• ASSIST ON TRANSFERRED EQUIPMENT

    Question: We are transferring the manufacturing of a part from one foreign supplier to another, including the physical transfer of a tool used to manufacture the product.   The value of the tooling has been declared as an addition to value in a previous import.   Is the value of the transferred tool considered an […]

  • ASSIST RECORDKEEPING

    Question: We are planning outsourcing of production to a contract manufacturer in the Far East of finished product that will then be imported to our distribution centers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Was hoping the membership could provide some best practices with regard to collection/maintenance of records/information on what is sent to the contract […]

  • ASSIST ON TRANSFERRED EQUIPMENT

    We are transferring the manufacturing of a part from one foreign supplier to another, including the physical transfer of a tool used to manufacture the product.The value of the tooling has been declared as an addition to value in a previous import. Is the value of the transferred tool considered an assist/addition to value in […]

  • ASSISTS TO SUPPLIERS

    I would like to know if a screen print or roller charge paid to a foreign supplier should be treated as an assist. Some of our items may involve screen printing on the fabrics used to produce our doll clothing. We would pay the supplier outside of the PO cost. I believe this is an […]

  • LODGING AS ASSIST

    We are paying for lodging for engineers from our foreign contract manufacturer while they are at our US facility for training. They are being trained on how to build a product that they will eventually build at their facility. Is the cost of the lodging an assist?

  • OVERTIME WAGES AS AN ASSIST

    Can someone confirm that payment of wages, to a foreign manufacturer, for working overtime through the Holidays is an Assist? I have never done this before, and it sure sounds like one.  Would appreciate hearing from the membership. Or is there any other items to identify and confirm?

  • ASSISTS FOR FOREIGN

    Can someone offer guidance? It is my impression that we do have an assist, but my broker told me ‘maybe’ ‘maybe not’. What questions am I not asking? We hired a company in “Country A” to do engineering design and development for a specific item we want to supply to the market; We also made […]

  • ASSIST FOR TESTING & PACKAGING

    Upon import would testing and packaging need to be declared after the product is built? I know testing prior to transforming the product into something totally different must be declared but what about after the fact?

  • PAYMENTS FOR RESEARCH

    I would appreciate input from the membership regarding dutiability of certain payments made in respect of a research/development & application engineering cost sharing agreement between several related companies. All “Group” (US and Foreign) companies share costs and benefits of R&D/Engineering efforts. “Corporate HQ” collects expense data from all “Group” companies, pools costs on a global […]

  • Assists – Tooling Q&A 1

    Our company will be buying fine jewelry direct from manufacturers in foreign countries. We have made an arrangement with a company in India to perform examination of our product for quality assurance purposes. They will be paid for the examinations, just like anyother vendor. My question is: Are their services considered an assist? Technically, they […]

  • Assists – Tooling Q&A 2

    When an item is supplied free of charge or at a reduced value, the value of the item and the cost of extra transportation in supplying it are both added to the final price paid or payable in order to correctly value the item for US Customs. What if the item itself is not free […]

  • Assists – Tooling Q&A 3

    Our company has hired a global procurement consultant to help find suppliers and savings by purchasing overseas. They will be paid a percentage of the actual savings for any new supplier they set up for us for the next 3 years. Will the payment to the consultant for the savings be an assist or a […]