CBP Form 4607, Notice of Abandonment: Options and Global Entry Impact

CBP Form 4607 is the “assent to forfeiture” document you sign to voluntarily give up any claim to property that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized. It usually arrives with the seizure notice when the goods are low in value and no criminal intent is apparent. Once you sign and return it, CBP destroys the items or keeps them for official use, and your case closes.¹ Signing is permanent. You give up the right to get the property back and the right to challenge the seizure, so it’s worth understanding what you’re agreeing to first.

Why You Received the Form

CBP officers seize goods at airports, land borders, and seaports when items violate federal import laws. Common triggers are counterfeit merchandise, unapproved pharmaceuticals, prohibited agricultural products, and undeclared purchases over your duty exemption. After the seizure, the case moves to the local Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures (FP&F) office for processing.²

CBP has to send written notice to known interested parties, generally within 60 calendar days of the seizure.³ When the property is low-value and doesn’t suggest criminal intent, the notice includes a blank Form 4607 so you can consent to forfeiture without further proceedings.¹ Receiving the form is not an obligation to sign it. It’s one of several options.

What Signing the Form Gives Up

Your signature ends your legal relationship with the property. You waive the right to file a petition for remission or mitigation under 19 U.S.C. § 1618, the process that otherwise lets you ask CBP to return goods or reduce penalties when the violation was unintentional.⁴ You also give up any ability to challenge the seizure in federal court or negotiate a compromise. The property becomes government-owned.

Once CBP processes the form, the decision is irreversible. You receive no compensation. If there is any realistic chance the seizure was improper or the goods are legitimately yours, think carefully before signing. A petition for remission costs nothing to file and keeps your options open. Form 4607 closes them.

Your Other Options and the Deadlines That Control Them

For property subject to administrative forfeiture (generally valued at $500,000 or less), CBP presents several paths:⁵

File a petition for remission or mitigation asking CBP to return the property or reduce penalties, available when the violation happened without willful negligence or intent to defraud.⁴
File a claim for judicial forfeiture, which pushes the case into federal court and requires posting a cost bond.
Offer to compromise the case with CBP.
Sign Form 4607 and walk away.⁶

Deadlines run from the mailing date of the seizure notice. A petition for remission must be filed within 30 days. A claim for judicial forfeiture under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act must be filed within 35 days. For non-CAFRA seizures, the deadline to file a claim and post the cost bond is 20 days from the date of first publication of the notice.⁷

Contesting a seizure in court requires a bond of $5,000 or 10 percent of the property’s value, whichever is lower, with a $250 minimum, on top of attorney fees and court costs.⁸ For a suitcase of undeclared souvenirs or a few boxes of prohibited items, the math often points to signing the form. If you do nothing and miss every deadline, CBP proceeds with administrative forfeiture anyway. Form 4607 gets you to the same endpoint faster. Form 4607 has no separate deadline printed on it; the controlling deadlines are the ones in the seizure notice.

How to Fill Out Form 4607

The form itself is short. Pull the details straight from your seizure paperwork:

Seizure or case tracking number, the identifier CBP assigned when it logged the incident. This number governs all communication with the FP&F office.²
Description of the property, including brand names, model numbers, and quantities where applicable. Match the description on your seizure notice exactly.
Date and location of the seizure, meaning the calendar date and the specific port of entry or CBP station.
Your full legal name and contact information. If a business owns the goods, an authorized representative who can legally bind the company must sign.

The form includes a statement that you are voluntarily abandoning all claim and interest in the described property and consenting to its forfeiture. Discrepancies between the form and the seizure notice, especially in the seizure number or property description, can delay processing.

The regulation calls for the form to be “duly executed” but doesn’t spell out whether notarization is required.¹ If your copy has a notary block, have it notarized; a notary acknowledgment usually costs $10 to $15. If it doesn’t, your signature alone should be enough. Call the FP&F office listed on your seizure notice if you’re unsure.

Where to Send It

Return the signed form to the specific FP&F office identified on your seizure notice, not to CBP headquarters or a general address. The FP&F office with jurisdiction over the port where the goods were seized handles the case.²

Use a trackable method: USPS Certified Mail or a private courier gives you proof of delivery. Some FP&F offices accept hand delivery. Keep a photocopy of the signed form and your tracking receipt. Once the office receives the executed form, the case moves toward closure and nothing further is required from you.

What Happens to the Property

After forfeiture, if the goods aren’t retained for official government use, they’re disposed of under 19 U.S.C. § 1609. In practice, one of three things happens:⁹

Destruction, the common outcome for counterfeit merchandise, unapproved drugs, and banned agricultural items. Destruction can also be ordered when expected sale proceeds wouldn’t cover the costs of selling.
Sale at a government auction, used for goods that are legal to own but were imported in violation of customs rules, such as undeclared items over the duty exemption.
Retention for use by a government agency.

Goods requiring inspection by another agency (drugs, seeds, nursery stock) have to clear that inspection before any sale. If they fail, they’re destroyed.⁹

Effect on Global Entry and Trusted Traveler Programs

Signing Form 4607 resolves the property question. It does not erase the underlying violation from CBP’s records. The agency has revoked Global Entry and other trusted traveler memberships after seizures. In one case, a Global Entry member caught with over $80,000 in undeclared purchases lost his membership; CBP’s Area Port Director said that “when we encounter a trusted traveler deliberately violating our nation’s laws, we take swift and decisive action to revoke that member’s privilege.”¹⁰

If you hold Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, or TSA PreCheck through CBP, expect a membership review. Revocation isn’t automatic, and a routine duty miscalculation is treated differently from smuggling prohibited items, but the risk is real and worth factoring in before you decide whether abandonment or a petition for remission is the better path.

1
eCFR. 19 CFR 12.40 – Seizure; Disposition of Seized Articles; Reports to United States Attorney
2
Department of Homeland Security. Privacy Impact Assessment for the Seized Assets and Case Tracking System
3
eCFR. 19 CFR 162.92 – Notice of Seizure
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1618 – Remission or Mitigation of Penalties
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1607 – Seizure
6
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Customs Administrative Enforcement Process: Fines, Penalties, Forfeitures and Liquidated Damages
7
GovInfo. Federal Register Notice – CBP Seizure Deadlines
8
eCFR. 19 CFR 162.47 – Claim for Property Subject to Summary Forfeiture
9
eCFR. 19 CFR 162.46 – Summary Forfeiture: Disposition of Goods
10
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Philadelphia CBP Officers Catch Global Entry Trusted Traveler with $80k in Undeclared Overseas Purchases