U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed in an April 22, 2020 Federal Register notice the temporary postponement of the deadline for payment by COVID-19 affected importers of record of deposits of certain estimated duties, taxes, and fees.

The extension applies to importers experiencing a significant financial hardship due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). An importer will be considered to have a significant financial hardship if the operations of such importer are fully or partially suspended during March 2020 or April 2020 due to orders from a competent governmental authority limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings due to COVID-19, and as a result of such suspension, the gross receipts of such importer for March 13-31, 2020 or April 2020 are less than 60 percent of the gross receipts for the comparable period in 2019. Although additional documentation is not required to be filed by importers claiming eligibility for this relief, documentation supporting eligibility must be maintained as a part of the importer’s books and records.

The temporary postponement applies to formal entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption (including entries for consumption from a Foreign Trade Zone) in March 2020 or April 2020, providing deferral of payment for a period of 90 days from the date that the deposit would otherwise have been due.   No interest will accrue during the 90-day period, and no penalty, liquidated damages, or other sanction will be imposed for postponed payments made in accordance with the temporary postponement. CBP will not return deposits of estimated duties, taxes, and fees that have already been paid.

The temporary postponement does not apply to any entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, where the entry summary includes merchandise subject to antidumping duties, countervailing duties and/or Section 201, 232 or 301 tariffs. Neither does the temporary postponement apply to deadlines for the payment of other debts, penalties or liquidated damages to CBP.

The timeframe for entry summary filing is not changed.

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