US Customs Duty: Rates, Surcharges, Exemptions, and Payment

U.S. customs duty is the tax U.S. Customs and Border Protection charges on goods brought into the country from abroad, whether you carry them home in a suitcase or receive them in the mail.¹ What you owe depends on three things: what the item is, where it came from, and whether a personal exemption covers it. Rates changed substantially in 2025 with new reciprocal tariffs and the end of duty-free treatment for most shipments from China, so the price you paid abroad is often not the final price.

How the Duty Rate Is Set

Every imported product has a classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, a reference maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission.² Each classification carries a specific rate, and CBP officers use those codes so the same product gets the same rate at every port.

Most rates are ad valorem: you pay a percentage of what you paid for the item. A $500 leather jacket at a 10% rate owes $50 in duty before any surcharges. Some goods use specific rates instead, based on weight, volume, or quantity, so a wine import might owe a set dollar figure per liter. A few goods combine both.

Returning travelers get a simplified version. Once you cross your personal exemption, a flat rate applies to the next $1,000 of goods: 3% for most countries, 1.5% for certain U.S. insular possessions. Anything above that $1,000 window gets assessed at the full HTS rate for the specific item.

Some categories enter duty-free regardless of value. The Generalized System of Preferences eliminates duties on thousands of products from 119 designated developing countries.³ Antiques over 100 years old also enter duty-free if you can document the age, as does original artwork.⁴

Tariff Surcharges Added in 2025

Since early 2025, several rounds of additional tariffs sit on top of the standard HTS rate. These matter because they can double or triple what you would have paid a year ago.

Reciprocal Tariffs

A 10% reciprocal tariff applies to goods from most countries. Dozens of trading partners face higher country-specific rates between 15% and 41%. India is at 25%, Vietnam at 20%, Switzerland at 39%. European Union goods follow a formula: if the existing tariff is below 15%, the combined rate is brought up to at least 15%. The United Kingdom stays at the 10% baseline.⁵ These rates are set by executive order and can change on short notice, so checking the current schedule before a large purchase is worthwhile.

China

Chinese imports carry the heaviest burden. A 10% fentanyl-related tariff applies to all Chinese goods, and a separate 10% reciprocal tariff runs through at least November 2026 under a bilateral agreement that reduced the original 125% reciprocal rate. Both sit on top of pre-existing Section 301 tariffs from the U.S.-China trade dispute, which range from 7.5% to 100% depending on the product.⁶

Steel and Aluminum

Steel and aluminum articles face a 50% tariff under Section 232, increased from 25% in June 2025.⁷ The United Kingdom is the only country with a negotiated exception at 25%. The rate applies to the steel or aluminum content of finished products, not only raw material.

Personal Exemptions for Travelers

Returning travelers get a duty-free allowance for items purchased abroad, as long as those items are for personal or household use.

$800 is the standard exemption for most international destinations.⁸
$1,600 applies if you’re returning directly or indirectly from the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or Guam.⁹
$200 is the fallback if you haven’t been abroad at least 48 hours or you already used your $800 exemption within the past 30 days.⁸

Family members living in the same household can combine their individual exemptions on one declaration. A family of four returning from Europe has a combined $3,200 to work with, which helps when one person did most of the shopping.

Alcohol and Tobacco

Alcohol and tobacco have quantity limits on top of the dollar exemption. Travelers 21 or older can bring in one liter of alcohol duty-free.¹⁰ For tobacco, the allowance is 200 cigarettes and 100 cigars from outside a beneficiary country or insular possession.¹¹ You can bring more, but you’ll owe duty and possibly state excise taxes on the excess. Cuban cigars remain restricted at any quantity.

Gifts Sent by Mail

Gifts mailed from abroad can arrive duty-free if the value stays at $100 or less per recipient per day. That rises to $200 for gifts from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa. Each gift in a group package must be individually wrapped and labeled with the recipient’s name, and if any single gift exceeds the $100 limit, the entire package becomes dutiable.¹² You cannot mail a gift package to yourself, and travel companions cannot send gifts to each other.

Shipped Goods and the De Minimis Rule

Packages shipped to the United States have historically entered duty-free if their value was $800 or less per person per day.¹³ This de minimis rule still applies for shipments from most countries and covers international mail, couriers like FedEx or DHL, and other commercial shipping.

