US Merchandise Processing Fee and Harbor Maintenance Fee on a Sea Import: What 19 CFR 24.23 and 24.24 Say

Two charges on a US sea import are set as a percentage of the goods’ value rather than as a duty rate: the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and the harbor maintenance fee (HMF). Both are paid by the importer on a formal entry, and both belong on a landed-cost sheet next to the duty line. At the fiscal year 2027 amounts that took effect on 1 October 2026, the MPF is 0.3464 percent of value with a minimum of $34.58 and a maximum of $670.86, and the HMF is 0.125 percent of value.

This article reads two sections of Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations, § 24.23 and § 24.24, as issued on 26 August 2026 (eCFR, 19 CFR 24.23), and the Customs and Border Protection notice that sets the fiscal year 2027 amounts (CBP Dec. 26-14, 91 FR 48398). We downloaded them on 25 October 2026. We did not read the underlying statutes, the base-year tables in the appendices to Part 24, or the origin rules of any trade agreement, and this is not legal advice; a customs broker applies the fees to a particular entry.

The merchandise processing fee: rate, floor and cap

Section 24.23(b)(1)(i)(A) states that, except as provided in paragraph (c), merchandise that is formally entered or released “is subject to the payment to CBP of an ad valorem fee of 0.3464 percent”. The fee is “due and payable to CBP by the importer of record of the merchandise at the time of presentation of the entry summary and is based on the value of the merchandise as determined under 19 U.S.C. 1401a”. (19 CFR 24.23)

Paragraph (b)(1)(i)(B) limits the fee with a ceiling and a floor, and this is where the current figures need care. The regulation prints $485 as the maximum and $25 as the minimum, but the opening paragraph of § 24.23 states that the amounts in the section “are not the actual fees or limitations, but represent the base year amounts that are subject to adjustment each fiscal year”, using fiscal year 2014 as the base. CBP determines annually whether an adjustment is necessary and publishes a notice in the Federal Register at least 60 days before the new amounts take effect.

The notice for fiscal year 2027, published on 31 July 2026, states that the adjusted amounts “are required as of October 1, 2026”. Its table of fees found in 19 CFR 24.23 gives a minimum merchandise processing fee of $34.58 and a maximum of $670.86, and a footnote states that “Only the limitation is increasing; the ad valorem rate of 0.3464 percent remains the same.” The regulation text itself still shows the older base-year figures, so a landed-cost sheet built from the eCFR page alone would use the wrong limits.

Two smaller items sit in the same table. A formal manual entry or release carries a surcharge, listed at $4.15 for fiscal year 2027, in addition to the ad valorem fee (§ 24.23(b)(1)(ii)). Informal entries carry flat fees listed at $2.77 for an automated entry not prepared by CBP personnel, $8.30 for a manual one, and $12.45 where CBP personnel prepare the entry. Section 24.23(b)(3) refers to items “valued at $2,500 or less, or any higher amount prescribed for purposes of informal entry in § 143.21”. We mention the informal figures only so that the table can be read in full; the arithmetic below is for a formal entry.

What the exemptions in § 24.23(c) look like

Paragraph (c) lists what the ad valorem fee and the other fees do not apply to. Reading the text, the exemptions are tied to named categories and programs: articles provided for in chapter 98 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, products of the insular possessions, products of beneficiary countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, products of least-developed beneficiary developing countries, and merchandise described in General Note 19 or released under 19 U.S.C. 1321 or imported by mail. Further paragraphs exempt goods originating under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (and goods originating in Canada or Mexico under earlier rules) and goods qualifying under the Israel, Singapore, Chile, Australia, Bahrain, Dominican Republic–Central America, Oman, Peru, Korea, Colombia and Panama agreements, each defined by reference to that agreement’s implementing act or a General Note.

The word “China” does not appear anywhere in § 24.23. For a shipment from China, none of those exemptions is available merely because of where the factory is; whether any exemption fits depends on the program’s own rules, which this article does not read. Where originating goods are entered with goods that are not, the fees apply “only to those goods which are not originating goods”.

The harbor maintenance fee: rate, ports and who pays

Section 24.24(a) sets the fee: commercial cargo loaded on or unloaded from a commercial vessel “is subject to a port use fee of 0.125 percent (.00125) of its value if the loading or unloading occurs at a port within the definition of this section”, unless an exemption in paragraph (c) or a special rule in paragraph (d) applies. (19 CFR 24.24)

Which ports count is defined, not assumed. Paragraph (b)(1) defines a port as a channel or harbor in the customs territory of the United States that is not an inland waterway, is open to public navigation, and is one “at which Federal funds have been used since 1977 for construction, maintenance or operation”, and then prints “a complete list of the ports subject to the harbor maintenance fee”, state by state, with notes on which points are treated as a single port. The list is the place to check the port of unloading, because the fee follows the port.

For imports, paragraph (e)(2) puts the liability on the importer. When imported cargo is unloaded from a commercial vessel at a listed port and is destined for consumption, warehousing or foreign trade zone admission, “the importer of that cargo” is liable for the fee at the time of unloading. The fee is “based on the CBP appraised value of the shipment pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1401a, the same basis as that used for duty payment”, and it is collected on all formal entries, including warehouse entries and temporary importation under bond entries. It is paid through the normal collection procedures: the amount is shown and identified on the entry summary (CBP Form 7501 or its electronic equivalent), and “the fee must be paid by the importer by adding it to any normal duty, tax or fee payable at the time of formal entry processing”.

