QUESTION: Looking for the pros and cons of ACH Credit and ACH Debit. ========== Answers: ACH debit has huge advantages. You can better control your cash flow because you know the exact day that funds will be transferred to CPB. Using ACH reduces administrative and check processing costs, reduces reconciliation costs and simplifies accounting. Also […]
QUESTION: The duty amount of our October 22 ACH payment in the AR-007 Periodic Statement Quickview Report does not match the estimated duty in our September AM008 report . I realize the HMF and MPF are not in the AM008 report, but shouldn’t the estimated duty in the AM008 report match the duty amount in […]
QUESTION: I am working to move our company to PMS. As part of the process we are required to sign up for ACH payments. My company is reluctant to sign up for ACH Debit as they do not like the idea of anyone (even the government) having the access to our bank account and having […]
QUESTION: We are trying to decide if we want to switch to Periodic Monthly Statements for US Customs. When are ACH Statement Numbers for PMS ACH Debit assigned by US Customs? Our A/P payments to clear the debit require both the entry number and the ACH Statement Numbers to process in our system. The funds […]
QUESTION: I have paid my duty statements via ACH ever since it first started but never signed up for the ACH Refund process and I cannot remember why we elected not to use it! We still get our refunds via a paper check. Am going to take a 2nd look at the electronic refund and […]
Question: We are exploring the idea of paying our duties via ACH. We currently allocate the charges to each individual plant that receives the goods. Does anyone in the membership pay via ACH and also codes the charges to individual plants? If yes, how is this process performed? *************** Answers: We pay duties via ACH. […]
Question: Can anyone in the membership share instructions on paying quarterly CF349 HMF fees via pay.gov? I do not see where on the site to setup the ACH payment. ========== Answer: It has been a while since I had to do this but I recall it is a private form. I think you have contact […]
Question: Does anyone have a formula that they utilize to determine savings by converting duty payments to CBP’s monthly ACH? ************ ANSWER: I would use an interest calculation… the rate would be your companies cost of capital. Duty amount x rate (your companies cost of capital) x time (e.g. length of time payment has been […]
Question: Can the membership share any presentation or information they gave to their C-level executives for the purpose of setting up ACH ? I’m looking for pros and cons, financial benefits, system integration requirements, etc. ************* ANSWER: The importer of record is ultimately responsible for payment of duties to Customs. If your company is making […]
Have any of the importing members have had difficulty in attempting to pay their customs duties directly to CBP via ACH? What were the hurdles you encountered? Was it mostly getting buy-in internally and/or implementation? Did you have difficulties with how the accounting/funding would be performed? Or, how the finance department would communicate […]
Question: We are going through a merger in the up coming weeks and I’ve run into a couple of items I wanted to “run by” the membership. Our legal name and IOR number will change, so I’m issuing revised POA’s with an effectivity date coinciding with the “go-live” of our new company. By the way […]
Our broker currently processes payments for duties and issues an invoice. Our yearly duty spend is around $8 million. We are looking at signing up for ACH and before I propose this solution to our finance department, I would like to get feedback on how other importers manage the ACH account. What are the benefits? […]
