How the money is worked out: ad valorem, specific and compound duty, the merchandise processing fee with its fiscal-year minimum and maximum, the harbor maintenance fee, rate columns and currency conversion. Practical exercises and valuation questions on every released exam need this arithmetic, done by hand.
Valuation, Appraisement and Duty Assessment·3 min read·7 sections
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Must-know for the exam
✓MPF on formal entries: 0.3464% of value; FY2027 (from Oct 1, 2026) minimum $34.58, maximum $670.86 (19 CFR 24.23(b)(1); 91 FR 48398).
✓FY2026 limits (Oct 1, 2025 - Sep 30, 2026): $33.58 and $651.50 (90 FR 34665). Use the year the entry summary is presented.
✓HMF: 0.125% of the value of cargo loaded on or unloaded from a commercial vessel at a covered port; air, truck and rail pay none (24.24).
✓MPF exemptions include USMCA (GN 11), Israel, Singapore, Chile, Australia, CAFTA-DR, Korea and other listed FTAs, CBERA, least-developed GSP countries, most Chapter 98 (24.23(c)).
✓9802.00.60 and 9802.00.80: MPF only on the dutiable portion of the value (24.23(c)(2)).
✓Compound rates add both parts: 8.8¢/kg + 20% on 2,000 kg worth $7,400 is $176 + $1,480 = $1,656 (HTSUS 0709.51.01).
✓Column 2 rates apply to products of Cuba, North Korea, Russia and Belarus, imported directly or indirectly (General Note 3(b), 2026 Basic).
✓Currency: convert at the rate for the date of exportation (159.32, 152.1(c)); quarterly rate unless the daily rate varies 5% or more (159.34).
✓Specific duties: quantity at the time of importation (159.21), on net weight (159.22).
▸On this page · 7 sections
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Traps that cost marks
→Stopping at the percentage and forgetting the minimum.
→Using the fiscal year 2027 cap for an entry summary presented in September 2026.
→Leaving HMF out of an ocean entry.
→Applying HMF to every formal entry regardless of mode.
→Assuming duty-free or MPF-exempt goods are also HMF-exempt.
→Assuming every free trade agreement exempts MPF; Morocco is not on the list.
→Inventing a partial MPF for USMCA goods.
→Charging MPF on the full value of a 9802 article.
Why it matters on the exam
Every practical exercise and many valuation questions end in a number: duty, MPF, HMF or a converted value. The released exams use real HTSUS lines and the fee limits for their own year, and distractors are the classic slips: no MPF minimum, HMF on air freight, the wrong column.
The duty itself
Rate type
Example (2026 Basic Ed.)
Arithmetic
Ad valorem
6109.10.00 cotton T-shirts, 16.5%
$24,000 x 16.5% = $3,960.00
Specific
0805.10.00 oranges, 1.9¢/kg
18,000 kg x $0.019 = $342.00
Compound
0709.51.01 Agaricus mushrooms, 8.8¢/kg + 20%
$176.00 + $1,480.00 = $1,656.00
HTSUS 2026 Basic Edition, column 1 general rates.
Column 1 special applies only when the goods qualify for the program whose code appears; column 2 only for General Note 3(b) countries.
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