Section 321 De Minimis Exemption: 2025 Changes, Duties, and Penalties

The Section 321 de minimis exemption is the statutory rule that lets imported goods worth $800 or less enter the United States duty-free. It still sits in the U.S. Code, but two executive orders issued in 2025 have suspended it: first for goods from China and Hong Kong in May, then for goods from every country in July. If you are importing low-value merchandise in 2026, expect to pay duty on almost everything, and read the statute as background rather than as the rule that governs your shipment.

What the Statute Still Says

Under 19 U.S.C. § 1321, the Treasury Secretary may admit imported articles free of duty and tax when collecting those duties would cost more than the revenue they would produce.¹ The ceiling is $800 per person per day, measured by the aggregate fair retail value of the goods in the country of shipment. That is the retail price in the origin country, not the discounted price the buyer paid.

CBP regulations tell port officials to release shipments duty-free when the fair retail value on the bill of lading or manifest does not exceed $800, unless there is reason to believe an order was split to dodge the threshold.² Separately stated shipping costs do not count toward the $800 cap.

The exemption is limited to one person on one day. You cannot receive several duty-free shipments on the same calendar day that together exceed $800, and the statute expressly forbids breaking a single order into smaller packages to stay under the limit.¹ CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) aggregates by consignee name across all ports over the 24-hour period from midnight to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.³ Once you cross $800 in a day, every later shipment for you is held until it moves to a formal or informal entry.

Gifts sent from abroad follow a separate, lower ceiling: $100 per recipient per day, or $200 if the gift ships from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa.⁴ If any single item pushes the package over $100, the whole package becomes dutiable.⁵

How the 2025 Executive Orders Changed Things

The statutory ceilings above are the ceilings that would apply if de minimis treatment were available. Right now, for most imports, it is not.

China and Hong Kong: May 2, 2025

Executive Order 14256, signed April 2, 2025, eliminated de minimis treatment for all products of China and Hong Kong effective 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on May 2, 2025.⁶ The stated justification was combating the flow of synthetic opioid precursors, but the suspension covers all Chinese-origin goods, not just chemicals. Gift shipments from those origins lost their $100 duty-free treatment at the same time.

All Countries: July 2025

A follow-on executive order in July 2025 extended the suspension to products from every country.⁷ The $800 statutory exemption remains on the books, but no country’s goods currently benefit from it.

What You Pay on a Low-Value Package Now

The July 2025 order set duty rates for international postal shipments tied to the IEEPA tariff rate for the product’s country of origin. Carriers were given a six-month window from the effective date to use a flat per-item duty:

IEEPA rate below 16 percent: $80 per item
IEEPA rate between 16 and 25 percent: $160 per item
IEEPA rate above 25 percent: $200 per item

After that window closes, postal shipments pay the full ad valorem duty at the applicable IEEPA rate.⁷ Non-postal shipments arriving through express carriers or other channels move through standard formal entry with the applicable duties attached.

For packages from China and Hong Kong specifically, the April 2025 order set the postal duty at 30 percent ad valorem or a flat per-package fee, which was $25 initially and rose to $50 for items entering on or after June 1, 2025.⁶ CBP can also require formal entry on any postal package, in which case all standard duties, taxes, and fees replace the simplified postal duty.

The practical result: a $30 item ordered from a foreign warehouse can now carry a duty that exceeds the item’s own price. If you buy from a marketplace that ships directly from overseas, either you will be billed for the duty at delivery or it will be built into the checkout total.

Goods That Never Qualified Anyway

Even in periods when de minimis treatment is available, several categories are excluded by statute or regulation:

Alcoholic beverages and all tobacco products, which carry separate excise taxes.⁸
Merchandise subject to antidumping or countervailing duty orders.⁸
Anything subject to an absolute or tariff-rate quota, whether the quota is open or closed.
Goods carrying taxes collected by agencies other than CBP, such as certain fuel and chemical excise taxes.

Declaring any of these under a de minimis entry can lead to seizure and misdeclaration penalties.

Regulatory Requirements That Apply Regardless of Value

Low value does not lower the regulatory bar. The Consumer Product Safety Commission requires electronic filing of a certificate of compliance for every certifiable product, including children’s products and toys, with no de minimis exemption for the eFiling itself.⁹ A $15 toy needs the same paperwork as a container of them.

The Environmental Protection Agency requires a TSCA certification with every shipment containing chemical substances, stating either that the chemicals comply with the Toxic Substances Control Act or that they are not subject to it. Customs will refuse entry without it.¹⁰ The FDA, USDA, and other partner agencies keep their own reporting rules for regulated products, and many have no low-value carveout at all.⁸

Filing an Entry Type 86

When de minimis treatment is available, low-value shipments generally clear either through release from the carrier’s manifest or through an Entry Type 86 filed electronically in ACE. The Type 86 is submitted by the owner, purchaser, or a customs broker via the Automated Broker Interface and must include the consignee’s name and address, a detailed product description, the country of origin, and a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule code for each item.¹¹ Vague descriptions like “samples” or “merchandise” get flagged. An incorrect HTS code can trigger rejection, delay, and penalties.

The filing can go in any time before or on arrival. ACE screens the data and returns a release decision, usually within minutes. CBP can place a hold for inspection or push the shipment to formal entry if it sees a risk to admissibility, revenue, or enforcement.

Penalties for Undervaluing or Misdeclaring

Misrepresenting the value, description, or origin of a Section 321 shipment falls under the general customs penalty statute, 19 U.S.C. § 1592, which scales with culpability:

Fraud: civil penalty up to the full domestic value of the merchandise.¹²
Gross negligence: penalty up to the lesser of the domestic value or four times the unpaid duties; if duties were not affected, 40 percent of dutiable value.¹²
Negligence: penalty up to the lesser of the domestic value or two times the unpaid duties; if duties were not affected, 20 percent of dutiable value.¹²

Prior disclosure cuts the exposure sharply. Disclosing a fraud violation before CBP opens a formal investigation caps the penalty at 100 percent of unpaid duties instead of the domestic value. For negligence and gross negligence, a voluntary disclosure limits the penalty to interest on the unpaid duties.¹² CBP collects the unpaid duties in every case. Counterfeit and pirated goods are seized and forfeited without regard to value.

Recordkeeping

Importers using the de minimis exemption must keep their records for at least two years from the date of entry or the date the record was created, whichever applies.¹³ Keep the commercial invoice (date, product description, quantities, values, seller information), the airway bill or bill of lading, and any ACE filing confirmation. If CBP audits you and you cannot produce them, you lose the ability to prove the shipment qualified, which reopens the door to the penalties above.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1321 – Administrative Exemptions
2
eCFR. 19 CFR 10.151 – Importations Not Over $800
3
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Section 321 – Does Not Exceed $800 in Aggregated Shipments
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1321 – Administrative Exemptions
5
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Sending Gifts Not Exceeding $100 in Value
6
The White House. Further Amendment to Duties Addressing the Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the People’s Republic of China as Applied to Low-Value Imports
7
The White House. Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries
8
Federal Register. Test Concerning Entry of Section 321 Low-Valued Shipments Through Automated Commercial Environment
9
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. eFiling Frequently Asked Questions
10
eCFR. 40 CFR Part 707 – Chemical Imports and Exports
11
Federal Register. Test Concerning Entry of Section 321 Low-Value Shipments Through the Automated Commercial Environment – Republication With Modifications
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1592 – Penalties for Fraud, Gross Negligence, and Negligence
13
eCFR. 19 CFR Part 163 – Recordkeeping