Reconciliation in ACE

Last Updated | February 20, 2018

On February 24, 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will deploy Reconciliation capabilities in ACE. The following are the high-level changes for processing Reconciliation in ACE. Please read below for more detailed process information.

What will stay the same in ACE?

While processing of Reconciliation is new to ACE, several foundational functions will remain the same:

• Reconcilable Issues: Reconciliation will continue to be filed for value, classification, 9802, and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) issue types.
• Timeframes: Entries flagged for FTA must be reconciled within 12 months; all other entries flagged for value, classification & 9802 must be reconciled within 21 months.
• Types of Reconciliations: There are no changes to the types of Reconciliations that may be filed. They are: Change, No-Change, FTA.
• Filing Methods: Aggregate or Entry-by-Entry.

What will change with Reconciliation in ACE?

Reconciliation Processing

• Expanding from 13 processing ports to all entry ports and worked by the Centers for Excellence and Expertise (Centers) nationwide. If the importer is assigned to a Center, then that Center will work the Reconciliation. However, if the importer is not assigned to a Center, then the Reconciliation should be transmitted to their local port of entry for routing. Instructions will need to go out to those CBP ports as to how they will handle those entries.

Participation Eligibility

• All participation eligibility indicators for importer of record accounts will default to “Yes.” An application to request participation will no longer be required. In ACE, all importer of record numbers will be flagged as eligible to participate in Reconciliation. If an importer exhibits misconduct, CBP retains the right to revoke participation and set their Reconciliation participation eligibility indicator to “No.”
• In addition, the importer is still required to secure and have on file in ACE a Reconciliation Bond Rider.
• The two requirements above will authorize the filer to flag entry summary types 01, 02, & 06.

Transmitting Underlying Entries to be Flagged

• Only entry-by-entry flagging. CBP will no longer offer “blanket flagging”. Instead, the Trade will have to flag each entry-by-entry manually or configure their software to perform blanket flagging.
• ACE Validations. ACE will validate the following information, otherwise the system will send a fatal reject message back to the filer.
  • The correct entry type (01, 02, 06) has been flagged.
  • Reconciliation entry criteria has been satisfied.
    • Reconciliation bond rider on file.
    • Reconciliation Participation Eligible indicator set to “Yes”.
    • Continuous bond on file (single transaction bonds are not allowed).
  • The correct Reconciliation issue type has been flagged.
    • For a 9802 flag, a 9802 claim must exist on the entry – this claim cannot be established at time of Reconciliation.
    • Entry type 02 is ineligible to be flagged for classification.
    • Only one Reconciliation entry (entry type 09) can be filed per group of issue type of underlying entries. FTA-flagged entries must have a separate Reconciliation entry filed. For example, two underlying entries, one flagged for value only, and one flagged for value & classification, must be reconciled on two separate Reconciliation entries.

Transmitting Reconciliation Entry Type 09

• No longer need to submit original amounts. ACE will automatically populate the original values, duties, taxes, and fees. This information will be pulled from the associated entry summaries.
• Information to be submitted via EDI:
  • Indicator for “Aggregate Refund Waiver Indicator” when filing an aggregate Reconciliation with a refund.
  • Indicator for “HTS Changed Due to Value Indicator” when value change is driven by HTS change.
  • Classification Pending Action Indicator. Filer will submit the Administrative Ruling, Protest, or Court action # when reconciling for Classification issue.
  • Filer will submit Contact Information, name, phone number, & email address.
  • Indicator for “Prior Disclosure Indicator” used to notify CBP that one or any flagged entry summary had a prior disclosure filed against it.
  • Reconciled amounts for value, duties, taxes and fees (no need to submit original amounts).
  • Free Trade Agreement Statement: Filer will submit the legal statements required for a Trade Agreement Reconciliation.
• ACE Validations. ACE will validate the following information, otherwise will send an error message or a fatal reject message.
  • Correct Line Item Data: ACE will validate that the HTS/CO/SPI reported on the Line Item Data submitted on an aggregate/entry-by-entry Reconciliation entry belongs to an Associated ES otherwise ACE will return an error message.
  • Correct Information for Underlying Entry Summary: ACE will validate that the correct data is supplied for the correct filing method and type of Reconciliation entry.

