Importing into the United States - Indo-American Chamber Of ...

charges, and commissions be truthfully and
accurately set forth. It is also important that the
invoices set forth the true name of the actual
seller and purchaser of the goods, in the case of
purchased goods, or the true name of the actual
consignor and consignee when the goods are
shipped otherwise than in pursuance of a purchase.
It is important, too, that the invoice otherwise
reflect the real nature of the transaction
pursuant to which the goods were shipped to
the United States.
The fundamental rule is that both the
shipper and importer must furnish Customs
officers with all pertinent information with
respect to each import transaction to assist Customs
officers in determining the tariff status of
the goods. Examples of omissions and inaccuracies
to be avoided are:
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The shipper assumes that a commission,
royalty, or other charge against the goods
is a so-called “nondutiable” item and
omits it from the invoice.
A foreign shipper who purchases goods
and sells them to a United States importer
at a delivered price shows on the invoice
the cost of the goods to him instead of the
delivered price.
A foreign shipper manufactures goods
partly with the use of materials supplied
by the United States importer, but invoices
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the goods at the actual cost to the manufacturer
without including the value of the
materials supplied by the importer.
The foreign manufacturer ships replacement
goods to his customer in the United
States and invoices the goods at the net
price without showing the full price less
the allowance for defective goods previously
shipped and returned.
A foreign shipper who sells goods at list
price, less a discount, invoices them at the
net price, and fails to show the discount.
A foreign shipper sells goods at a delivered
price but invoices them at a price
f.o.b. the place of shipment and omits the
subsequent charges.
A foreign shipper indicates in the invoice
that the importer is the purchaser, whereas
he is in fact either an agent who is
receiving a commission for selling the
goods or a party who will receive part of
the proceeds of the sale of the goods sold
for the joint account of the shipper and
consignee.
Invoice descriptions are vague, listing only
parts of numbers, truncated or coded
descriptions, or lumping various articles
together as one when several distinct
items are included.
IMPORTING INTO THE UNITED STATES
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