Temporary importation under bond on past entries: the deadline, the proof of export and the cost of a miss

Which lines in an entry export are TIBs, and which goods qualify?

On Form 7501 a temporary importation under bond is entry type 23: an entry that pays no duty on condition that the goods leave again. CBP's TIB page states the condition: goods "not imported for sale or sale on approval," entered "with the intent to export or destroy the goods within a certain period of time not to exceed three years." Only the 14 subheadings of chapter 98, subchapter XIII qualify. The rules sit in 19 CFR 10.31 to 10.40 and in the U.S. notes to the subchapter (HTS Chapter 98, Revision 22).

Two filing rules make TIB lines easy to misread in an export. The entry summary carries the same data as a consumption entry plus the subheading claimed, a statement of the intended use detailed enough for CBP to judge eligibility, and a declaration that the goods will not be put to other use or sold (19 CFR 10.31(a)(3)). For 9813.00.05, statistical note 1 has the 9813.00.0520 or 9813.00.0540 number followed by the statistical number the goods would take outside the subchapter. That second number is the one to check against the product, because it sets the bond below.

How much bond does a TIB need when duties stack?

19 CFR 10.31(f) sets the bond at double "the duties and fees, which it is estimated would accrue" had all the goods been entered under an ordinary consumption entry, or 110 percent of the estimated duties and fees for 9813.00.20 samples, 9813.00.25 advertising films and 9813.00.50 professional equipment. The Center director can require more in writing. A cash deposit may stand in for a surety. A bond under $25, or one for goods under 9813.00.05, 9813.00.20 or 9813.00.50 admitted without formal entry under 10.36 and 10.36a, is taken without surety or cash deposit. No bond at all is required for professional equipment, press and broadcasting equipment, sports articles and display goods brought in by a national of Canada or Mexico, or by a resident of one of the agreement partners 10.31(f) lists, when the article originates in that person's country. CBP's February 2024 bond guide adds that restricted or prohibited goods need the greater of double the duties and fees or three times the value (19 CFR 113.62(n)(1)).

Because the bond is priced on the consumption entry the goods did not make, every duty that entry would have carried counts, Chapter 99 duties included. Section 10.31(f) measures the duties and fees "which it is estimated would accrue ... had all the articles covered by the entry been entered under an ordinary consumption entry," and 10.31(c), for an article first admitted without formal entry, fixes the bond on the duties "which would have been required to be deposited had the article been entered under an ordinary consumption entry." A consumption entry of Chinese goods on a Section 301 list deposits the Section 301 duty with the general rate, so the bond doubles both.

The chapter 98 exemptions do not change that; they depend on the TIB holding. U.S. note 52(a) to chapter 99 says the Section 301 duties in headings 9903.05.20 to 9903.05.84 "shall not apply to goods for which entry is properly claimed under a provision of chapter 98," note 20 says the same for heading 9903.88.03, and note 16(b) says Section 232 metal goods entered under chapter 98 remain "eligible for and subject to the terms of such provision." When the TIB fails, the consumption-entry duties return. In ruling H312750 (January 29, 2026), CBP said that had TIB windshields from China not left in the same condition, duties would have been assessed as if they had been entered for consumption and the importer "would have been liable for any applicable Section 301 duties." CSMS # 53992279 and the bond guide both put the base as the estimated duties, including fees, "determined at the time of entry," so the stack is the one in force on the TIB entry date.

Worked line. A manufacturer brings in eight LED luminaire prototypes, HTS 9405.42.84 (general rate 3.9 percent, HTS Chapter 94, Revision 22), product of China, for testing under 9813.00.30. Entered value $250,000, unloaded from a vessel at a listed port, entered September 15, 2026. Illustrative figures.

What the importer actually pays on the TIB entry is the harbor maintenance fee, $312.50 (0.125 percent of $250,000), because 19 CFR 24.24(e)(2)(i) collects it on temporary importation under bond entries. No MPF is due: 24.23(c)(1)(i) exempts chapter 98 articles.

If the importer's continuous bond is $100,000, it does not cover a $208,303 requirement. CBP's CSMS # 53992279 (November 14, 2022) says CBP may then require a single transaction bond for the difference, here $108,303, and that the difference is figured for each entry "regardless of how many entries are secured by the same valid CB." Without the two Section 301 layers, the same entry would need a bond of $20,803.00, twice $9,750.00 plus $651.50. The stack makes the bond ten times larger. How stacked rates move the continuous bond itself is in continuous bond sufficiency when tariffs stack.

When do TIB goods have to leave, and can the date move?

U.S. note 1(a) sets the period at one year from the date of importation. The Center director may extend it "for not more than two further periods of 1 year each" (19 CFR 10.37) on CBP Form 3173, filed at the port or electronically, as long as the goods have not already been exported or destroyed and liquidated damages have not been assessed when CBP receives it. An untimely request goes to CBP Headquarters. Three years from importation is the hard limit.

The exceptions:

• 9813.00.75 show automobiles: six months, "and such a 6-month period shall not be extended" (note 1(a)).
• 9813.00.50 professional equipment that is seized other than at a private party's suit: the export requirement is suspended while the seizure lasts (note 1(a); 10.38(g)).
• Carnets: the period is the carnet's validity, and "no extension of the period for which a carnet is valid shall be granted" (10.37).
• Goods first entered under another provision and later amended to a TIB: the period runs from the date of importation (10.31(g)).

What evidence closes a TIB entry?

TIB entries are not liquidated (19 CFR 10.31(h)). The file closes when CBP cancels the bond charge on evidence the goods left or were destroyed, so the proof is the whole record.

