U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a final rule that, effective July 29, extends from 90 days to 150 days the timeframe for vessel owners, masters, or authorized agents to provide completed vessel repair entries and apply for relief from assessment of vessel repair duties.
Purchases for repairs or repairs made to certain vessels while outside the U.S. are subject to declaration, entry, and payment of ad valorem duty upon vessel arrival in any U.S. port. Duties owed for vessel repairs made in a foreign country apply to all vessels documented under U.S. law that engage in foreign or coasting trade, as well as those intended to be employed in such trade. Some foreign vessel repair expenditures are not subject to declaration, entry, or duty at all, while others may not require duty payments but must still follow declaration and entry procedures.
Upon arrival, vessel operators must declare and enter all foreign repairs or related expenses on CBP Form 226 or an electronic equivalent. They may also be relieved from the assessment of vessel repair duties under certain circumstances.
CBP regulations currently require vessel operators to submit a completed vessel repair entry or apply for duty relief within 90 days of vessel arrival, but in practice operators are almost always granted two 30-day extensions that give them a total of 150 days to submit the completed documents.
CBP is therefore amending its regulations to change the timeline for document submission from 90 to 150 days, thus eliminating the need for filing extension requests that impose an administrative burden on CBP.
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