The freight quote on an international order covers one line of the final bill. Since the United States suspended its $800 duty-free exemption, parcels valued at $800 or less can be charged duty at the border whatever the travel mode. [1] On top of shipping and handling, the delivery stage adds customs duty, processing fees, and the service's own charges for clearing the shipment. [2] A parcel that cleared free last year can now owe money before it reaches the door, so the quote alone no longer predicts what you pay.
The workable move is to total five components before paying for any cross-border order. Freight is the number you already have. Duty now applies unless the item falls under an exemption. [1] Whether a separate import tax exists depends on the destination, since US official guidance lists customs duty and processing fees on the importation while CBSA adds the GST or HST on Canadian mail imports. [2] [7] Entry-process charges ride with the clearance step. [5] The courier or broker adds its own clearance fee, a private charge you confirm directly with that company. [6] Return freight is the cost of sending the item back if it does not work out, an estimate only the reader's own return method can supply. Classify the item, ask the courier its fee, and the number at checkout starts looking like the number at the door.
What changed for parcels entering the US in 2026
One duty change is already in force, and two dates bracket the paperwork around it. CBP's e-commerce FAQ describes the suspension of the de minimis exemption as indefinite and states that it applies to merchandise valued at $800 or less arriving via all modes, including the international postal network, unless a separate authority excepts the goods. [1] The same FAQ places the new mail informal entry process on July 24, 2026. [1] DHL's own shipping guide, dated February 2, 2026, records the end point from the carrier side, noting that the United States historically applied one of the highest duty-free thresholds at USD 800 and that the exemption ended as of August 29, 2025. [3]
The second date sits ahead. On October 14, 2026, CBP announced that the compliance date for new informal entry procedures for international mail moved from October 22, 2026 to January 20, 2027. [4] From that January date, international postal shipments subject to Section 201, 232, or 301 duty, or within a partner government agency's jurisdiction, must be filed electronically in the Automated Commercial Environment through the Entry Type 13 process. [4] CBP states there are no changes to international mail entry procedures before January 20, 2027, and encourages filers to use the optional process during the transition. [4] For a shopper the practical reading is that duty applies now, and the paperwork around mail shipments tightens in January.
Whether your parcel owes duty now
Whether your own parcel owes duty comes down to value and sender. Two exemptions survived the change, per CBP, for bona fide gifts under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(A) and for personal or household articles accompanying travelers under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(B). [1] The gift definition has teeth. CBP excludes articles acquired by purchase, barter, or a similar transaction, and excludes articles said to be given in conjunction with a purchase, such as a so-called bonus article. [1] A free item bundled into a paid order is not a gift for customs purposes. Everything else at $800 or less plans for duty, with the rate still set by classification.
What the duty lands on matters as much as whether it lands. DHL's guide lists the factors that set the import taxes and duties owed, including the value of the goods including insurance and shipping fees, the goods description, the country or region of origin, the destination country's tariff rates, and the HS codes. [3] The assessed value can therefore include what you paid to move the box, which pushes the duty base above the sticker price. The rate itself follows from the item's classification and origin, and that number is settled by the item's own paperwork.
The fees that arrive after the quote
The charges the quote leaves out have names. CBP's guidance on internet purchases lists the charges that ride with a courier shipment, including shipping and handling, the fees charged by the service for clearing the merchandise through CBP, and any customs duty and processing fees owed on the importation. [2] The broker who clears the parcel works for the carrier service, and CBP states plainly that customs brokers are not CBP employees. [2] CBP's published fee table also lists assessments collected as part of the customs entry process, with amounts tied to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule number of the goods. [5]
The Canada Border Services Agency describes the same split from the receiver's side. Clearance fees charged by couriers and customs brokers are, in CBSA's words, separate and distinct from duties and taxes owed on imported goods, a private business-to-consumer transaction outside the agency's control. [6] CBSA advises importers to confirm the details of the services and fees directly with their courier or broker, and describes a self-accounting route where a CBSA office offers these services to the public, in which the importer refuses delivery, advises the courier, and presents the tracking number, the invoice, and identification, and may save on certain administrative fees. [6] The transferable habit is to ask the courier or broker for its clearance fee before ordering.
Adding the bill up before checkout
The following example is hypothetical. Assumptions, a US$45 declared value, a 1 kilogram parcel, an express courier service, a US delivery address, and a US$18 freight quote at checkout, a number that stands in for whatever the checkout shows. Which number comes from whom is the part to write out. The checkout supplies the US$18 freight, and none of the other four numbers. The border sets duty, which waits on the item's classification and origin, and entry-process charges, which the fee schedule keys to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule number. [5] A separate import tax, where the destination charges one, lands in the same delivery bill. [2] [7] The courier sets its own clearance fee, the amount to raise with the courier before payment. [6] Return freight, the fifth slot, opens only if the item goes back, and only the reader's return method can price it.
Canada publishes this arithmetic on its official pages, which makes it the clearest worked illustration of receiver-pays mechanics. Under the Postal Imports Remission Order, an item mailed to Canada worth CAN$20 or less carries no duty or tax, with exclusions for tobacco, books, periodicals, magazines, alcoholic beverages, and goods ordered through a Canadian post office box or a Canadian intermediary. [7] Gifts get their own line. A gift worth CAN$60 or less is free of duty and tax when a friend or relative sends it personally with a card or other notice indicating that it is a gift, and the exemption excludes tobacco, alcoholic beverages, advertising material, and items sent by a business. [7] The two exemptions cannot be combined. [7] Above CAN$60 the charges apply to the amount over CAN$60, so a CAN$200 gift from a relative takes duty, GST or HST, and any PST on CAN$140. [7] On dutiable mail the bill arrives as Form E14 attached to the item at delivery, and Canada Post adds a handling fee for processing goods subject to duty or tax, with no charge when the item is duty-free and tax exempt. [8] Courier imports have their own tiered exemptions at CAD 20, 40, or 150, conditions apply. [6] The currency is CAN$ end to end and the thresholds are Canadian law. The shape of the bill, threshold first, conditions on what qualifies, then charges on the excess, then a handling fee on top, is the part worth carrying across borders.
When a fee looks wrong
Problems have named paths once the parcel lands. If a package goes missing, a tracer should be initiated by the sender of the package, per CBP, so the first move is back to the seller. [2] When a charge looks wrong, the paperwork attached at delivery is the receipt to check. In Canadian mail imports the duty and tax owed are indicated on Form E14, which means the amount on that form can be compared against what the courier or postal operator actually collected. [8] Refunds and adjustments for casual goods in Canada run through the B2G CBSA Informal Adjustment Request form, mailed with supporting documentation to the appropriate Casual Refund Centre. [6] Two pre-purchase checks cut the odds of needing any of this. CBSA advises verifying the shipping and handling fees that may apply prior to completing your purchase when a courier will handle the customs details. [8] And a retailer's web address ending in .ca does not mean the goods are located within Canada, so the destination country's rules apply regardless of how local the storefront looks. [6]
The check to run before you pay
The routine now covers all five components. Price the freight from the quote, and read it as the transport line alone. Settle duty by classifying the item against the exemptions, gift and traveler rules included, remembering that assessed value can include insurance and shipping. Check whether the destination adds a separate import tax. Ask the courier or broker for its clearance fee in the destination currency before paying. Estimate the return freight from the return method you would actually use. Record-keeping sits outside the count and backs all of it, since the entry paperwork that arrives with the parcel is the receipt that grounds any dispute. The suspension moved the unknown part of an international order from the checkout page to the border, and the five-component check moves it back to where a decision can still be made.