Reconciliation Liquidation Process

• A CBPF 28 will be issued and responded to through ACE. If additional information is required, CBP will issue the CBPF 28 through ACE and the Trade will respond to this call for additional information through ACE, instead of paper.
• ACE Reports for reconciliation data are forthcoming. CBP will notify the Trade when these reports are available.

ACS to ACE Cutover Plan

CBP will deploy ACE’s Reconciliation Entry functionality as part of the ACE Release G4 deployment. Please note the following items as part of this deployment:

• The ACS Reconciliation ABI application (RA) will be disabled at 8:00 PM on Friday, 2/23/18. Any submissions to ACS after that time will be rejected.
• During the outage window, the ACE Reconciliation functionality for Trade and CBP users will be deployed to ACE production.
• ACS Reconciliation Entries will be converted to ACE as part of the deployment of ACE Reconciliation.
• Any ACE Reconciliation Entries submitted to ACE prior to completion of the deployment will be held in queue and processed once the entire deployment as completed.
• For information on Reconciliation Statements, please refer to the Reconciliation Statements deployment plan.

Reconciliation Statement Cutover Plan

• All deployed Statements functionality will begin processing in ACE post data conversion completion, on Monday, February 26, 2018
• There will be an outage period for payments and statements beginning Friday, February 23, 2018, after 11:59 PM EST and ending Sunday, February 25, 2018.
• Effective Saturday, February 24, 2018, statement updates for Reconciliation are required to be submitted via SU instead of HP
• CBP will hold all SU transactions for ACE in a queue and update ACE on Sunday, February 25, 2018.
• CBP will hold all MO transactions for ACE in a queue and process on Sunday, February 25, 2018.
• CBP will hold all PN/QN transactions for ACS in a queue and process these on Sunday, February 25, 2018.
• All FINAL DAILY STATEMENTS (REGULAR) WILL RUN EARLY SUNDAY AM, February 25, 2018, FROM ACS.
• ACE WILL RUN PRELIMINARY DAILY STATEMENTS For Reconciliation on MONDAY AM, February 26, 2018.
• If a Preliminary Daily Statement is issued by ACS but the Final Daily is not generated from ACS by Monday, February 26, 2018, then the Final Daily will be generated out of ACE.
• If a QN/PN is done on Friday, February 23, 2018, a Final Statement will be generated from ACS on Sunday, February 25, 2018, and available for the Trade on Monday, February 26, 2018.
• All ACS Reconciliation Statements will be converted into ACE during the February deployment.
• Reconciliation entry summaries will be combined with other entry types on the same Statement in Deployment G, Release 4 (February 24, 2018).
• ACS Collections will not be deployed as part of the, Deployment G, Release 4 (February 24, 2018). The date for the collections deployment in ACE is TBD.

APP ID Schedule for Statements - For Awareness

**If the trade wants to make changes to the statement, they will use SU instead of HP as of Friday, February 23, 2018, 11:59 PM EST.

Also, on Sunday, February 25, 2018 SU and MO responses could start as early as 10:30 AM EST

(QN/QS Trade will continue to use ACS for payment authorization)

Are there any Reconciliation resources available?

• DIS Implementation Guide: A programming guide for the Document Image System
• ACE ABI CATAIR: Reconciliation Entry Summary Create/Update
• ACE Entry Summary Business Rules and Process Document
• Recordings and transcripts of the following webinars are available on CBP.gov:
  • August 4, 2016 Reconciliation Webinar for Software Developers
  • August 24, 2016 Reconciliation Demonstration Webinar
  • December 8, 2016 Reconciliation Webinar
  • December 15, 2016 Reconciliation Webinar
  • December 22, 2016 Reconciliation Webinar
  • ACE Reconciliation Frequently Asked Questions
• January 18, 2018 Federal Register Notice (FRN) 83 FR 2645

Who do I contact if I have issues?

For questions related to ABI transmission of Reconciliation, contact your Client Representative or the ACE Account Service Desk at 1-866-530-4172 or ACE.Support@cbp.dhs.gov. For policy-related questions, contact your assigned Center.