Assists

Questions and answers about Assists – Tooling

  • TOOLING ASSIST

    QUESTION: We have a tooling that we own in the U.S. that we will be providing free of charge to a new supplier in country A to produce some component parts.  The component parts are then exported to another one of our suppliers in country B for assembly into another sub-assembly component part.  The sub-assembly […]

  • Assists

    QUESTION: We found a potential missed assist while auditing and are investigating further to determine if it really is an assist and or if the values were declared as assists. Our process is always to declare on the first entry, and as this hasn’t come up before, we’re looking for advice from the membership. If […]

  • Assists

    QUESTION: We are sending two drives to Canada for a company to test the equipment they are selling to use to make sure they work correctly. Will these drives that we send to them “free of charge” be considered an assist and would we need to add in the freight to get these drives to […]

  • Tariff Treatment of R&D Costs

    QUESTION: I received this vague comment from a Chinese supplier re: reduced import duties on R&D costs: ‘In regard to invoices, I have been told that there is a certain percentage of the cost in products involved with research and development, which is tariff free.  We can present the invoice properly so that it will […]

  • Assist and Free Trade Agreements

    QUESTION: If you include the value of an assist provided to a supplier in Canada in your declared value, and under USMCA the finished article is originating content in your bill of material, and then from an accounting standpoint, the tooling owned by the principal/manufacturer is considered overhead/manufacturing/operating expenses, which is also originating, is that, […]

  • ASSIST SCENARIO

    QUESTION: I would like guidance on an assist situation from the membership. Our US entity pays forward to an unrelated Chinese entity that purchases and imports raw material of plant origin and transfers it to a related Chinese manufacturing entity for a fee that covers their services. The raw material is used to manufacture two […]

  • Assists

    OT Fact Sheet: Origin Certification Requirements QUESTION: Does anyone in the membership have a document they would be willing to share on the questions they ask their purchasing / sales / engineering teams that covers import assists?  Also, what is the flow of that information within your organization. =========== Answer You may want to make […]

  • ASSISTS AND SEC 301 DUTY

    QUESTION: I work for an importer who pays assists on their products annually as opposed to prorating it and including it in each import entry.  When the entry for the annual assist is filed, should Section 301 duties be part of the duty calculation? **************** Answers: Yes, you pay 301 duties on the value of […]

  • an assist for a mold

    QUESTION: Quick question on sending a mold to an offshore supplier for use in manufacturing goods we will import.  I know that 19 CFR § 152.102(a)(1)(ii) states that a mold would be an assist, but we have a situation we have never come across and I just want to be sure my gut reaction is […]

  • Answer to Question on Assists

    QUESTION: Does anyone in the membership have a document they would be willing to share on the questions they ask their purchasing / sales / engineering teams that covers import assists?  Also, what is the flow of that information within your organization. =========== AnswerYou may want to make this part of a broader training you […]

  • Answers to QUESTION ON ASSISTS AND SEC 301 DUTY

    QUESTION: I work for an importer who pays assists on their products annually as opposed to prorating it and including it in each import entry.  When the entry for the annual assist is filed, should Section 301 duties be part of the duty calculation? **************** Answers: Yes, you pay 301 duties on the value of […]

  • POTENTIAL ASSIST SCENARIO

    QUESTION: We supply funds to a company in Mexico to purchase tooling used to manufacture components used in our finished product.  The components are imported into the United States by the manufacturer’s parent company headquartered in Texas.We cannot claim an assist (or supplemental payment) because we do not import the components.What is our responsibility, if […]