Executive Order regarding the postponement of duties to alleviate some of the burden businesses are feeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. CBP followed up with a CSMS message to clarify which goods would be eligible for postponement and how to qualify.
Cargo subjected to antidumping, countervailing, and additional duties via trade remedies (Sections 201, 232, and 301) are not eligible for the 90 day postponement. Duties that have already been paid are not eligible for reimbursement of the duties and cargo that arrives on a single entry with goods subject to ADD/CVD or the trade remedies listed above; however if applicable goods are included a separate entry can be made for those goods, apart from the ineligible cargo to qualify.
The postponement covers entries made in March and April of 2020 which have not yet been paid, including March entries to be paid in April’s Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS) and any eligible entries between now and April 30th which are to be paid by single check, daily statement or Periodic Monthly Statement in May.
Importers must be experiencing significant financial hardship to qualify for the postponement, which CBP defines as “An importer will be considered to have a significant financial hardship if the operation of such importer is fully or partially suspended during March 2020 or April 2020 due to orders from a competent governmental authority limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings due to COVID-19, and as a result of such suspension, the gross receipts of such importer for March 13-31, 2020 or April 2020 are less than 60 percent of the gross receipts for the comparable period in 2019.”
If you need to change your PMS statement, be advised you have until 11:59PM Eastern time, tonight to do so.
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