After 301 duties were implemented, the US Trade Representative allowed a brief period for companies to apply to have specific products and codes excluded from the lists. These exclusion requests were processed by the office of the USTR, and later the recipients of the exclusions were informed if their applications were approved.

Fortunately, the exclusions act retroactively, and so importers who paid these duties prior to approval are eligible to have those duties refunded to them, However, the process to get this money back is not automatic. Companies seeking to have their 301 duties refunded need to file corrections or protests with Customs retroactively, and many companies that qualify have not yet done so.

While we have been helping our Customs brokerage clients file their requests along with their post-summary corrections and protests to get the money back, we have also been working with new customers whose brokers did not place a priority on their filings.

It’s not necessary for the Customs broker on the entry to be the one who files the corrections for refund, and our experienced team has been hard at work with new and old clients alike to help get them their money back. For many, this can be a significant amount of money, and we have been in the business of getting our clients refunds from Customs for more than 60 years.

If you’d like to discuss how you can improve your process to get your refunds on exclusions, please reach out to www.jmrodgers.com

Sincerely, James Rodgers