Landed Cost Calculation Structure: Import Duties, Taxes, and Fees

The Structure, in the Order You Add It

A usable landed-cost calculation has the same layers every time. Skip one and the total looks precise while missing cash you will actually pay.

1. Merchandise / customs value — usually the price paid for the goods when sold for export to the United States. Not the retail list price.
2. Freight and insurance you already know — type the forwarder or carrier number. This site does not publish a live freight rate.
3. Import duty — the stacked 2026 rate on that customs value.
4. Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) — CBP's processing fee. On formal entries it is 0.3464% of customs value, with an FY2026 floor of $33.58 and a ceiling of $651.50.
5. Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) — 0.125% of customs value, ocean arrivals only.
6. Other fees you already know — brokerage, a bond premium, or a similar charge. Leave the line blank if you do not have a figure.

Duty stays on the product value unless freight is not broken out of the supplier invoice. Separately invoiced international freight is usually not dutiable. The tariff calculator follows that rule when you open Add freight and fees.

Import Duties

Duty is the tariff turned into dollars. The rate is not one number for 'imports.' It is the stack for that HTS line and origin:

• Column 1 / MFN from the HTS line (often Free on many electronics lines, higher on apparel).
• The origin layer — the Section 301 forced-labor tariff (10% or 12.5% by tier) that replaced Section 122 on July 24, 2026, or the EU ordinary-goods ceiling where that deal applies instead.
• China Section 301 on covered Chinese-origin goods, by list.
• Section 232 on covered metals, autos, and a few other headings.

One stacking rule matters for the structure: Section 232 metal duty and the forced-labor layer do not both land on the metal content. An article wholly of steel is 50%, not 60%. Chinese steel can also take China Section 301 on top of that 50%. Do not add a guessed third layer. Look the line up in the HTS finder, then run it in the import duty calculator. The duty-line explanation is in tariff vs. duty vs. tax.

Merchandise Processing Fee

The MPF is a CBP user fee, not a tariff. It is owed even when duty is zero. For formal entries (generally commercial shipments over $2,500) the FY2026 fee, effective October 1, 2025, is:

• 0.3464% of the value of the goods (not of the duty)
• Minimum $33.58 per entry
• Maximum $651.50 per entry

The percentage did not change for FY2026. The floor and ceiling did. The maximum starts to bind around $188,000 of customs value. Below roughly $9,700, a formal entry hits the $33.58 floor instead of the straight percentage.

Informal entries (generally $2,500 or under) pay a flat MPF of $2.69, $8.06, or $12.09, depending on how the entry is filed, not the 0.3464% rate. The full rules, exemptions, and drawback treatment are in what the merchandise processing fee is.

Harbor Maintenance Fee

HMF is the other government fee people fold into 'taxes and fees' without naming it. It is 0.125% of customs value, and it applies to cargo arriving by ocean vessel. Air freight does not take HMF. Leave the ocean box off in the calculator for an air shipment.

On a $10,000 ocean entry, 0.125% is $12.50. On a $25,000 ocean entry it is $31.25. It is small next to duty on a high-rate origin and easy to forget on a duty-free one. It is still a line on the entry.

Taxes and Fees That Are Not Duty

The rest of the structure is where quotes go wrong, because none of these lines are a tariff rate:

• Brokerage is the broker's or carrier's charge for filing the entry. It is not paid to CBP as duty. On a courier package the carrier's entry and disbursement fees often exceed the duty. Those published courier schedules live on the customs-bill guide, not in this commercial structure.
• A customs bond is required for most formal entries over $2,500. The premium is your cost. Type it only if you already know it.
• State sales tax or use tax can be owed after the goods are in the United States. It is not a CBP line on the entry and this calculator does not estimate it.
• Freight and insurance move the cash total and, only in the cases CBP actually adds them to customs value, the duty base. Do not invent a freight percentage. Type the quote you have.

If a line is blank, the honest landed cost says so. A total that fills every box with a guessed fee is not more accurate.

Worked Example: $10,000 of Vietnamese Phone Cases

This is the same illustration already published on the Amazon FBA landed-cost walkthrough. It is an estimate, not a CBP invoice and not a freight quote.

Vietnamese phone cases on a Free-or-low MFN line in the 12.5% forced-labor tier:

• Customs value: $10,000
• Duty at 12.5%: $1,250
• Formal MPF: 0.3464% × $10,000 = $34.64 (above the $33.58 floor, under the $651.50 ceiling)
• Ocean HMF: 0.125% × $10,000 = $12.50
• Freight you type: $800
• Insurance you type: $40
• Brokerage you type: $150

Estimated total: $12,287.14. Change any typed amount and the total changes. Air freight drops the $12.50 HMF. A formal entry under about $9,700 would pay the $33.58 MPF floor instead of the straight percentage. Marketplace referral, prep, and storage fees are outside this total.

Run the Structure on Your Shipment

Two tools on this site implement the same structure.

• The tariff calculator looks up an HTS code, stacks 2026 duty, then adds the freight, insurance, MPF, and ocean HMF lines when you open Add freight and fees.
• The landed cost calculator is the category version of that math when you do not have an HTS code yet.

Neither one is a CBP invoice. Confirm a binding rate at hts.usitc.gov or with a licensed customs broker. If the goods later leave the United States, duty drawback can recover up to 99% of eligible duty plus MPF and HMF. That is a separate program from the landed-cost estimate.