What are the Harbor Maintenance Fee and the Merchandise Processing Fee?

Your first customs bill will show two small charges next to the import duty: the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) and, if the goods came by ship, the Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF). Here’s what each one is, how it’s worked out and who pays it, using the amounts in force from October 1, 2026.

What are the MPF and the harbor maintenance fee?

Both are federal user fees that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collects when goods are entered for import. CBP puts the MPF toward its own operating costs. The HMF is a port use charge, and CBP lists its money as going to the operation and maintenance of Army Corps projects.

	Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF)	Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF)
Rate	0.3464 percent of the customs value	0.125 percent of the customs value
Limits per formal entry	At least $34.58, at most $670.86 (fiscal year 2027)	No minimum or maximum
Which shipments	Formal entries, by any mode. Informal entries pay a flat fee	Cargo unloaded from a commercial vessel at a US port
Air freight	Yes	No
Who pays	The importer of record	The importer
Rule	19 CFR 24.23	19 CFR 24.24 and 26 U.S.C. 4461

Neither fee comes from the tariff schedule. Both are charged on top of whatever duty applies, and a product with a zero duty rate usually still pays them.

How much is the Merchandise Processing Fee?

For a formal entry, the MPF is 0.3464 percent of the customs value. It’s due from the importer of record when the entry summary is filed.

The fee has a floor and a ceiling for each entry. CBP adjusts them for inflation every fiscal year. For fiscal year 2027, which started October 1, 2026, they are:

• Minimum: $34.58 per entry
• Maximum: $670.86 per entry

The percentage itself didn’t change. CBP’s notice says only the limits went up, and “the ad valorem rate of 0.3464 percent remains the same.”

Working backward from those limits, the minimum applies to any formal entry with a customs value below about $9,983, and the maximum applies above about $193,666. Between the two, you pay the straight percentage.

Low-value shipments that qualify for informal entry pay a flat MPF instead: $2.77 for an automated entry not prepared by CBP, $8.30 for a manual one, and $12.45 if CBP prepares it. A manual formal entry adds a $4.15 surcharge. Commercial equipment orders are almost always formal entries, so the percentage is the figure that matters.

How is the harbor maintenance fee calculated?

The HMF is 0.125 percent of the value of commercial cargo unloaded from a commercial vessel at a covered US port. That works out to $1.25 for every $1,000 of customs value.

A few rules decide whether you pay it:

• It only applies to ocean shipments. Cargo that arrives by air, or crosses a land border by truck or rail, isn’t unloaded from a vessel at a US port.
• It’s charged on formal entries. Imports that qualify for informal entry aren’t assessed.
• There’s no cap. A $500,000 ocean shipment pays $625 in HMF.
• If the HMF is the only payment due on an entry and it comes to $3 or less, CBP doesn’t collect it.
• It isn’t charged on exports. The Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that the tax “violates the Export Clause as applied to exports.”

What value are the fees charged on?

Both fees use the customs value, the same value the duty is charged on. Under federal law that’s generally the price you paid the seller for the goods, with packing costs added.

International freight and insurance aren’t part of it. The law excludes the costs of “transportation, insurance, and related services incident to the international shipment” from the country of exportation to the US. So a $10,000 FOB order pays fees on $10,000, however much the ocean freight costs.

Some broker and freight websites say the HMF is worked out on a CIF value, which would include freight. The regulation says otherwise: the HMF “is based on the CBP appraised value of the shipment pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1401a, the same basis as that used for duty payment.”

Who pays customs fees?

The importer of record. The MPF regulation names “the importer of record of the merchandise”, and the HMF law puts the tax on “the importer” for cargo entering the United States.

If you buy from an overseas factory on FOB or EXW terms, that’s usually you. Your customs broker files the entry and may pay CBP on your behalf, then bills you for the duty and fees along with its own charges. The fees are still owed by the importer of record either way.

If you buy at a delivered price where the seller is the importer, as with DDP terms, the seller pays the fees and builds them into the price. Our guide to what a landed price includes covers how those terms differ.

A worked example

Here’s how the two fees add up on three example shipments. The customs values are made up for the example. The rates and limits are the real fiscal year 2027 figures.

Customs value (made-up example)	MPF at 0.3464 percent	MPF actually charged	HMF if by ocean	Total by ocean	Total by air
$5,000	$17.32	$34.58 (the minimum)	$6.25	$40.83	$34.58
$20,000	$69.28	$69.28	$25.00	$94.28	$69.28
$250,000	$866.00	$670.86 (the maximum)	$312.50	$983.36	$670.86

On a small entry, the MPF minimum takes a bigger share than the headline rate: $34.58 on $5,000 is about 0.69 percent. On a large ocean entry, the MPF stops at its cap while the HMF keeps growing with the value.

Can you reduce or avoid these fees?

You can’t negotiate them, but a few rules can lower what you pay:

• Free trade agreements. Goods that originate under the USMCA or another US free trade agreement can be exempt from the MPF. Your broker has to claim the exemption with the right program indicator on each tariff line, and the goods must actually qualify under that agreement’s rules of origin.
• Fewer, larger entries. The MPF minimum applies to each formal entry. Several small entries can pay the minimum several times, while one combined entry pays the percentage once.
• The mode of transport. Air freight pays no HMF. The saving is $1.25 per $1,000 of customs value, so it’s rarely a reason to fly equipment on its own.

A zero duty rate doesn’t exempt you on its own. Ask your broker which exemptions your goods qualify for before the entry is filed.

Where do the fees show up on your paperwork?

On the entry summary, CBP Form 7501, each fee is listed with its own collection code:

Code	Fee
311	Informal entry MPF
499	Merchandise Processing Fee
500	Manual surcharge
501	Harbor Maintenance Fee

The fee total goes in block 43 (“Other”), next to the duty in block 41. When your broker’s invoice says “customs charges”, ask for a copy of the entry summary and check that the MPF and HMF match the codes and the customs value on it.

How Tally Wholesale handles customs fees

Tally Wholesale quotes one landed price per unit, in US dollars, covering the equipment, freight, customs clearance and duties to your US delivery address. We import the equipment, pay the duties and clear customs. That includes paying the Merchandise Processing Fee and, for ocean shipments, the Harbor Maintenance Fee, so you won’t get a separate fee bill.

Quotes are valid for 14 days, since duty and freight rates move. A 50% deposit starts production, and the balance is due before the equipment ships. How it works covers each step, and our terms of sale have the details.

To see a landed price for your equipment, request a quote with the equipment, quantity and delivery ZIP code.