Notice for USA Importers

U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Increase
Merchandise Processing Fee

The Merchandise Processing Fee (better known by the acronym MPF) is a user fee collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to cover fees associated with the process of importing merchandise into the U.S. and to monitor customs and trade compliance.  It has been in place since 1986, and the last increase was in October 2011. The MPF is an ad valorem (according to value) charge of 0.3464% of the entered value and this rate is not changing.  What is changing is the minimum and maximum amounts charged.  The majority of wine and spirits imports fall into the “formal” entry category and the minimum is going up from $25.00 to $25.67 and the maximum charge is going up from $485.00 to $497.99.

To give you an example of the MPF charge, a shipment with a transaction value (purchased price) of $50,000.00 would incur an MPF of $173.20 and is not subject to any change from the current assessment as it is above the minimum fee and below the maximum.  

Please let us know if you have any questions on this upcoming change. The implementation date of the change is January 1, 2018. Please contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.