CBP Considering Increase on Planned Limits for Manual Drawback Claims

CBP is looking at whether to relax a limit on the number of import entries allowed on manual drawback entries after Jan. 14, said Randy Mitchell, director, Commercial Operations, Revenue and Entry Division, at CBP. Mitchell, who spoke on a drawback webinar Jan. 4, said the agency right now still plans to limit manual claims filed at drawback centers to 25 import data "elements" starting Jan. 15, as described in the ACE Entry Summary Business Rules (here). But, "we're discussing right now if we need to broaden that," he said. "We're really working with our operational office also because it really impacts them if we loosen that policy decision up and include all of the import entries," he said. CBP is "weighing all those concerns" and will update its business rules if it decides a change is necessary, he said. Several webinar participants inquired about the limit.

While paper submissions will be allowed after Jan. 14, the electronic filing is "highly" encouraged, Mitchell said. CBP's technical team will be ready to help with any electronic submission problems filers have with ACE so manual filing won't be necessary, said Lerone Faison, chief, Accounts and Revenue Branch, at CBP. If a filer seeking accelerated payment is forced to use manual filing, it will be certified for accelerated payment within three months of CBP acceptance, rather than three weeks after acceptance for certified Automated Broker Interface claims, said Maryanne Carney, national drawback field specialist at CBP. CBP announced last month that electronic drawback filing will be allowed only in ACE, starting Jan. 14 (see 1612090030).

CBP also begins validations of the HTS numbers in ACE with this deployment, though that is part of the drawback simplification piece of the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act (see 1603010043), Mitchell said. "We are working toward that validation and it's going to be a part of the next drawback deployment" in February of 2018, he said. "You'll be seeing further guidance on that line item edit in the future," he said. The four drawback centers will continue to operate as is and won't be spread out to the ports, Mitchell said.

CBP will automatically calculate the Harbor Maintenance Fee and Merchandise Processing Fee for electronic submissions for drawback, Mitchell said. CBP won't be changing its processes for "desk reviews" at all, he said. "The way you're getting them today or last week is still going to be the manner you're going to get them after" Jan. 14, he said. Desk review replies should also be done as they are now, he said. Drawback testing in the "CERT" environment will continue beyond Jan. 14, Faison said. A CBP presentation included a walk-through of the revised CATAIR and examples of proper drawback submissions.

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the presentation.