CBP Sets Procedures for Filing, 'Perfecting' Drawback Claims for Sections 301 and 201 Duties

Drawback filers may “effective immediately” submit claims for refunds on Section 301 or Section 201 duties, CBP said in a Feb. 8 CSMS message. Filers will no longer receive error messages related to unit of measure (UOM) mismatches that had been occurring “because the underlying import did not have a UOM associated to a Chapter 99” tariff number or because they had left the mandatory UOM field blank, CBP said.

Filers must provide the Chapter 99 tariff schedule number related to Section 301 or 201 duties, as well as the associated chapter 1-97 tariff number, on their drawback claims, CBP said. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum are not eligible for drawback. CBP had already said it was accepting claims for Section 301 drawback on a call held Jan. 23 to discuss issues related to the recent partial federal government shutdown (see 1901230040).

For any drawback claims for Sections 301 and 201 duties that were previously filed and accepted into ACE, filers are required to “perfect” the claim, CBP said. “To ‘perfect’ a claim, filers must contact their Drawback Specialist and request the claim be returned to trade control. The filers are then required to list both [Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S.] tariff numbers (as described above) on their claims and resubmit to CBP within 5 business days,” CBP said.

Sections 301 and 201 duties are refundable in full on pre-Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act substitution drawback claims, CBP said. For TFTEA substitution claims, the duties are refundable “even if subject to the TFTEA lesser of [value] rule,” CBP said. “If subject to the TFTEA lesser of [value] rule, the amount will be limited by the value of the substituted merchandise when it is lower than the value of the imported merchandise.”

For NAFTA drawback claims, both pre- and post-TFTEA, Sections 301 and 201 duties “may be refundable” subject to the “lesser of [duty] rule, but only when the total amount of Canadian/Mexican duties paid is higher than the total amount of duties paid in the United States. The amount of 301/201 duties refunded under the NAFTA lesser of [duty] rule will be limited by the total amount of duties paid on the merchandise imported into Canada/Mexico,” CBP said.

On the other hand, “due to a pending technical fix,” no claims for 19 USC 1313(p) substitution drawback for finished petroleum derivatives should be filed at this time, CBP said. “Future guidance will be sent once this issue has been resolved. If you have a 1313(p) claim on file with Section 301 and/or 201 duties, please do not request to ‘perfect’ this claim until further guidance has been received,” the agency said.