Fines, Penalties and Forfeitures

Questions and answers about Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures

  • AES EEI Violation

    Question: Hello Member: I am at a new company as of Jan 2024.  Today I (July 11) I received numerous from FP&F.  Based on the ITNX2022 all have been transmitted in year 2022.  Many indicate false port reporting and EEI conveyance.  All of these penalties are because the company self-filed the EEI (rather have the […]

  • Case studies of compliance fines and penalties

    Question: Hi all! I want to show, in our quarterly customs newsletter, different case studies regarding company issues with compliance, such as fines and penalties and restricted to execute business, and what can happen if not adhering to customs compliance. I want to use these as examples of when it can go wrong, by mistake […]

  • Status of Petition for Relief

    Question: Is there a way to see the status of a Petition for Relief that was submitted to CBP? For example, if we submitted the petition, is there a place in the ACE portal or some other platform where we could see if it was “received” or “under review” etc.? I tried poking through the […]

  • Immunity from penalties

    Question: Outside counsel recently told us that we can “obtain immunity” from future penalties by having a law firm provide HTS classification for our goods as law firms have been designated as experts by CBP. Having a law firm classify demonstrates due diligence and reasonable care. I’m skeptical. Can anyone point towards a regulation confirming […]

  • DEFERRAL LATE ENTRY PENALTIES

    Your Social Security Statement QUESTION: Are any members receiving late entry penalty notices for duties properly deferred during the 2020 pandemic period?  And if so, even after filing a petition with CBP that it was in error, finding the petition being denied by CBP without providing any explanation, even after contact with FP&F by phone?  […]

  • ISF PENALTY PUSHBACK

    OT Fact Sheet: Origin Certification Requirements QUESTION: Even though we provide clear instructions to all our vendors about providing timely and accurate ISF information to us prior to sailing, we still have occasions where the vendor fails to do so, and we receive an ISF penalty from CBP.  I want to know how other ICPA […]

  • CBP PENALTY MITIGATION

    QUESTION: I filed a petition in order to mitigate an amount of penalty.  Should CBP disagree with my evidence, what is the next step?  Is CBP’s answer to my petition final?  ****************** Answers: This is common. If you have a fact you need to think about how you can “support” it with evidence.  This can […]

  • If a company does not have an import-export (trade compliance) manuals what are the consequences with CBP and BIS? Are there penalties?

    QUESTION: If a company does not have an import-export (trade compliance) manuals what are the consequences with CBP and BIS? Are there penalties? Do I need to emphasize with management the need and/or requirement for these documents? Are corporate manuals and SOPs with brokers and freight forwarders mandatory? ************* Add’l Answers: OK, I’m going to […]

  • LIQUIDATED DAMAGES NOTICES

    QUESTION: As an importer of self filing, we have a couple entries that were paid late for a few days. So we received liquidated damage bill from CBP amounts about $100-$200 each. We are paying those liquidated damage within 60 days. My question is what is the effect on receiving liquidated damage, is there a […]

  • TIB PENALTY MITIGATION

    QUESTION: I am looking for feedback regarding a TIB Liquidated Damages Penalty. We are US manufacturer, and imported 6 items which were intended to be manufactured and subsequently re-exported.   Five of the items were exported properly. Unfortunately, the remaining item had to be manufactured into a domestic project and was not exported. We have received […]

  • MITIGATING LATE FILE PENALTIES

    QUESTION: Has anyone had success petitioning CBP to mitigate multiple late file penalties against one single ACE/ACH Periodic Monthly Statement?   CBP issues separate penalties, one for each business day of subject monthly statement (for e.g. 22 x separate penalties, minimum $1000 each).  Seems that since all activity is on one single ACH payment, so […]

  • CBP RECORDKEEPING FINES

    Question: Does anyone have an a real life example where CBP fined an Importer for record keeping non-compliance? ************* Answers: An importer was claiming duty-free treatment under HTS 9801 (US goods returned) on multiple imports.     Via Requests for Information, U.S. Customs requested  copies of the required Manufacturers Affidavits to support the use of HTS 9801.      […]