Kilts and Customs Duties - An Example

[Rob Wright]

In a thread some months ago, there was the expressed opinion, or fact, that no duties would be charged if a package declaring "ethnic garments" were imported into the USA. Is there a US Customs Xmarks member who can verify this as true, and tell us exactly where in the code this can be found?

Ask Wompet, he works for customs

Rob

[ForresterModern]

In a thread some months ago, there was the expressed opinion, or fact, that no duties would be charged if a package declaring "ethnic garments" were imported into the USA. Is there a US Customs Xmarks member who can verify this as true, and tell us exactly where in the code this can be found?

Tyger

I believe the reference you were questioning was one I had heard from a particular kiltmaker and seller in another state, verbalized in a discussion but not ever verified in actuallity.

In a search of the internet I found a 1995 ruling by US Customs in re: a letter from Burnetts & Struth about importing mens and womens ethnic goods of the kilt and jacket category. In part that ruling states as below:

"The applicable subheading for the kilt, for men, will be 6211.31.0051, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for track suits, ski-suits and swimwear; other garments: other garments, men's or boys': of wool or fine animal hair: other. The general duty rate will be 16.5 percent ad valorem.

The applicable subheading for the women's kilt will be 6204.51.0010, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for track suits, ski-suits and swimwear; other garments: other garments, women's or girls': of wool or fine animal hair: other. The general duty rate will be 16.7 percent ad valorem.

The applicable subheading for the men's jacket will be 6211.31.0045, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for track suits, ski-suits and swimwear; other garments: other garments, men's or boys': of wool or fine animal hair: jackets and jacket-type garments excluded from headings 6201. The general duty rate will be 16.5 percent ad valorem.

The applicable subheading for the women's jacket will be 6204.31.2010, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for women's or girls' suits, ensembles, suit-type jackets, blazers, dresses, skirts, divided skirts, trousers, bib and brace overalls, breeches and shorts (other than swimwear): of wool or fine animal hair: other: women's. The general duty rate will be 20.6 percent + 41.7 cents\kg.

The applicable subheading for the men's vest will be 6211.31.0040, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for track suits, ski-suits and swimwear; other garments: other garments, men's or boys': of wool or fine animal hair: vests. The general duty rate will be 16.5 percent ad valorem.

The applicable subheading for the women's vest will be 6211.41.0050, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for track suits, ski-suits and swimwear;
other garments: other garments, women's or girls: of wool or fine animal hair: vests. The general duty rate will be 16.5 percent ad valorem.

The applicable tariff provision for the dance shoes for men will be 6403.59.6060, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA), which provides for footwear with outer soles of rubber, plastics, leather or composition leather and uppers of leather: other footwear with outer soles of leather: other: other: for men, youths and boys: for men: other. The general rate of duty will be 8.5 percent ad valorem.

The applicable tariff provision for the dance shoes for women will be 6403.59.9060, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA), which provides for footwear with outer soles of rubber, plastics, leather or composition leather and uppers of leather: other footwear with outer soles of leather: other: other: for other persons: for women: other. The general duty rate will be 10.1 percent ad valorem.

The applicable tariff provision for the leather belt, men's or women's, will be 4203.30.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSUSA), which provides for articles of apparel and clothing accessories, of leather or of composition leather: belts and bandoliers with or without buckles. The general rate of duty will be 4.8 percent ad valorem."

I believe the classifications are probably accurate as the two times I have paid tarrifs, and every time I have recieved a potentially tariff vulnerable item, the customs declaration either listed the items and above codes correctly or only the items, and the codes were added in customs or not added at all. I believe, however, that the tariff per centages are likely not accurate, as I know that the current tarrif for wool kilts is 17.5% instead of the above mentioned 16.5%.

