Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF)

The Merchandise Processing Fee is a CBP user fee charged on nearly every formal import entry to fund customs processing — it is not a tariff and is assessed regardless of the duty rate. For formal entries the rate is 0.3464% of the shipment's customs value, subject to a minimum of $31.67 and a maximum of $614.35 per entry; informal (low-value) entries instead pay a small flat MPF. Because it is capped, any single entry above roughly $177,000 in value pays the $614.35 ceiling, while any entry below about $9,150 pays the $31.67 floor — so consolidating shipments into fewer entries can reduce total MPF. It matters because it applies even to duty-free goods and quietly adds to landed cost on top of the headline tariff.