Import tax stopped being a small-parcel footnote in 2026. The United States suspended its $800 duty-free de minimis exemption — first by executive order effective August 29, 2025, then indefinitely for mail shipments by a US Customs and Border Protection rule that took effect July 24, 2026, with a statute enacted in 2025 ending the exemption permanently from July 1, 2027 [1]. What you actually pay on a cross-border order is therefore not one published number. It comes from three things you can look up before you buy: the product's Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) classification, the CIF value of the shipment, and the entry route the parcel travels. No single flat rate covers a cross-border order — the three lookups together produce the amount.
What the charge is made of
"Import tax" is the umbrella term: it covers customs duties, policy tariffs, and consumption taxes like VAT or GST that many countries apply to imports [3]. The core component in the US is the HTS duty, which is product-specific. Per DHL's US guide, rates run from 0% to as high as 37.5%, with most everyday consumer goods falling between 2.5% and 6% [2] — the exact figure depends on the 10-digit HTS code your product lands under, not on the order's size.
The base matters as much as the rate. Duties are assessed on the CIF value — the goods' invoice cost, plus insurance, plus freight. DHL's worked setup shows how it stacks: three items at USD 300 each plus USD 50 in shipping and USD 10 in insurance enter duties at their combined USD 960 value, not the sticker price alone [2]. Origin is the third input, and it is not the ship-from country: duties follow where the goods were manufactured [2].
The rate is locked at filing, not at purchase: under 19 U.S.C. 1315(a)(1), the duty rate applied to a mail article is the one in effect when the preparation of the entry is completed — that is, when the entry is filed in proper form, including the timely submission of the required data [1]. Filing late can therefore change the rate you owe.
The 2026 timeline, dated
The suspension began with Executive Order 14324, which ended duty-free de minimis treatment for all countries effective August 29, 2025 (China's had already gone on May 2, 2025) [1]. On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court held in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose additional tariffs — but the decision did not touch the de minimis suspension [1]. The same day, Executive Order 14389 terminated the IEEPA-based duties, and Executive Order 14388 kept the de minimis suspension running, including for the postal network [1]. A 10% surcharge on certain imports under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 covered the 150 days until the new entry process took effect; it has since expired [1].
The permanent architecture arrived with CBP's interim final rule: effective July 24, 2026 (with the suspension announcement itself effective June 24, 2026), the $800 exemption is suspended indefinitely for merchandise arriving through the international postal network, and a compliance date of October 22, 2026 closed out the last transition provisions [1]. Separately, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — enacted July 4, 2025 — terminates the de minimis exemption effective July 1, 2027 [1].
Vendor pages lag that timeline. DHL's US guide, dated May 11, 2026, still describes IEEPA-era reciprocal tariffs as "currently in effect" [2] — a status the Federal Register record ends on February 20, 2026 [1]. When a shipping guide quotes a country-specific surcharge rate, check its date against the rule that actually governs.
What you pay now
To estimate an order, work the three inputs. Find the 10-digit HTS code — DHL points importers to the official schedule at hts.usitc.gov [2] — and read its rate. Build the CIF value from invoice, insurance, and freight. Then check the shipment against the entry rules.
The $2,500 line still matters. Mail merchandise valued at $2,500 or less can use the new postal informal entry process [1]. Goods subject to quota, antidumping or countervailing duties, duties under chapters 98 or 99, partner-government-agency data requirements, or FTA/Chapter 98 duty-free claims are ineligible and must clear by formal entry [1]. Entry type changes the paperwork and processing, so an order in a restricted category takes a different path than an equally cheap ordinary one.
Two exemptions survived the suspension untouched: bona fide gifts valued at $100 or less ($200 if from certain island possessions) sent from a person abroad to a person in the United States, and personal or household articles valued at $200 or less accompanying travelers [1]. DHL adds the US-side handling detail that gifts must be declared as unsolicited and shipped individual-to-individual [2]. Beyond those, DHL's guide lists a short residual set — samples or promotional items with no commercial value (clearly declared), US goods returned unaltered with documentation, and temporary imports under bond such as exhibition or repair goods returned within the approved timeframe [2]. Nearly everything else, commercial or personal at any value, requires formal or informal entry processing and is subject to HTS duty, plus excise tax on products like alcohol, tobacco, and fuel [2].
The scale behind this shift: CBP processed over 1.36 billion de minimis shipments in fiscal year 2024, almost ten times the 139 million of 2015 [1]. A single order now sits inside that processing system rather than outside it.
Who pays, and how the parcel moves
Under the old mail rules, a CBP officer generally prepared the entry form by hand for shipments valued at $2,500 or less, and the recipient paid duties at the local post office before taking possession [1]. The new process moves the work forward, and it applies to mail: shipments arriving by other modes fall under a separate CBP rulemaking, and formal-entry shipments have their own procedures, so the steps below describe the postal path [1].
The party making entry must be the owner or purchaser of the merchandise, or a licensed customs broker they designate [1]. That filer transmits fourteen data elements to CBP by email in an Excel spreadsheet — the merchandise description, its applicable 10-digit HTS classifications, value, total duty owed, the foreign post's tracking number, and the arrival date, among them [1] — and pays through Pay.gov, both by the 7th day of the month after arrival. A package that lands on April 15 comes due no later than May 7 [1].
The filer also needs a basic importation and entry bond — single-transaction or continuous, with the conditions in 19 CFR 113.62, executed by an approved surety or secured by cash deposit under 19 CFR 113.40; without it, the entry is not accepted and the goods stay in CBP custody [1]. Under this process, duties are settled through those filings — CBP states that duties will not be collected upon delivery of such shipments to addressees [1].
Canada, as the worked example
The same receiver-pays logic runs elsewhere with different numbers. All international mail into Canada is reviewed by the CBSA, which decides whether goods may enter and what duty or taxes apply [4]. Under the Postal Imports Remission Order, an item mailed to you worth CAN$20 or less carries no duty or tax; above CAN$20, you owe the applicable duty, GST or HST, and any PST on the item's full value [4] — tobacco, books, periodicals, magazines, alcoholic beverages, and goods ordered through a Canadian post office box or intermediary never get the CAN$20 break [4].
Gifts get their own line: a mailed gift worth CAN$60 or less from a friend or relative who sends it personally, with a card or notice, is exempt. Above CAN$60, tax applies to the excess — a CAN$200 gift is taxed on CAN$140 [4] — and the exemption excludes tobacco, alcohol, advertising material, and anything sent by a business [4]. Consumption tax runs at 5% GST unless exempt, 13% HST in participating provinces (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island), GST-plus-PST in British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Saskatchewan, GST-only in Alberta and the territories [5]. Since September 8, 2026, surtaxes also apply to certain US goods in response to US tariffs on Canadian products [4]. Where an assessment looks wrong — the CBSA's own example is immigrants' duty-free personal possessions taxed in error — you can dispute the duty and taxes assessed [4]. A dispute path exists; the outcome is the agency's to decide.
Before you order
Run the same checks every time. Confirm the country of origin — where the goods were manufactured, not where the seller ships from [2]. Look up the HTS code and its rate on the official schedule [2]. Add insurance and freight to the invoice to get the CIF base [2]. Check whether the order fits a surviving exemption or instead falls into a formal-entry category such as quota goods or antidumping and countervailing duty coverage [1]. Keep the invoice and shipping documents with the order as routine practice.
One date still ahead: July 1, 2027, when the statute enacted in 2025 terminates the de minimis exemption outright [1]. Between now and then, CBP has said any modification or revocation of the suspension will be announced in the Federal Register [1] — which makes that, and the HTS schedule, the two places your number actually lives.