Although I searched a bit, there are non-clothing items of ethnic nature that are excluded from tariffs in certain circumstances, it appears that all articles or apparel are subject to tariff. I cannot specifically speek to other ethnic items. The tariff schedules are extremely legalistically written and difficult to read, but I think it is reasonable to expect anything of value imported via a carrier where tariffs are routinely or frequently processed (UPS, FEDEX, for example) to be subject to those tarrifs being charged ,along with any handling fees as we have discussed before. Therefore, as also discussed, shipping methods which are less likely to have tariffs assessed, or to have them assessed but with minimal if any handling fees, are by definition going to cost you no more and most likely nothing or significantly less than the ones who automatically process the tariffs routinely and thoroughly and add more sizable handling fees (i.e., Fedex and UPS).

Moral of the story, there are no guarantees, but Royal mails/Canada mail/USPS and Parcelforce are your best bets when importing to pay the least possible (possible nothing) in tariffs and fees, while FEDEX and UPS are almost guaranteed to charge those tariffs and a potentially substantial handling charge. Ethnic garments will generally be classified as garments of some sort and not as exempt "ethnic items" as I had previously suggested.

I will admit when I am wrong, and in this case I am wrong. Sorry folks.

jeff

[Wompet]

In a thread some months ago, there was the expressed opinion, or fact, that no duties would be charged if a package declaring "ethnic garments" were imported into the USA. Is there a US Customs Xmarks member who can verify this as true, and tell us exactly where in the code this can be found?

That's what I've been told ...

Ask Wompet, he works for customs

... by people who should know.

In a search of the internet I found a 1995 ruling by US Customs ...

"The applicable subheading for the kilt, for men, will be 6211.31.0051, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for track suits, ski-suits and swimwear; other garments: other garments, men's or boys': of wool or fine animal hair: other. The general duty rate will be 16.5 percent ad valorem.

I believe the classifications are probably accurate as the two times I have paid tarrifs, and every time I have recieved a potentially tariff vulnerable item, the customs declaration either listed the items and above codes correctly or only the items, and the codes were added in customs or not added at all. I believe, however, that the tariff per centages are likely not accurate, as I know that the current tarrif for wool kilts is 17.5% instead of the above mentioned 16.5%.

The tariff appears to now be 6211.32.0551, but the schedule shows a duty of 12%.

[KiltedPilot]

Just one quibble and it's minor ... GST is Goods and Services Tax.

Oops. Brain failure! That's for correcting that! Can't even blame alcohol!

[Nick Fiddes]

I agree with pretty much everything you say Mike. But there's a few things you left out. One is that couriers are of course much faster and more reliable. Our fedex/ups packages are rarely 'caged' nowadays as we've learned how to do the paperwork, so deliveries to the US are next day to major centres or day after mostly otherwise. This compares to a few days up to a few weeks or more, quite unpredictably, by air mail then their local partner, whoever that turns out to be. This may not matter to everyone, but as the supplier we still get criticism when things are late or don't arrive when wanted.

Another factor is 'attrition'. I must admit that I'd failed to notice until now that you're actually in Canada. Sorry. I'm afraid the fact is that we pretty much refuse to send anything of value into Canada that way now, since the rate of 'loss' got to quite ridiculous levels. If a customer insists on Canada Post we ask for a written disclaimer that they will not ask us to replace a missing package. Here's a fact for you - we've had more lost packages in the past year through Canada Post than to the rest of the world (including UK domestic) put together. That may tell you how bad it is. Courier packages very rarely go missing. But the standard postal system is a totally different story, and Canada Post way more than most.

Finally, I can't speak for US-Canada shipments, but I don't think you mentioned the weight limit that applies to air mail. If the package weight exceeds 2kg (c. 4.4 lbs) they just won't take it.

So my basic point is it's not just a question of price, but a bunch of other considerations, such as how soon do you want it, how reliable do you want that schedule to be, and who is going to pick up the tab and knock-on costs if a package goes astray? I don't think it invalidates your point that the more business-orientated companies charge more for the 'same' service of clearing paperwork than the bulk-handling public-facing companies do. But like so many things in life, there's an element of you get what you pay for.

[KiltedPilot]

I'm afraid the fact is that we pretty much refuse to send anything of value into Canada that way now, since the rate of 'loss' got to quite ridiculous levels.

Interesting experience Nick.

