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Personal Import Duty Calculator

Duty-free under $800 is over. Ordering from a foreign store — Shein, eBay, Etsy, AliExpress, or anywhere else — now means duty plus carrier brokerage fees at the door. Estimate the real bill before you buy (or check the one you just got).

Importing for a business?

Business importers get the full stacking calculator — and if you paid IEEPA tariffs in 2025, you’re likely owed part of the $166B refund pool CBP is paying out now.

Business duty calculatorCheck my refund →

Why every package gets a customs bill now

For decades, packages worth $800 or less entered the US duty-free under the de minimis exemption. That ended in 2025 — first for China and Hong Kong (May 2), then for every country (August 29) — and CBP locked the suspension in indefinitely by regulation in June 2026. Before the change, CBP processed over 1.36 billion de minimis shipments a year; all of that volume now clears customs with duties owed.

The bill you receive has two parts: the duty itself (set by the product’s tariff classification, origin country, and current US tariff layers) and the carrier’s brokerage fees for filing the entry and advancing the duty — entry preparation charges, disbursement fees, and processing fees. On small orders the carrier fees regularly exceed the duty.

Got a bill that looks wrong? Read why you got a customs bill and how to dispute it — carriers do make classification errors, and each one has a formal dispute channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I being charged duties on a package under $800?
The $800 de minimis exemption is gone. It ended for China/Hong Kong on May 2, 2025 and for all countries on August 29, 2025, and CBP made the suspension indefinite by regulation effective June 24, 2026 (with a statutory repeal following July 1, 2027). Every commercial package now owes applicable duties, taxes, and fees regardless of value.
Why is the carrier (UPS, FedEx, DHL) billing me instead of customs?
Courier shipments must be entered through CBP's ACE system by a qualified filer — in practice, the carrier's customs brokerage. The carrier advances the duty to CBP, then bills you the duty plus its own brokerage fees: entry preparation, disbursement/advance fees, and processing charges. Those carrier fees are the carrier's, not the government's.
Can the customs bill be wrong?
Yes — misclassification happens. In one documented case UPS billed roughly $1,400 on a package whose correct duty was about $110, and UPS acknowledged the error. Check the HTS classification and declared value on the invoice against what you actually bought, and dispute through the carrier if they don't match.
Do I pay duties if the store already charged me at checkout?
No — if the seller collected duties at checkout (Temu and Shein largely do now, as do many larger merchants), the shipment should arrive with duties prepaid. If you're billed again on delivery, that's a double charge worth disputing with the carrier and the seller.
Can I refuse the package instead of paying?
You can refuse delivery, but the package is typically returned to the sender or destroyed, and refunds of the purchase price depend entirely on the seller's return policy. Some carriers may still pursue fees. If the bill looks correct and reasonable, paying and keeping the goods is usually the better outcome; if it looks wrong, dispute it before refusing.
I run a business — is this calculator for me?
This tool is tuned for personal orders on informal entries. If you import for a business, use the full tariff calculator for duty stacking (Section 122/232/301), and if you paid IEEPA tariffs between April 2025 and February 2026 you're likely owed a refund from the $166B pool — check the refund estimator.

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