CBP Issues Memo on Retroactive Billing for Increased MPF
CBP issued a memo Aug. 16 giving guidance on the payment of the retroactive merchandise processing fee (MPF), on entries flagged for reconciliation. The additional MPF will be accounted for on the reconciliation entry (type 09) for underlying entries which have a date of entry (as defined in 19 CFR § 141.68) of Oct. 1 though Nov. 4, 2011.
(Entry summaries with an entry date on or after Oct. 1, 2011, are subject to the MPF rate of 0.3464 percent. The new fee was established through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011 (TAA), retroactively effective Oct. 1, 2011. See ITT's Online Archive 12061821 for summary of CBP's June announcement that it would start retroactive billing for increased MPF.)
Various Scenarios
Reconciliation participants have inquired as to how CBP anticipates collection of potential increased MPF via various reconciliation filing scenarios. CBP provided a partial list of the treatment of various entry scenarios. For entries where there is:
- 1. No change other than the difference in MPF
- The importer may file entry-by-entry or aggregate reconciliation and report the MPF in a separate column on the detailed spreadsheet. Please note that it may be beneficial to file a separate aggregate reconciliation on those entries that have a de minimis change in MPF.
- 2. No change to entry data and de minimis changes in MPF
- Importers may file entry-by-entry or aggregate reconciliation. CBP reserves the right to request supporting documentation
- 3. A change in classification and a difference in the MPF
- Importers may file entry-by-entry or aggregate reconciliation and report the MPF in a separate column on the detailed spreadsheet.
- 4. A net increase in value
- Importers may file entry-by-entry or aggregate reconciliation and report the MPF in a separate column on the detailed spreadsheet.
- 5. A net reduction in value
- The importer must file an entry-by-entry reconciliation and report the MPF in a separate column on the detailed spreadsheet.
Importers may disregard differences of less than $20 (de minimis) on each individual underlying entry; however, the importer remains responsible for calculating and tracking the de minimis amounts and reporting the de minimis amount to CBP.
When supporting documentation is required, importers will report the additional MPF on the detailed spreadsheet provided with the reconciliation filing. CBP offered the below spreadsheet as an example.
| Original Value | Reconciled Value | Difference in Value | Original MPF | Revised Orig. MPF | Rec. MPF | Difference in MPF 1 |
| 11,500 | 11,500 | 0 | 25.00 | 39.84 | 39.84 | 14.84 |
| 30,100 | 30,100 | 0 | 63.21 | 104.27 | 104.27 | 41.06 |
| 140,000 | 165,000 | 25,000 | 294.00 | 484.96 | 485.00 | 191.00 |
| 175,000 | 169,000 | -6,000 | 367.50 | 485.00 | 485.00 | 117.50 |
The additional columns of data are a temporary requirement to substantiate the correct MPF on underlying entries filed from October 1 -- November 4, 2011, said CBP.
Contact: Russell Morris, Office of International Trade at Russell.Morris@dhs.gov.