CBP Form 6059B: Customs Declaration, Exemptions, and Errors

CBP Form 6059B is the U.S. Customs Declaration that every traveler arriving in the United States must complete, listing who you are, where you’ve come from, and everything you’re bringing with you. One form covers a solo traveler; one form can cover an entire family arriving together. Accuracy is the whole point of the exercise, because an item you fail to declare can be seized on the spot, and a false answer can turn a customs line into a federal case.

One Form Per Traveler, or One Per Family

Every arriving person must declare the articles they’re bringing in.¹ If you’re on your own, you fill out one form for yourself. If you’re traveling with family, one adult can complete a single form for the group.²

The word “family” is narrower than it sounds. It means members of the same household related by blood, marriage, domestic relationship, or adoption.³ Two friends on the same trip don’t qualify. Cousins who live in different cities don’t qualify. Where the group doesn’t fit that definition, each traveler needs a separate form. The choice also affects the duty-free exemption, since a family filing jointly shares one combined exemption rather than each adult claiming their own.

Identity and Travel Details

The upper portion of the form is identification. Enter your full legal name exactly as it appears on your passport, your date of birth, country of citizenship, and passport number. Add the address where you’ll be staying in the United States; if you live here, use your home address.³

Then the trip itself: airline and flight number (or the name of the vessel if you arrived by sea), the country where the trip began, and any countries visited along the way. Write in capital letters using blue or black ink. Flight crews usually distribute the form during the flight, and copies are available in the arrival hall before the inspection booths.

The Declaration Questions

The lower half of the form is where mistakes turn expensive. Read each question carefully, because the wording is broader than you’d expect.

Agricultural Items and Contact With Animals

You must check “Yes” if you’re carrying any fruits, vegetables, plants, seeds, meats, animals, animal products, or soil. The same question asks whether you’ve been in close proximity to livestock; that covers touching or handling animals and also visiting a farm, ranch, or pasture.³ A petting zoo counts. A horseback ride counts. An agriculture specialist may want to look at your shoes for traces of soil that could carry diseases like foot-and-mouth.

Declaring an agricultural item does not mean losing it. Many products are perfectly legal to bring in, and the officer will tell you which ones. Not declaring is where the trouble starts. CBP can assess civil penalties up to $1,000 for a first-time failure to declare a prohibited agricultural item in non-commercial quantities.⁴ Any undeclared article discovered by an officer is subject to forfeiture, plus a penalty equal to the item’s value. For an undeclared controlled substance, the penalty is $500 or 1,000 percent of the item’s value, whichever is greater.⁵

Currency Over $10,000

If the travelers on your form are carrying more than $10,000 in currency or monetary instruments, you must report it. The threshold is a combined total for the entire party, not per person, and it includes cash, traveler’s checks, money orders, and other negotiable instruments.⁶ Carrying large amounts of money into or out of the country is not itself illegal. Failing to report it is.

The consequences are heavy. CBP can seize the whole amount through civil forfeiture,⁷ and a willful violation can bring fines up to $250,000 and up to five years in prison.⁸

Goods Acquired Abroad

List the total value of everything you obtained outside the country and are bringing in with you. That includes items you bought, gifts you received, and things you had repaired or altered overseas. Value them at fair market price.

Duty-free shops are a common source of confusion. Items you bought at a duty-free store abroad are not automatically free of U.S. duty; the label refers to the country you bought them in.⁹ Those purchases still count toward the total you enter on the form.

Prescription Medication

Bring medication in its original dispensing container and declare it. Be ready to give the officer the drug’s name, the pharmacy or prescriber’s information, and the prescription number if the label doesn’t show the substance itself.¹⁰

U.S. residents face a cap of 50 dosage units combined across all controlled substances obtained abroad. That’s a total, not 50 per medication. Controlled substances you got in the United States on a valid prescription from a DEA-registered provider don’t count against the cap.¹⁰

What Your Duty-Free Exemption Actually Covers

The value you write on the merchandise line matters because of your personal exemption. Returning U.S. residents who have been outside the country at least 48 hours and haven’t used the exemption in the past 30 days get $800 in goods duty-free. Returning from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa, the exemption is $1,600.¹¹

If you don’t meet the 48-hour or 30-day thresholds, a reduced $200 exemption is available. Under that smaller allowance you’re limited to 50 cigarettes, 10 cigars, and 150 milliliters of alcohol or perfume containing alcohol.¹¹ Declare the full value on the form. The officer will apply the exemption and tell you what, if anything, is owed.

Fixing a Mistake Before It Becomes a Violation

If you realize you left something off the form, speak up. You can add an undeclared item at two points:

Before baggage examination begins, by telling the officer about it.
After examination has started but before the officer finds the item, provided the officer is satisfied there was no intent to deceive.

Once an officer discovers an undeclared item on their own, that door closes. You cannot amend the form after the fact.¹² The item becomes subject to forfeiture and the penalties above kick in. There is a real, legal difference between “I forgot” and “they found it.”

Handing It In

Carry the completed form and your passport to the primary inspection booth in the arrivals hall. The officer reviews both together and may ask about anything you declared. Most conversations are short. The officer can send you to secondary inspection if something needs a closer look. After you clear primary and pick up your checked bags, a second officer near the exit may ask to see the form or an electronic receipt one more time, so keep it accessible until you’re out of the customs area.

Electronic Alternatives

The paper form is the default, but two digital options can replace it at participating locations.

Mobile Passport Control

Mobile Passport Control is a free CBP app that lets you submit the declaration from your phone. It’s open to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, Canadian visitors on B1/B2 status, and Visa Waiver Program travelers with an approved ESTA. As of early 2026, it works at 55 locations, including 37 U.S. international airports and 4 seaports, and a single device can submit for up to 12 travelers. It does not replace your passport, and if your flight diverts to an airport that doesn’t support MPC, you’ll fill out the paper form.¹³

Global Entry

Global Entry members answer the same declaration questions at a kiosk instead of on paper.¹⁴ Membership requires an application, background check, and in-person interview, so it’s not something to arrange the night before a trip.

The Cost of a False Answer

The form itself warns that false statements carry penalties, and the warning is not for show. Beyond the item-specific consequences, knowingly making a false statement on a federal form can bring fines and up to five years in prison.¹⁵ Officers are trained to catch inconsistencies, and the questions are written to be simple enough that a wrong answer stops looking like a mistake once the bag is open. Declare, let the officer decide, and spend a few extra minutes at the booth instead of hours in secondary.

1
eCFR. 19 CFR 148.11 – Declaration Required
2
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Traveler Entry Forms
3
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Form 6059B Customs Declaration
4
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bringing Agricultural Products Into the United States
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1497 – Penalties for Failure to Declare
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5316 – Reports on Exporting and Importing Monetary Instruments
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5317 – Search and Forfeiture of Monetary Instruments
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5322 – Criminal Penalties
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Shopping Abroad – Duty Free, Gifts, Household Items
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eCFR. 21 CFR 1301.26 – Exemptions From Import or Export Requirements for Personal Medical Use
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Types of Exemptions
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eCFR. 19 CFR 148.16 – Amendment of Declaration
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Mobile Passport Control
14
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Global Entry Information Guide
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally