Duties, taxes and fees on imports

Anti-dumping and countervailing duties attach to a narrow product and country, sometimes down to the producer. The WTO rules limit them to the margin of dumping and require a review or an end after five years. Safeguards work differently: they hit a product from all sources after a surge that causes serious injury, and normally last no more than four years, extendable to eight.

In the US, the deposit you pay at entry on anti-dumping goods isn't the final figure. The rate is settled later in a review, and CBP then refunds or bills the difference with interest. Fail to file a reimbursement statement before liquidation and CBP presumes you've been reimbursed and doubles the duty. Importers using low-priced suppliers need to know this before they place an order.

As of 5 November 2026 the US runs a large set of duties under Section 232, Section 301 and Section 338 of its trade statutes. They're customs duties, entered in chapter 99 of the tariff, and they sit on top of the normal rate unless a note says otherwise. The current list and dates are on US tariff changes.

Whatever the name, the mechanism is much the same. It applies to the value including duty, it's recoverable through the VAT return if you're entitled to, and it needs a registration in that country to recover. In the UK, only the owner of the goods can treat it as input tax. Rates are in import tax rates.

US fees are the example people most often miss. For fiscal year 2027, from 1 October 2026:

Example, our own illustration. A sea shipment of ceramic planters entered at $60,000: processing fee 0.3464% x $60,000 = $207.84, and harbor fee 0.125% x $60,000 = $75.00, a total of $282.84. Neither is recoverable, and neither is duty, so a duty-free claim under a trade agreement won't always remove them.

A broker's fee is a commercial charge, not a government one, and in most countries it attracts VAT of its own.