The exemptions in paragraph (c) concern things such as bunker fuel and ship’s stores, fish caught and not previously landed, ferries, certain movements to and from Alaska, Hawaii and US possessions, cargo entering in bond for direct exportation, cargo of the United States, and donated cargo certified by CBP for humanitarian or development assistance overseas. The special rules in paragraph (d) include a de minimis rule for imported cargo: no fee is assessed on a shipment that “would be entitled to be entered under informal entry procedures”. Nothing in those lists is keyed to the type of goods an FF&E or building-materials project imports.

Worked arithmetic on assumed entry values

The table below applies the published rate and limits to three assumed entry values. It is arithmetic on the figures quoted above, not a quotation, not a CBP example and not a statement about any real shipment. It uses the fiscal year 2027 limits and ignores the manual-entry surcharge and any exemption.

Dividing the limits by the rate gives the entry values at which the floor and the cap stop and start to bind: about $9,983 for the floor and about $193,666 for the cap. Below the first figure the MPF is the flat minimum, between the two it is the percentage, and above the second it is the flat maximum. The HMF has no limit in the paragraphs we read, so it keeps rising with value. Both figures are on the same appraised value, which is the value used for duty; they are in addition to the duty itself.

Where each fee shows up on the entry

Both fees are collected with the entry summary, so they should appear as separate lines on the CBP Form 7501 or its electronic equivalent, with the HMF “shown and identified on the form” as § 24.24(e)(2)(ii) requires. Section 24.23(e)(1) adds that, unless otherwise specifically provided, the administrative and enforcement provisions of the customs laws apply to the MPF “as if such fee is a customs duty”, so a mistake in the fee is handled with the same machinery as a mistake in duty.

The fees also count in the customs bond. In the default clause of the basic importation and entry bond, “unpaid duties, taxes and charges” is defined to include “any appropriate ad valorem fees described in § 24.23” and harbor maintenance fees, and a default on the promise to deposit estimated duties, taxes and charges is measured at two times the unpaid amount or $1,000, whichever is greater. Our reading of that clause is in our article on US customs bonds.

The notice itself shows why the published table should be used rather than a recalculation. The explanatory text of the fiscal year 2027 notice gives the adjustment factor as 38.222 percent in one paragraph and 38.322 percent in another. We therefore quote only the fee table, and not the factor. For how duty rates are structured on furniture and building materials from China, see our article on US import duties, and for the Incoterm that decides who arranges the shipment, FOB, CIF and DDP.

Questions to put to the broker before the entry is filed

Each question maps to a paragraph above and can be answered from the broker’s entry worksheet.

• What entry value will the MPF and HMF be calculated on, and is it the appraised value used for duty? (§§ 24.23(b)(1)(i)(A), 24.24(e)(2)(i))
• Which MPF minimum and maximum does the worksheet use, and does it match the fiscal year 2027 notice rather than the base-year figures printed in the regulation? (§ 24.23, opening paragraph)
• Is the port of unloading on the harbor maintenance fee port list? (§ 24.24(b)(1))
• Is any exemption in § 24.23(c) or § 24.24(c) being claimed, and on what documents?
• Are the MPF and HMF shown as separate lines on the entry summary, so they can be reconciled to the landed-cost estimate? (§ 24.24(e)(2)(ii))

Frequently asked questions about the MPF and the harbor maintenance fee

What is the merchandise processing fee?

Section 24.23(b)(1)(i)(A) sets an ad valorem fee of 0.3464 percent on formally entered or released merchandise, payable by the importer of record when the entry summary is presented and based on the value determined under 19 U.S.C. 1401a, subject to a minimum and maximum amount.

What are the MPF minimum and maximum for fiscal year 2027?

The CBP notice for fiscal year 2027, required as of 1 October 2026, lists a minimum merchandise processing fee of $34.58 and a maximum of $670.86, with the ad valorem rate of 0.3464 percent unchanged. The $25 and $485 figures printed in § 24.23 are base-year amounts that the regulation says are not the actual limits.

What is the harbor maintenance fee?

Section 24.24(a) sets a port use fee of 0.125 percent (.00125) of the value of commercial cargo loaded on or unloaded from a commercial vessel at a port within the section’s definition. For imports, the importer is liable at the time of unloading and pays it with the other amounts due at formal entry.

Who pays the MPF and the HMF on an import?

Both are paid by the importer. The MPF is due from the importer of record when the entry summary is presented; the HMF “must be paid by the importer by adding it to any normal duty, tax or fee payable at the time of formal entry processing”.

Are the MPF and HMF the same as customs duty?

No, they are separate charges set in different sections, but § 24.23(e)(1) provides that the customs laws’ administrative and enforcement provisions apply to the MPF as if it were a customs duty, and the bond default clause counts both fees among “unpaid duties, taxes and charges”.

Does a shipment from China qualify for an MPF exemption?

Section 24.23 does not mention China. Its exemptions are tied to named programs and agreements, so whether a shipment qualifies depends on the program’s own rules and on the goods, not on the factory location alone.

How does FBM Sourcing support this kind of project?

We review the brief, collect comparable quotations and manage the package for the project. For suppliers you nominate, we charge a 5% commission; for products we source for you, we quote a direct price. Our own team performs one inspection after bulk production is complete and before shipment, and the client’s project team is welcome to attend.

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