Do you need a customs broker and a customs bond for your first import?

When you buy from an overseas factory on FOB or DAP terms, the goods have to clear US Customs before they reach you, and that job is yours. Two questions come up first: do you have to hire a customs broker, and do you need a customs bond? Here’s what the federal rules say, as of November 2026.

Do you need a customs broker?

No, the law doesn’t require one. Under federal law the entry is filed by the owner or purchaser of the goods, or by a licensed customs broker they appoint. CBP’s regulations say an importer handling customs business “solely on his own account” doesn’t need a license, and neither do its regular employees acting only for it.

CBP’s own advice for importers says some make entry on their own, and those who want a broker’s services “may do so”. Brokers are licensed by CBP, but they aren’t CBP employees.

Many importers hire one anyway. Filing an entry means classifying the goods under the tariff schedule, declaring their value, paying duties and fees, and sending it all to CBP. A broker files entries for a living, and you’d be learning the process on your first shipment.

Whichever way you go, the responsibility stays with you. CBP says the importer of record is “ultimately responsible for the correctness of the entry documentation”. Our guide to DDP vs DAP shipping explains who the importer of record is under each trade term.

What does a licensed customs broker do?

A customs broker handles “customs business” for other people, which federal law defines as dealing with CBP on the entry and admissibility of goods, their classification and value, and payment of duties, taxes and fees. Preparing the documents for those filings counts too. Nobody can do this for someone else without a license, and an individual broker has to be a US citizen.

For a first import, a broker can:

• take a power of attorney from you, which the rules require before it acts in your name
• file your CBP Form 5106, which sets up your importer identity using your IRS employer identification number
• arrange the customs bond through a surety
• file the Importer Security Filing for ocean freight
• classify the goods, file the entry and pay duties and fees on your behalf

The regulations also require a broker to tell you promptly about any error or omission it knows of in your import documents, and how to correct it.

What do customs broker fees cover?

A broker’s invoice usually mixes two kinds of charges: the broker’s own fees for its work, and money it passes through to the government or a surety for you. Keep them apart when you compare quotes.

Charge	Who it goes to	What sets it
Entry filing and other broker services	The broker	The broker’s fee schedule
ISF filing, for ocean freight	The broker, if it files for you	The broker’s fee schedule
Customs bond premium	The surety, often billed through the broker	The surety
Import duties	CBP	The tariff code, value and country of origin
Merchandise Processing Fee and Harbor Maintenance Fee	CBP	Federal regulations

We don’t list fee amounts here because no government source publishes them. Ask each broker for a written fee schedule before you sign anything. Our guide to the Merchandise Processing Fee and Harbor Maintenance Fee explains how the two government fees are worked out.

One rule matters most when you pay a broker. Duties are “a personal debt due from the importer to the United States”, and paying a broker doesn’t clear that debt if the broker never pays CBP. Brokers have to tell you this in writing. You’re allowed to pay duties straight to CBP even when you use a broker, or pay the broker separately for duties and for its own fees.

Formal or informal entry: when is a customs bond required?

A bond is required for formal entries. CBP won’t release goods on a formal entry unless a single entry or continuous bond has been filed, issued by an approved corporate surety or secured with cash or US government obligations.

Low-value shipments can use informal entry instead, a simpler process. The dollar limit for informal entry is set in 19 CFR 143.21, and CBP can require a formal entry for any shipment it chooses. Check your shipment’s value against that limit, and ask your broker which entry type it’ll file, before you assume you can skip the bond.

The bond protects the government. Federal regulations say it’s there “solely to protect the revenue of the United States” and doesn’t relieve the importer of what it owes. Under the bond, you and the surety are jointly and severally liable for the duties, taxes and charges on each entry it covers.

Single entry bond or continuous bond?

A single entry bond covers one shipment. A continuous bond covers all your entries for a year and renews automatically each year until it’s ended.

	Single entry bond	Continuous bond
What it covers	One entry	Every entry for one year, renewing automatically
How CBP sets the amount	Generally at least the value of the goods plus all duties, taxes and fees	The greater of $50,000 or 10% of your duties, taxes and fees in the previous 12 months
First-year amount	Based on that shipment	Based on your estimate for the next 12 months, never under $50,000
Suits	A single or occasional import	Regular imports

Those figures come from CBP’s published guide to bond amounts (February 2024 edition). Continuous bonds go up in steps of $10,000 to $100,000, then in steps of $100,000. CBP reviews bonds and can tell you to raise yours if it’s too small, with 15 days to fix it.

The amount in the table is how much the bond covers. You don’t pay that amount. You pay a premium to the surety, and a surety or a broker can quote it for you. Before any bond is filed, you also need an active account in CBP’s system, which a CBP Form 5106 sets up.

What is ISF, and do you need a bond for it?

If your goods come by ocean, there’s one more filing. The Importer Security Filing, often called ISF or 10+2, is due before the cargo even leaves. It names the seller, buyer, importer of record number, consignee, manufacturer, ship-to party, country of origin and tariff number. Those details are due no later than 24 hours before the cargo is loaded onto the ship at the foreign port.

The filer is the ISF importer, which is usually the owner or buyer of the goods, or an agent such as a licensed customs broker. The ISF importer needs a bond too, and a basic importation bond covers it. If you don’t have one, the agent filing for you can use its own bond. A late or inaccurate ISF can cost $5,000 per violation in liquidated damages under the bond.

Because of that deadline, line up your broker and bond while the factory is still building your order.

What to set up before your first shipment

1. Choose whether you’ll file yourself or use a broker. If you use one, check its license, sign the power of attorney and get its fee schedule in writing.
2. File CBP Form 5106 with your EIN, so you have an importer number and an account for the bond.
3. Get a single entry or continuous bond from a surety, directly or through the broker.
4. For ocean freight, agree who files the ISF and send them the supplier’s details well before loading.
5. Get the commercial invoice and packing list from the supplier, and confirm the tariff classification with your broker so you know the duty rate.
6. Decide how you’ll pay duties, through the broker or directly to CBP.

Each of these adds to your landed cost. Our guide to what a landed price includes lists every cost between the factory and your door.

How Tally Wholesale handles customs for you

When you buy equipment from us, we’re the importer. We clear customs and pay the duties, and our quote gives one landed price per unit, in US dollars, covering the equipment, freight, customs clearance and duties to your US delivery address. You don’t need a broker or a bond, and you won’t get a separate duty bill.

Quotes are free and valid for 14 days. A 30% deposit starts production, and the balance is due before the equipment ships. Every order is inspected at the factory before it leaves. How it works covers each step, and the terms of sale have the details.

To see a delivered price with customs already handled, request a quote with the equipment, quantity and delivery ZIP code.