China is the big exception. Starting May 2, 2025, the de minimis exemption was eliminated for goods shipped from China and Hong Kong. Packages that used to arrive tax-free now face full applicable duties when shipped outside the postal system. Items sent through international mail from China are subject to either 30% of declared value or a flat per-item charge ($50 per item as of June 2025), whichever the importer prefers, paid in lieu of other tariffs.¹⁴ The change hits shoppers who order from Temu, Shein, and AliExpress hardest, since most individual orders used to sit under the $800 threshold.

How to Declare and Pay

At the Airport or Border

Returning travelers fill out CBP Form 6059B, describing each item and its value.¹⁵ Bring receipts. The actual price you paid abroad, converted to U.S. dollars, is the basis for the duty calculation, and foreign sales taxes count toward that value. Be specific in your descriptions: “leather handbag” is better than “accessories.” If you owe duty, the officer sends you to a payment station.

Mail and Online Purchases

For international mail valued under $2,500, CBP handles the paperwork, assesses the duty, and attaches a bill to the package. You pay the duty plus a processing fee at your local post office when the package is delivered or held for pickup.¹⁶ Packages under the $800 de minimis threshold, from countries where it still applies, clear without paperwork or payment.

Shipments of $2,500 or more require a formal customs entry, a more involved process most people handle through a licensed customs broker.¹⁷ FedEx and UPS act as brokers for their own shipments and add duty and brokerage fees to your delivery charges.

Payment Methods

CBP accepts U.S. currency, checks or money orders drawn on a U.S. bank, and in many cases credit cards. Online payment through Pay.gov is available for certain duties and fees, and commercial entries can use ACH debit or credit.¹⁸ Credit card acceptance is not universal at every location, so if you expect to owe duty at a land border crossing, carrying cash or a checkbook as backup is reasonable.

What Happens If You Don’t Declare

Skipping the declaration or underreporting value is expensive. Civil penalties scale with intent. A negligent violation, such as forgetting an item or misreading a receipt, can cost up to twice the duties you should have paid. Gross negligence pushes that to four times. Fraud can result in a penalty equal to the full domestic value of the merchandise.¹⁹ CBP can also seize the goods outright.

If you voluntarily disclose the problem before CBP opens a formal investigation, the penalty for a negligent error drops to interest on the unpaid duties.¹⁹ That option disappears once CBP starts investigating.

Criminal prosecution is reserved for smuggling and deliberate concealment, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years and substantial fines.²⁰ CBP also adds a 40% tariff on goods it determines were transshipped through a third country to dodge the reciprocal tariffs, on top of any other penalty.⁵

Moving to the U.S. With Household Goods

Used household belongings enter duty-free under a separate rule when you’re moving to or returning to the United States. Furniture, tableware, books, carpets, and typical household furnishings qualify as long as they were actually used abroad for at least one year.²¹ The year of use does not have to be continuous or immediately before the move, but you need to be able to prove it if asked.

File CBP Form 3299, the declaration for free entry of unaccompanied articles, with a packing list. The items cannot be for sale or for someone else’s use.²² If your belongings arrive more than 10 years after your last U.S. entry from the country where you used them, duty-free treatment is only available if you can show the shipment was unavoidably delayed. After 25 years, the exemption is gone.²¹

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1500 – Appraisement, Classification, and Liquidation Procedure
2
United States International Trade Commission. Harmonized Tariff Schedule
3
United States Trade Representative. Generalized System of Preferences
4
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Duty on Personal and Commercial Imports of Antiques and Artwork
5
The White House. Further Modifying the Reciprocal Tariff Rates
6
Congress.gov. Presidential 2025 Tariff Actions – Timeline and Status
7
The White House. Adjusting Imports of Aluminum and Steel Into the United States
8
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Duty-Free Exemption
9
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Types of Exemptions
10
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bringing Alcohol Into the United States
11
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Customs Duty Information
12
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Gifts
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1321 – Administrative Exemptions
14
The White House. Fact Sheet – President Donald J. Trump Closes De Minimis Exemptions
15
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Form 6059B Customs Declaration – English
16
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Internet Purchases
17
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Filing a Formal Entry for Goods Valued at $2,500 or More
18
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Duty – Acceptable Payment Methods
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1592 – Penalties for Fraud, Gross Negligence, and Negligence
20
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 545 – Smuggling Goods Into the United States
21
eCFR. 19 CFR 148.52 – Exemption for Household Effects Used Abroad
22
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles – CBP Form 3299