Importer Landed Cost Guide

Landed cost is the total cost of getting an imported product onto your shelf: product price + international freight and insurance + duty + customs fees + brokerage and bond + inland delivery. On US imports, duty and the main CBP fees are calculated on the customs value, which is usually the price paid to the supplier, not on freight. Divide the total by the units received to get a per-unit cost you can price against.

This guide covers every line in that formula with 2026–2027 numbers, then walks through a full container example. To run your own numbers and see the margin impact, use the importer landed cost calculator.

The landed cost formula, line by line

The MPF figures come from CBP's fiscal year 2027 user-fee notice. The 0.3464% rate itself is unchanged; only the minimum and maximum are adjusted for inflation each fiscal year.

Step 1: get the customs value right

Duty is a percentage of customs value, so every error here multiplies.

• Start from the transaction value, the price paid or payable to the seller for goods sold for export to the United States.
• Remove international freight and insurance if your invoice is CIF or CFR and those charges are shown separately. US value is effectively FOB.
• Add assists, meaning molds, tooling, or materials you supplied to the factory free or at a discount. Prorate them across the units they produce.
• Add royalties and license fees that are a condition of the sale, along with buying-side costs the seller passes on, such as packing.
• Watch currency conversion. For invoices in foreign currency, CBP converts at the rate in effect on the date of exportation, generally the rate certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, not the rate your bank used.

Step 2: stack the duty rates

Look up the 10-digit HTS code and add every rate that applies. A typical 2026 entry might carry:

1. The General rate from the HTS, such as free for wooden furniture or 16.5% for cotton T-shirts.
2. Any Section 232 duty, for example 50% on steel and aluminum articles since April 6, 2026, or 25% on upholstered wood furniture.
3. Any Section 301 duty: the 2018–2019 China lists, and since July 24, 2026, the 10% or 12.5% forced-labor duty on 60 economies. Goods under Section 232 are exempt from that new duty.
4. Any antidumping or countervailing duty deposit, if your product and producer are covered by an order.

If you don't have a code yet, how to find your HTS code walks through classification. The HTS-8 lookup shows the additional-tariff layer by line. The order in which these layers apply and their exemptions are explained in how US import tariffs work.

Step 3: add CBP fees

MPF is where small and large shipments differ:

• On a $5,000 formal entry: 0.3464% × $5,000 = $17.32, so you pay the $34.58 minimum.
• On a $40,000 entry: 0.3464% × $40,000 = $138.56.
• On a $300,000 entry: 0.3464% × $300,000 = $1,039.20, capped at $670.86.

The cap makes consolidating shipments onto one entry valuable. Above about $193,700 of value per entry, MPF stops growing.

Shipments valued at $2,500 or less can usually use an informal entry (19 CFR 143.21). The MPF on an informal entry is a flat fee, $2.77 for an automated entry not prepared by CBP in FY2027. Duty still applies: the $800 de minimis exemption has been suspended indefinitely (91 FR 37789).

HMF applies only when cargo is unloaded at a US seaport. Air and truck shipments don't pay it.

Step 4: bonds, brokerage, and security filing

Every formal entry needs a customs bond. Under CBP's bond guidelines:

• Continuous bond: the amount is the greater of $50,000 or 10% of the duties, taxes, and fees you paid in the previous 12 months. It is set in $10,000 steps up to $100,000, then in $100,000 steps.
• Single transaction bond: generally at least the entered value plus all duties, taxes, and fees on that entry. It suits occasional importers.

Higher tariffs raise the bond you need. An importer paying $1.2 million a year in duties needs a $120,000 continuous bond, compared with $50,000 when duties were lower. If CBP finds your bond insufficient, it can hold entries until you increase it. Budget the premium increase and check sufficiency before a large order lands.

Ocean importers must also file an Importer Security Filing (ISF) at least 24 hours before the cargo is loaded abroad. Late or inaccurate filings can draw liquidated damages, so most importers have their broker or forwarder file it.

Worked example: a 40-foot container of dining tables

You import 400 solid-wood dining tables (not upholstered) from Vietnam at $100 each, FOB Ho Chi Minh City. Freight, broker, bond, and drayage figures are illustrative quotes. The government charges follow the rules above.

Landed cost runs 25.2% above the factory price, and duty makes up half of that markup. Two sensitivity checks:

• Origin switch. The same tables from Malaysia, which is in the 10% Section 301 group, would carry $4,000 in duty, saving $1,000, or $2.50 per table.
• Upholstered seating. If the order were upholstered wooden chairs covered by Section 232, the 25% rate would replace the Section 301 duty: $10,000 instead of $5,000. That 25% is scheduled to rise to 30% on January 1, 2027.

Step 5: allocate costs per unit

When a container holds several SKUs, allocate shared costs consistently:

• Duty and CBP fees: allocate by customs value, since that is how they were charged. Use each line's own rate for duty.
• Freight, drayage, and warehousing: allocate by cubic volume or weight, whichever the carrier billed on.
• Per-entry costs such as brokerage, bond, and ISF: split by value or by unit count. The amounts are small, so pick one method and use it consistently.

Allocating freight by value can make bulky, cheap items look more profitable than they are.

Cash timing: when each cost leaves your account

Landed cost is also a cash-flow schedule:

1. Deposit and balance to the supplier, often 30% at order and 70% before shipment.
2. Freight, usually paid before or at arrival.
3. Duty and fees, due with the entry summary within 10 working days of release, unless you use CBP's Periodic Monthly Statement, which lets you pay one month's entries by the 15th working day of the next month.
4. Drayage and storage on delivery.

At a 12.5% duty rate, a $40,000 container ties up $5,000 more cash before you sell a single unit. At 50% for steel or aluminum, it ties up $20,000.

How to treat refunds and legal changes in your cost model

Tariff rules moved several times in 2026, and some of the money paid may come back. Keep the model honest:

• IEEPA duties (February 2025 to February 23, 2026). The Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026 that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. CBP refunds the duties with interest through the CAPE tool in ACE (CBP IEEPA refunds). Keep the original landed cost on your historical records, and track expected refunds by entry number as a receivable once CBP accepts the declaration. Do not lower prices on new orders based on refunds you have not received.
• Section 122 surcharge (February 24 to July 24, 2026). The Court of International Trade ruled it unlawful for three plaintiffs only, and the government appealed. Treat any recovery as uncertain.
• Open purchase orders. Goods entered on or after July 24, 2026 owe the Section 301 duty instead of the 10% surcharge, except goods already loaded and in transit before that date and entered by July 28. Re-price any order still built on the older rate.
• Duty drawback. If you re-export imported goods or products made from them, drawback can recover up to 99% of the duties paid, where the tariff action allows it. Proclamation 11021 expressly keeps manufacturing drawback available for the 2026 metals duties, which can matter more than any refund for metals importers.

Common landed-cost mistakes

• Applying the duty rate to the CIF value instead of the FOB value, which overstates duty.
• Forgetting the General rate and budgeting only the headline Section 232 or 301 rate.
• Ignoring the MPF cap and minimum when comparing many small entries with one consolidated entry.
• Letting a continuous bond become insufficient after a tariff increase, which can delay releases.
• Pricing from a quote that predates a tariff action. Write the rate date next to every cost sheet.

When your landed cost is set, compare it with your selling price in the importer landed cost calculator. To see how much of the cost increase you can realistically pass on to customers, use the tariff pass-through calculator.