Yesterday, 4/19, President Trump issued an Executive Order on National Emergency Authority to Temporarily Extend Deadlines for Certain Estimated Payments which authorizes the Secretary of Treasury to “temporarily extend deadlines, for importers suffering significant financial hardship due to COVID-19, for the estimated payments.”
By postponing the deadline to deposit certain duties, taxes, and fees for 90 days, we are providing much-needed relief to affected businesses,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “This will protect American jobs and help these businesses get through this time.”
You can review the details of the scope of the relief here: CSMS #42423171 – COVID-19 – 90 Day Postponement of Payment for the Deposit of Certain Estimated Duties, Taxes, and Fees. “Significant financial hardship” is defined as:
“If the operation of such importer is fully or partially suspended during March 2020 or April 2020 due to orders from a competent governmental authority limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings due to COVID-19, and as a result of such suspension, the gross receipts of such importer for March 13-31, 2020 or April 2020 are less than 60 percent of the gross receipts for the comparable period in 2019.”
It will be necessary to provide CBP with documentation supporting a request for duty deferral demonstrating that one meets the significant financial hardship criteria mentioned above. The 90-day deferral of duties extends to a limited number of circumstances: formal entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from a warehouse, for consumption (including entries for consumption from a Foreign Trade Zone) in March 2020 or April 2020.
The deferral does not apply to the majority of imported goods subject to:
- Antidumping duties,
- Countervailing duties,
- Duties assessed pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962,
- Duties assessed pursuant to Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, and
- Duties assessed pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
For specific filing instructions, please see CSMS #42421561 – COVID-19 – Payment Instructions for 90-Day Postponement of Payment for the Deposit of Certain Estimated Duties, Taxes, and Fees.
Note: If a company has a product subject to section 301 duties, but received an exclusion from 301 duties, these entries are not eligible for the 90-day deferral.