I was born in UK, and moved from UK to Canada a handful of years ago. I still have a lot of family in UK, sending letters, cards, presents. I have multiple bank accounts and credit cards etc in the UK. I continue to shop online at some of my favourite UK stores.

Thus, over the past few years, we've probably received over 1,000 letters from the UK, and 100-150 parcels. Never has one disappeared, or even been particularly late. Delivery time for Royal Mail/Canada Post parcels is from 2 days to 10 days, and about 6 days typical.

I also receive a lot of parcels via Canada Post from Japan, US, and Europe. None has gone missing.

As briefly mentioned in the other thread, when in the UK (and for a while afterwards), I used to run a small mail order business that sent 8,000 to 20,000 parcels from UK to North America per year. Canada Post never gave me the slightest problem. Rarely did USPS outright fail to deliver, but occasionally parcels took an unusually long time.

Hence your experience seems surprising to me. You might want to request information from the large membership of this forum to see if your company experience is repeated, or something related to your local Royal Mail facilities, etc.

I fully agree with you that there are many tradeoffs between delivery methods -- I often prefer FedEx for my business needs. Different factors favour different shipping methods. My only debate with you is that import costs ARE a manageable factor as well, and a huge one -- something you appeared to dispute.

Mike

[ForresterModern]

Okay, regarding the issue of whether "items of cultural or religious use" are free of tariff when imported I think I nailed it down on the US government's own Harmonized Tariff website hts.usitc.gov .

Section XXII-Special Classifications
Subchapter 98-Special Classification Provisions
Subchapter X-Importations of Religious, Educational, Scientific, and other institutions


With the exception of religious or ceremonial headgear, which is listed near the bottom of this table, "Importation of religious, educational, scientific, and other institutions" may potentially cover a kilt and/or other potentially related garments/accoutrements if they are specifically used by said "institution" in religious ceremony, under US Harmonized Tariff System 9810.00.1500 "articles imported for the use of an institution":

http://hts.usitc.gov/table 9810.xml

This is the whole exemption from tariff page but if you will drill down to 9810.00.1500 it should get you there, as close as I can find (again other than ceremonial prayer headwear listed further down).

What do you think, Gary, about asking for this classification as part of our church or local scottish association for use in the "kirkin' o' the tartan" ceremony so prevalent in these here United States of America? This would get a complete tariff exemption, although I think it might be stretching things a bit. If we ordered kilts through our local non-profit Scottish Heritage or ST Andrews Societies?

There are also exemptions to varying degrees, or lesser tariffs from certain classified countries, although I have not drilled down that far to see what each of those possibilities is. More to follow when i get the time.

Jeff

[Nick Fiddes]

"Importation of religious, educational, scientific, and other institutions" may potentially cover a kilt and/or other potentially related garments/accoutrements if they are specifically used by said "institution" in religious ceremony

Love it. :-) I guess if L Ron H could do it, then XMTS "Worshipful Society of the Kilt" members start queuing here...

High priest: Ham?

[ForresterModern]

Love it. :-) I guess if L Ron H could do it, then XMTS "Worshipful Society of the Kilt" members start queuing here...

High priest: Ham?

That's the spirit, Nick. Bishops, Steve, Jock, MacoRath, and depending on which religious model we wanted to use we could start drilling down a whole list of titles for almost any member. Presbyterian or Calvinist would probably historically appropriate, but I will leave that up to the historians of the group. What say ye, Todd?

jeff

[ForresterModern]

Found the listing of exempted countires, at least for kilts listed under customs tariff code 6211.39.0551, that would avoid the tariff of 12% as Gary mentioned:

Australia, Bahrain, Canada+Mexico under NAFTA, Chile, Israel, Jordan, Dominican Republic, Peru and Singapore.

So if you can find a decent kiltmaker or kiltmaking country in one of those countries the above 12% US Customs tariff toward kilts is not in effect. Australia, maybe. Canada definitely. So US and Canada and Australia are game for ordering tariff free kilts for us US folks, although I am not sure how it is going to work going in the other direction.

jeff