Antidumping and countervailing duties on past entries: the deposit, the final rate and the late liquidation

Who sets AD/CVD, and who collects it?

Two agencies split the work, and knowing which one decides what tells you where to send each question.

The Commerce Department decides what is covered and at what rate. Its International Trade Administration investigates dumping and subsidies, writes the scope of each order, calculates a rate for each exporter or producer it examines, and runs the reviews that set final rates. The International Trade Commission decides injury. CBP's AD/CVD FAQ describes CBP's part: collect the cash deposits, administer the entries, assess and collect the final duty, and enforce orders against goods that evade them.

That split has a practical consequence for past entries. A question about scope or rate goes to Commerce: a scope ruling under 19 CFR 351.225, or an administrative review under 19 CFR 351.213. A question about what CBP did with Commerce's instructions on your entry, such as the wrong case number, the wrong value base or duties doubled for a missing certificate, goes to CBP by protest. Under 19 U.S.C. 1514(b), what CBP does to carry out a Commerce determination is final unless the determination itself is challenged at the Court of International Trade under 19 U.S.C. 1516a, so the rate and the scope are not protestable. When CBP itself suspects evasion of an order, it investigates under the Enforce and Protect Act, covered on EAPA investigations and scope rulings.

What does an AD/CVD line look like in an entry export?

Goods covered by an order are entered as type 03 in block 2 of Form 7501 (type 07 when quota or visa applies too; types 34 and 38 for warehouse withdrawals), according to the Form 7501 instructions (revision 02/26). On the line, the case number goes in column 33B, directly below the HTS number: A followed by nine digits for antidumping, C for countervailing. The rate Commerce designated goes in column 37B, opposite the case number, and the amount in column 38.

The instructions set the order for choosing the case number, and CBP's FAQ repeats it: the exporter's own case if it has one; if not, the producer's; an exporter and producer combination only when both parties to that combination are on the transaction; and only after all of those, the "all others" or country-wide case ending in 000. An exclusion granted to one producer and exporter pair does not pass to a reseller that buys from them.

Three more details from the instructions and CBP's FAQ decide whether a line is right:

• Deposited or bonded. Where bonding is allowed, the AD/CVD amount in column 38 is shown in parentheses and left out of the block 43 summary and the totals. Only deposited amounts count as paid.
• Value base. If AD/CVD is due on a value other than the entered value, for example only the aluminum extrusion parts of a welded subassembly, that value is recorded in parentheses in column 36A, on the same line as the case number and rate. A line where AD/CVD was computed on the full entered value when only part of the product is covered overpays; the reverse underpays.
• Companion orders. Many products carry both an AD and a CVD order. CBP's FAQ says case links in ACE are made at the 7-digit case level, so check both orders for every line.

The Form 7501 field-by-field guide covers the other blocks.

Why is the deposit not the final duty?

The United States assesses AD/CVD retrospectively. 19 U.S.C. 1673e(a)(3) requires a deposit of estimated duty at entry; 19 CFR 351.212(a) says final liability is set after importation, normally in a review of a defined period. There are three outcomes for any entry:

1. Someone requests an administrative review of your exporter or producer during the order's anniversary month (19 CFR 351.213(b)). The domestic industry, the foreign exporter or producer, or the importer can ask. Commerce calculates an assessment rate for the period, and CBP applies it to the entries in that period.
2. Nobody requests a review. Under 351.212(c), Commerce tells CBP, without further notice, to assess at the cash deposit rate that applied at entry. The deposit becomes the final duty.
3. The entry falls in the provisional period of the original investigation. Under 351.212(d), if the final duty is higher than the provisional deposit, the difference is disregarded; if lower, the lower rate applies.

For an antidumping order the period of review is normally the 12 months before the anniversary month; for a countervailing order it is normally the most recent calendar year (351.213(e)). An importer who thinks its deposits are too high has one main tool: request the review in the anniversary month. Commerce publishes a notice of that opportunity every month in the Federal Register, according to CBP's FAQ.

Why do these entries liquidate so late?

Liquidation is suspended from the start. 19 CFR 159.58 tells CBP to suspend liquidation of merchandise entered on or after the date Commerce publishes its preliminary or final affirmative determination. The entries then wait for Commerce's instructions.

The start date can reach back. If Commerce finds critical circumstances, which among other conditions require massive imports over a short period (normally an increase of at least 15 percent over a comparable earlier period, 19 CFR 351.206(h)(2)), duties may be imposed on entries made up to 90 days before provisional measures began (351.206(a)), and CBP's AD/CVD FAQ says suspension and cash deposits then start 90 days before the preliminary determination is published. So an entry filed as type 01 shortly before an order existed can still end up a suspended AD/CVD entry.

A worked timeline, with illustrative dates for an antidumping order whose anniversary month is May:

If the final results go to court and liquidation is enjoined, the entries wait longer: 19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(3)(C) starts the instruction clock only after the court case ends. CBP's FAQ says the process, from importation, takes about three years on average. These entries do not follow the ordinary one-year liquidation cycle covered on how to check entry liquidation status, which is why the post-entry audit should track them as a separate group.

The deemed-liquidation rule in 1504(d) works for the importer as well as against it. If CBP misses the six months, the entry liquidates at what the importer asserted, which on a type 03 entry is the deposit rate.