Goods can be gone and the bond charge still open: an export made without Form 3495 leaves no CBP record against the entry. For those, 10.39(e)(3) lets the Fines, Penalties and Forfeitures Officer cancel the claim for a lesser amount, or none, on documentary proof of export in time, such as a foreign landing certificate, and a full explanation of why CBP did not supervise it.

What does a missed export deadline cost?

If goods are not exported or destroyed within the bond period, the Fines, Penalties and Forfeitures Officer makes a written demand for liquidated damages "equal to double the estimated duties applicable to such entry," and "the term estimated duties shall include any merchandise processing fees" (19 CFR 10.39(d)(1)). The 110 percent rate applies where 10.31(f) sets it. The demand states that a petition for relief may be filed within 60 days, under 19 CFR part 172. Where the importer gave cash instead of a surety, 10.40(b) gives the same 60 days before the deposit is transferred as liquidated damages.

In the worked line, imported and entered on September 15, 2026, the fixtures must be out by September 15, 2027. If they are still in the country the next day with no extension on file, the demand is $208,303, against $104,151.50 the same goods would have paid on a consumption entry. A Form 3173 filed before September 15, 2027 avoids the breach entirely.

Relief under 10.39(e) is available only if the goods were properly entered under subchapter XIII and there was no intent to defraud the revenue or delay paying duty:

1. Goods that were US products entitled to free entry as American goods returned: cancellation without liquidated damages.
2. Exported or destroyed under CBP supervision, but late: a lesser amount, or none if the delay was for the benefit of the United States or wholly beyond the parties' reasonable control.
3. Exported or destroyed in time, but without CBP supervision: a lesser amount on documentary evidence and an explanation.
4. Payment of double the duty a consumption entry would have paid (or 110 percent), where that is less than the full bond.

If you know before the deadline that the goods will stay, 10.39(f) allows an anticipatory breach: tell CBP in writing, pay the full liquidated damages then, notify the surety, and the entry closes. That trades relief for certainty and stops the file from sitting open.

What changes when TIB goods go to Canada or Mexico?

A TIB for processing counts as duty deferral under USMCA. U.S. note 1(c) to subchapter XIII says that when an article imported under 9813.00.05 for processing is withdrawn for export to Canada or Mexico, the duty is waived or reduced only up to the lesser of the US duty it would have paid on importation and the duty paid to Canada or Mexico on the exported article, with exceptions for the goods listed in section 208(a) of the USMCA Implementation Act. In ruling H293258 (September 13, 2021), CBP held that lathes processed under a TIB and exported to Canada or Mexico needed a consumption entry when the TIB closed, with the "lesser of" duties and fees paid. In H312750 (January 29, 2026), windshields that went to Canada in the same condition as imported were not dutiable on export.

So a 9813.00.05 entry whose goods were processed and then shipped to a USMCA partner is not closed by proof of export alone. Check that the consumption entry was filed and the lesser-of duty paid, and whether the stack on the original entry date included Chapter 99 duties.

How do I check TIB lines in my own entry export?

1. List every type 23 entry with entry date, 9813 subheading, ordinary classification where reported, value, port and mode. Open TIBs do not appear on a liquidation report, so build this list from entry type, not status.
2. Set the deadline for each: entry date plus one year, plus any Form 3173 extensions granted, never past three years; six months for 9813.00.75. Flag every entry past its deadline or within 60 days of it.
3. Match each entry to its proof: Form 3495 with CBP's action, certificate of lading, destruction certificate or CBP-supervised destruction record, or a carnet voucher. An entry past its deadline with no proof is a liquidated damages exposure of double its estimated duties and fees (110 percent for the three listed subheadings), which is normally the full bond amount.
4. Recompute the bond at double (or 110 percent of) the duties and fees a consumption entry would have carried on the entry date, with every Chapter 99 heading in force on that date, using the duty calculator for the stack. Compare with the bond on the entry and with any single transaction bond taken for the difference.
5. Check eligibility and use: the stated use on the summary, no sale or sale on approval, 9813.00.50 entered by the nonresident, and for 9813.00.05 processing the waste accounting and the second classification required by statistical note 1.
6. Check exports to Canada or Mexico of 9813.00.05 goods that were processed: a consumption entry and the lesser-of duty under note 1(c) should follow the TIB.
7. Check the fees: no MPF on the TIB line, HMF present on vessel entries at listed ports. An MPF charged on a chapter 98 line is an overpayment; the fee rules are in how the merchandise processing fee is calculated.
8. Route what you find. Deadlines still open: file Form 3173 or arrange export with Form 3495. Deadlines missed: talk to your broker about a petition or an anticipatory breach before the demand arrives. Goods that were sold or used for something other than the stated use are a compliance matter for counsel, not a paperwork fix.

Goods that will be sold here, or stay longer than three years, belong on a consumption entry. If such goods later leave unused, unused-merchandise drawback can return up to 99 percent of the duties, taxes and fees paid, for exports within five years of importation (19 CFR 190.31); goods used in the United States, such as test units or demonstrators, do not qualify. The program is covered in duty drawback on past entries. The rest of the entry summary, block by block, is in Form 7501 field by field, and the full audit in the post-entry audit guide.

TariffSense reads entry summaries and broker exports, picks out temporary importation lines by entry type and 9813 number, and lists each with its export deadline and the duties and fees its bond should cover on the entry date, so the open files and the missing proof are visible before CBP asks. Extension requests, export filings and petitions stay with your broker.