Issued: July 3, 2012
The week of June 11, 2012, CBP began the retroactive MPF billing process for merchandise entered October 1, 2011 through November 4, 2011.
Background
Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011 (TAA) was signed into law on October 21, 2011. This law increased the merchandise processing fee (MPF) rate for formal entries from 0.21% (.0021) to 0.3464% (.003464), effective October 1, 2011. The minimum and maximum fees, $25 and $485 respectively, did not change. CBP automated system programming was completed on November 5, 2011. CBP advised the trade that we would bill importers for those entries entered October 1 through November 4, 2011; however, we were unable to begin billing until the refund processing was completed for the Generalized System of Preferences, Andean Trade Preference Act, and the Andean Trade Promotion, and Drug Eradication Act retroactive renewals, also passed on October 21, 2011.
Additional details are in the following Cargo Systems Messaging Service notices:
- CSMS 12-000229 - Update to Retroactive Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) Increase
- CSMS 11-000274 - MERCHANDISE PROCESSING FEE (CLASS CODE 499) SYSTEM CHANGES READY ON 11/05/2011
- CSMS 11-000262 - MERCHANDISE PROCESSING FEE (CLASS CODE 499) RATE CHANGE INFORMATION
Additional details
The retroactive increase affected over 650,000 entry summaries, and CBP will process the bills in batches from June to September 2012.
- CBP will not bill for de minimis amounts (i.e., increases of less than $20.00).
- CBP will generate bills for entries that are not liquidated and are not flagged for reconciliation.
- Please note that multiple bills may be paid with one check, as long as a supplemental spreadsheet is provided, which lists each bill number and bill amount.
- CBP will not assess interest on bill amounts for the increased MPF.