3.6 The Rate of Duty Date and the Entered Value Declaration

3.6 The Rate of Duty Date and the Entered Value Declaration

The question behind every duty calculation: tariff rates change — by proclamation under Sections 232 and 301, by annual HTSUS revision, by the opening and closing of tariff-rate quotas, and by the expiration of preference programs. Before computing anything, a broker must fix which date's rate applies. Three different dates can be in play on a single transaction: the rate of duty date (19 CFR 141.69), the currency conversion date (19 CFR 159.32), and the quota presentation date (19 CFR 132.11). They are not the same, and questions are built on the gaps between them.

The General Rule: Time of Entry

19 CFR 141.69 begins from the proposition that the rates of duty applicable to merchandise are the rates in effect at the time of entry, with the time of entry determined under 19 CFR 141.68. The time of entry depends on how the goods were released:

The practical consequence of the immediate delivery rule is important and counterintuitive: goods can be physically in the importer's warehouse for days before the legal time of entry occurs, and a tariff increase taking effect in that interval applies.

The Exceptions That Get Tested

1. Warehouse Withdrawal — Rate at Withdrawal, Not at Entry

Merchandise entered for warehouse is not dutiable at the rates in effect when it went into the warehouse. Under 19 CFR 141.69, warehoused merchandise is assessed the rates in effect when it is withdrawn for consumption. This is the single most valuable timing feature of the bonded warehouse: an importer may warehouse goods and defer not only the payment of duty but the fixing of the rate.

The corollary is that it cuts both ways. Goods warehoused before a Section 232 rate increase and withdrawn after it pay the higher rate. A five-year warehouse period under 19 U.S.C. § 1557 is a long time to be exposed to rate risk.

2. Immediate Transportation — Rate at Acceptance at the Origin Port

Where non-quota merchandise is transported from the port of arrival to an interior port under an immediate transportation (IT) entry, the applicable rates are those in effect when the immediate transportation entry was accepted at the port of original importation — not the rates in effect when the goods reach the destination port and the consumption entry is filed there. This preserves the rate as of the earlier event and prevents a rate change during a 30-day in-bond movement from altering the duty.

Note the express carve-out for quota merchandise. Because quota priority and status turn on presentation of the entry summary or withdrawal in proper form under 19 CFR 132.11, quota goods cannot borrow an earlier date from the IT entry.

3. Overcarriage, Strike, and Similar Circumstances — the 90-Day Rule

Where merchandise is removed from the port of destination because of overcarriage, a strike, or a similar circumstance and is returned within 90 days, it is subject to the duty rates of the original entry, provided it is properly identified, the documentation establishes the circumstances, and the consignee has not changed. This is a narrow equitable rule, and its three conditions — within 90 days, properly identified, same consignee — are exactly what a question will manipulate.

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Three Dates, Three Events

This table is worth committing to memory, because a well-built question will give all three dates and ask for one:

WORKED SEQUENCE: A shipment departs Yokohama on November 14, arrives at Los Angeles on November 30, is moved in-bond under an IT entry accepted at Los Angeles on December 1, and is entered for consumption at Chicago on December 20. For non-quota merchandise: the duty rate is the rate in effect on December 1 (acceptance of the IT entry at the port of original importation); the currency conversion rate is the certified rate for November 14 (date of exportation), subject to the 5% fluctuation rule; and if a tariff-rate quota applied, quota priority would be determined by the moment of presentation at Chicago on December 20, and only if the quota period had already opened.

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The Entered Value Declaration

Fixing the rate is only half the computation; the other half is the base. Two declaration mechanics deserve attention because they appear on the entry summary and in Practical Exercise sets:

• Entered value is declared in whole U.S. dollars on the entry summary, in the entered value field of the line-item block (block 36A on the current CBP Form 7501 revision; block 32A on the pre-2026 revision).
• Non-dutiable charges are reported separately in the CHGS field alongside entered value. Where the invoice is stated on a CIF basis, the international freight and insurance identified there are deducted from the price actually paid or payable under 19 U.S.C. § 1401a(b)(3) and reported as charges rather than silently netted out of value.
• The relationship field discloses whether the buyer and seller are related within the meaning of 19 U.S.C. § 1401a(g). A "Y" in that field is what signals CBP to test the transaction value under the circumstances-of-sale or test-value analysis.

Under 19 U.S.C. § 1484 the importer of record must use reasonable care in declaring value, and the broker's own diligence obligation under 19 CFR 111.29 extends to inquiring into the correctness of the facts declared. A broker who knows that the declared value omits a dutiable assist or a royalty that is a condition of sale cannot file the declaration as presented; the obligations of 19 CFR 111.32 (no false or misleading information) and 19 CFR 111.39 (advise the client of the error) both attach.