When Are Customs Duties Due — and When Can You Defer Them?
A practical duty-payment guide for U.S. importers: when the obligation triggers, and the legitimate ways to defer it.
Once CBP releases a shipment entered for consumption, customs duties are due within 10 working days — there is no strategic “waiting it out.” The only legitimate way to defer duties is to avoid entering goods for consumption: a bonded warehouse entry or a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) lets you postpone duties until goods are withdrawn, and goods re-exported in the same condition may never incur U.S. duty at all.
For U.S. importers, customs duties are unavoidable — but when you pay them depends on how your goods enter the country. There’s a common misconception that importers can simply “wait” to pay duties. In reality, once U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) releases a shipment, the duty obligation is triggered. What is flexible is whether goods are entered for consumption immediately or placed in a duty-deferral program, such as bonded warehousing or a Foreign Trade Zone.
At Mercer, we help importers across the Pacific Northwest work with their customs brokers to plan their entries, warehousing, and freight flow to align duty payment with inventory and cash-flow needs — without risking compliance.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or customs advice. Always confirm duty obligations with a licensed customs broker or U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
When are customs duties due?
Once CBP releases a shipment entered for consumption, customs duties must be paid within 10 working days of the release date. Importers typically pay in one of two ways:
Standard duty payment
Duties are paid shortly after release, either directly or through a customs broker. This is the most common approach for entries for consumption.
Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS)
Approved importers may use Periodic Monthly Statements, which group multiple entries into one monthly payment. PMS can improve cash flow, but it does not delay or eliminate the duty obligation — it simply changes how payments are scheduled.
When can customs duties be deferred?
The only legitimate way to defer customs duties is to avoid entering goods for consumption. Instead, goods are entered under a bonded status that allows duties to be postponed — or, in some cases, avoided entirely. There are two primary options.
Option 1: Bonded warehouse entry
A bonded warehouse entry lets importers store goods without paying duties upfront. Duties are not paid on import, goods remain under customs bond, and duties are only paid when goods are withdrawn for U.S. consumption. Mercer operates a 91,000-square-foot Class 3 bonded warehouse — the largest in the Pacific Northwest — giving importers the ability to hold inventory without tying up duty capital, stage goods for future distribution, and manage uncertain demand or seasonality.
Option 2: Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs)
In an FTZ, duties are deferred while goods remain in the zone, goods exported from the U.S. may never incur duties, and manufactured goods may be assessed at the lower of the component or finished-product duty rate. FTZs require advance planning and broker coordination, but can significantly reduce landed costs for manufacturers and exporters.
Can you export goods without ever paying duty?
In some cases, yes. If goods are placed into a bonded warehouse or FTZ and exported from the U.S. in the same condition, they can leave the country without duties ever being paid — a powerful option for importers handling re-exports, transshipments, or international redistribution.
How Mercer helps importers manage duty timing
Mercer doesn’t determine whether duties are owed — but we help importers ensure duties are paid only when required: coordinating with customs brokers on entry type and release status, advising when bonded warehousing or FTZ placement makes sense, and aligning freight movement with inventory and sales timelines. Our goal is simple: compliance without cash-flow surprises.