U.S. CUSTOMS DUTY-PAYMENT PROGRAM CHANGE DRAWS IMPORTERS’ INTEREST
U.S. Customs started to make it easier for importers to calculate their
interest in the agency’s new electronic duty-payment program last week.
The calculation method, called "mid-point" interest, allows
importers to
pay the interest accrued during their annual accounting periods as if it
were all due midway through the accounting process.
Mid-point interest more closely fits the "aggregate" method in
which
charges are averaged, rather than reposted, to each import entry. Importers
can start to use the mid-point interest method in the prototype at any time.
"We are already receiving calls about it," said Shari McCann,
import
specialist for Customs reconciliation program in Washington. "We could see
our first aggregate reconciliation as early as this week."
When Customs started its reconciliation prototype last October,
importers criticized the system for its inability to calculate mid-point
interest.
Mid-point interest wasn’t permitted in the prototype until the
Miscellaneous and Technical Corrections Act passed in early June.