What does the final rate do to one line?

Take one illustrative line: $200,000 entered value, antidumping deposit rate 25 percent, entered March 10, 2025, $50,000 deposited in cash. Interest runs under 19 U.S.C. 1677g at the rate set under 26 U.S.C. 6621, and 351.212(e) counts it per entry from the date the deposit was due to the date of liquidation. CBP's FAQ says interest does not apply to entries in the provisional period of the original investigation.

Both directions are findings. A refund that CBP computed on the wrong value, or on the wrong case number, is money the importer can claim by protest. A bill on an entry that should have carried a higher rate is a liability to plan for. The duty calculator shows the ordinary duty stack for a code and date; the AD/CVD rate comes from Commerce's instructions for the exporter or producer on the invoice.

What is the reimbursement certificate, and why does it matter at liquidation?

Commerce deducts from the export price any AD or CVD that the exporter or producer paid for the importer or reimbursed to it (19 CFR 351.402(f)(1)). To police that, 351.402(f)(2) requires the importer to certify to CBP before liquidation whether it has been reimbursed, or has any agreement to be. The certificate should identify the commodity and country and link to the entry or line numbers. It applies to entries made on or after the date of the notice that first suspended liquidation in the case. The sources word the consequence differently, and the difference matters when you read a liquidation:

• Commerce's rule (351.402(f)(3)): Commerce may presume reimbursement if the certificate is missing. The rule itself does not mention doubling; its paragraph (f)(1) deducts any reimbursed duty from the export price Commerce uses.
• CBP's guidance (Publication 5242-1125): without a certificate before liquidation, CBP should presume reimbursement and double the duties.
• CBP's AD/CVD FAQ: without a certificate, CBP will presume reimbursement and double the duties.

CBP's guidance then sets the practice:

• A certificate provided before the entry posts to the liquidation bulletin avoids the doubling. An entry that deemed liquidated is not doubled, because it liquidated at the rate asserted at entry.
• An importer that admits reimbursement is assessed an amount equal to the reimbursement, but not more than twice the duty.
• For countervailing duty, a certificate is needed only where the goods are also under an AD order; Commerce says so in its liquidation instructions.
• Blanket certificates are accepted per AD case, covering 12 months or the review period, whichever is longer. ACE accepts non-reimbursement statements at the line or account level.
• An authorized officer of the importer of record signs; Commerce does not let a customs broker sign it.
• CBP does not send a CF-28 asking for the certificate unless Commerce's instructions say to.
• A valid certificate filed with a timely protest of the doubling rebuts the presumption, and CBP shall grant the protest on that issue. 351.402(f)(2)(iii) allows CBP to accept a certificate through its protest procedures.

The audit check is simple: for every type 03 entry, is there a line-level or blanket non-reimbursement statement that covers its case and manufacturer, on file before liquidation?

How do you audit AD/CVD entries in your own export?

1. Pull every type 03, 07, 34 and 38 entry, with case number, rate, entered value, AD/CVD value, deposit or bond, manufacturer and exporter, and liquidation status.
2. Check the case number against the hierarchy. Match the exporter and producer on the invoice to the case Commerce assigned. An "all others" case used for an exporter with its own lower rate overpays; another company's lower rate underpays.
3. Check the value base. Look for lines where only part of the product is in scope but AD/CVD ran on the full entered value, and the reverse.
4. Look for subject goods entered without a case. Type 01 entries of products whose description matches an order's written scope, from the order's country, are the most serious finding. The HTS list in an order is only a screen; the written scope decides. Origin matters too: goods finished in a third country can still be covered, a question Commerce decides (see country of origin on past entries).
5. Match every suspended entry to its review. For each case and period, record whether a review was requested, the preliminary and final results, and the date instructions issued. Entries with no review requested are heading for assessment at the deposit rate.
6. Check certificates before liquidation, as above.
7. Recompute each liquidated entry against the final rate, the value base and the interest, and list differences in both directions.
8. Route the findings. A CBP error at liquidation goes by protest within 180 days; see how to file a customs protest. A Commerce determination is reviewed at the Court of International Trade, not by protest. Subject goods entered without a case are an underpayment; see prior disclosure after you find an underpayment. Confirm each filing with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel; this page describes the rules, not legal advice.

Where does TariffSense fit?

The checks above are line checks on data you already hold. TariffSense reads Form 7501s and broker entry exports in any layout, recomputes each line's duty stack on its entry date and flags the lines that do not match. On AD/CVD lines it reads the entry type in block 2, the case number in column 33B, the rate in column 37B and any value base in column 36A, and flags the line where one of them does not fit: a case number on an entry that is not type 03, 07, 34 or 38, an "all others" case where the exporter or producer has its own, or AD/CVD computed on the full entered value when only part of the product is covered. The post-entry audit page shows what goes in and what comes back. The scope question stays with Commerce, and the final rate comes from its instructions.

What should you do next?

List every type 03 entry from the last five years with its liquidation status, and the anniversary month of each order it touches. If an anniversary month is coming up and your deposits look high for what your exporter charges, the review request is the decision to make now, not after liquidation. The post-entry audit pillar covers the rest of the line checks.