Question: Hello, Prior to importing our products we have testing, both hardware and software, done on the products at our affiliate site in India. When I look at the definition of an assist under 19 CFR 152, testing is not listed. We do not import our products from our affiliate office. Do testing costs need […]
Question: Hello ICPA membership, My company will be purchasing molds from China , which we will own and provide to our sole manufacturer. The molds will stay in China and be used to produce soles for export. Since these are assists, I understand their value has to be accounted for through customs. My question is: […]
Question: Hello! We have a supplier who will be creating a tooling mold to then manufacture filter cavity units for us in China, then send batches to us in the U.S. At the end of the project, the tooling mold will then be ours to do with how we want. Would this mold be considered […]
Question: Hello, If a US company ships GPS trackers to a foreign vendor to place on prototype assets and these assets are eventually returned (with the trackers) to the US, would the value of the GPS (+transportation costs of shipping the trackers) be declared as an assist when imported? Thank you, Answer 1: When a […]
Question: I have two general questions regarding assists please. Is duty paid on the full value of the assist even when the anticipated full production of merchandise is not met? Example: The value of an assist is $50,000 and the expected production of merchandise is 100,000 units. The importer pro-rates the value of the assist […]
Question: When Company X provides a tool at no charge to Supplier in Taiwan to use that tool to manufacture component goods that are then imported to the U.S., Company X must declare the value of that tool as an assist, using one of the forms of appraisement, upon entering the U.S. Question: If Company […]
Question: Trying to understand the intention/meaning of “incidental” under the assist definition in 19 CFR 152.102(a)(2)(iii) “Is incidental to other engineering, development, artwork, design work, or plans or sketches that are undertaken within the United States.” Is there a best practice for determining if incidental? For instance, our design team creates the artwork for packaging […]
Question: We have a Mexican supplier /manufacturer who is subcontracting one of our ordered parts to another Canadian supplier. The Canadian supplier will manufacture the part and ship it back our Mexican supplier. We are paying the freight from the Canadian supplier to our Mexican supplier. Would these freight charges be considered assists and applied […]
Question: Hello fellow Trade Nerds! I have a fun one for you today! Company A in Country A purchases Item 1 from Company B in Country B. Company B drop ships Item 1 to Company C in Country C under direction from Company A. Company A does not charge Company C for Item 1. Company […]
Question: Hello! In our internal audits, we have surfaced payments made to a tooling supplier where the tooling supplier is also the producer of the finished imported goods. Would customs consider these payments to be assists (and be granted flexibility for total $ declaration upon first entry of merchandised goods), or instead would they be […]
Question: We are a US based company that outsources some engineering work to a company based in India. Most of this work is related to drawing revisions and some, but minimum design work. The drawing revisions being done are related to components that we purchase both domestically as well as import. We receive a […]
Question: Hi All Quick question. Company ABC in US developed blueprint (it was done by employee of the company that will be importer later on) for new product (bottle cap). These blueprints are now sent to China so Chinese manufacturer XYZ can produce product there and export to company ABC in US Does cost associated […]
