Tariff Calculator

Enter the customs value and the duty rate off your HTS line, and this returns duty, the two federal user fees and the total landed cost — including the Merchandise Processing Fee floor and ceiling that catch most people out.

The fee limits default to CBP's fiscal-year 2027 figures, effective October 1 2026. They are editable because CBP re-indexes them for inflation every October — check the current notice if you are costing an entry that clears in a later fiscal year.

What this actually adds up

Four separate charges land on an import, and only the first is what people mean by "the tariff":

• Duty — the customs value times the rate on your HTS classification. On FOB terms the freight is not part of the value, so it is not dutiable.
• Additional tariffs — where a product is also covered by another program, that rate is applied on top of the base HTS rate, not instead of it. Stacked rates are why a 3.7% line can land in the double digits.
• Merchandise Processing Fee — 0.3464% of value on a formal entry, but bounded by a floor and a ceiling, so it behaves like a flat fee at both ends of the scale.
• Harbor Maintenance Fee — 0.125% of value, vessel cargo only, with no limits in either direction.

The user fees, in the only two forms that matter

MPF rate, formal entry	0.3464% of customs value
MPF minimum, FY2027	$34.58
MPF maximum, FY2027	$670.86
MPF manual surcharge	$4.15
HMF rate	0.125% of customs value
HMF applies to	vessel cargo only — no minimum, no maximum

Source: the Federal Register notice Customs User Fees To Be Adjusted for Inflation in Fiscal Year 2027, required as of October 1 2026. An informal entry carries a small flat MPF instead of the ad valorem charge rather than none at all — CBP's user fee table has the current figure.

Why the MPF floor and cap decide your fee bill

Between roughly $9,983 and $193,666 of customs value the Merchandise Processing Fee is a true percentage. Outside that band it is not:

• Below the band, every entry pays the same $34.58 no matter how small. Ten separate $2,000 entries pay $345.80 in MPF; the same $20,000 in one entry pays $69.28.
• Above the band, the fee stops at $670.86 and never grows again. A $500,000 container and a $5,000,000 one pay identical MPF.

That shape is the whole argument for consolidating, and it got sharper when de minimis went away — see below.

What changed when Section 321 ended

Until 2025 a shipment under $800 could enter duty-free and fee-free under Section 321. That is over. Duty-free de minimis treatment ended for China and Hong Kong on May 2 2025, was suspended for all countries from August 29 2025, and CBP made the suspension indefinite on June 24 2026. Entry Type 86, the process built for those shipments, is gone.

The practical consequence is arithmetic, not paperwork. A parcel-by-parcel import model that paid nothing now pays the MPF floor on every entry, which is why the direct-to-consumer brands that used to ship individually are consolidating into bulk entries and holding stock domestically instead. The longer version is in is Section 321 still in effect.

Where to get your duty rate

This calculator does not guess your rate, and no honest tool should: the Harmonized Tariff Schedule runs to around 19,000 lines, classification is a legal determination, and the additional-tariff layers move by executive action. Look your product up in the HTS, or have a licensed customs broker classify it — a misclassification is the importer's liability, not the broker's.

If duty timing rather than duty amount is the problem, a bonded warehouse lets the goods sit under customs control and defers the duty until they are withdrawn for consumption.

Common questions

How do you calculate import duty?

Duty is the customs value of the goods multiplied by the duty rate on their HTS classification. Customs value is normally the price actually paid for the merchandise, so on FOB terms the ocean or air freight is not part of it. The duty rate itself comes from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule line your product classifies under, and any additional tariff programs are applied on top of that base rate rather than instead of it.

What is the Merchandise Processing Fee in 2026?

For a formal entry the Merchandise Processing Fee is 0.3464% of customs value, but it is bounded: for fiscal year 2027, which runs from October 1 2026, the minimum is $34.58 and the maximum is $670.86. Those limits are re-indexed for inflation every October, so a small entry pays the floor rather than the percentage, and a large one stops at the ceiling. That is why consolidating several small shipments into one entry can cut the fee bill substantially.

Is the Harbor Maintenance Fee charged on air freight?

No. The Harbor Maintenance Fee is 0.125% of customs value and applies only to commercial cargo that arrives by vessel, so an air or truck import does not pay it. Unlike the Merchandise Processing Fee it has no minimum and no maximum, which means on a high-value ocean container it can be the larger of the two user fees.

Does the $800 de minimis exemption still apply?

No. Duty-free de minimis treatment under Section 321 was ended for goods from China and Hong Kong on May 2 2025, and suspended for every country of origin from August 29 2025. CBP made that suspension indefinite on June 24 2026 through two interim final rules, and Entry Type 86 is no longer available. A commercial shipment that used to clear free under $800 now generally needs a formal or informal entry, which is why the fee arithmetic on this page applies to consignments that previously skipped it entirely.

Related: bonded warehouse · demurrage calculator · freight class calculator · transloading · Section 321 status