How to find your HTS code and duty rate before you place the order
Duty is the one landed-cost line you cannot estimate until the product is classified. How to read an HTS number, use the tariff, and when to ask for a ruling.
Short answer: Your duty rate hangs on an eight-digit line in the US tariff, and you can read it yourself on hts.usitc.gov before you commit to an order. Classify first and price second: inside the single heading for T-shirts the general rate runs from 2.6% to 32% depending on the fiber.
Your duty rate comes off an eight-digit line in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, and you can read it yourself before the order is placed. Find the four-digit heading that covers the goods, work down the indented subheadings until you reach the line that carries a rate, and put that rate into your landed cost. Then send your reasoning to your customs broker and have it confirmed, because the classification on the entry is yours: the importer of record has to use reasonable care in filing the declared value, classification and rate of duty (19 USC 1484).
Why it matters: duty is the only line in the 7-Line Landed Cost Formula you cannot estimate honestly until the product is classified. Inside the single tariff heading for T-shirts the general rate runs from 2.6% to 32%, so a guess at the wrong subheading can price a product you should have walked away from.
What the ten digits say
A US HTS number is ten digits and four separate decisions. The Harmonized System supplies the first six, administered by the World Customs Organization and updated every five years, and they read the same in every country that uses it. The last four are ours: for imports the US tariff is the HTS, published by the US International Trade Commission, while exports are reported on the Census Bureau's Schedule B.
| Digits | What it is | In 6109.10.00.12 | What it decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Chapter | 61 | The family the goods belong to |
| 1–4 | Heading | 6109 | T-shirts, singlets, tank tops and similar garments, knitted or crocheted |
| 1–6 | Subheading | 6109.10 | The international code. The same six digits in every Harmonized System country |
| 7–8 | US rate line | 6109.10.00 | Your duty rate |
| 9–10 | Statistical suffix | .12 | Reporting detail, here men's T-shirts. No rate of its own |
The rate hangs on the eight-digit line, so the last two digits change your paperwork and never your duty. And the six digits your supplier quotes are common ground rather than an answer, because the US subheading underneath them is a decision nobody has made yet.
The heading decides it, not the product name
Classification is not a hunt for the closest-sounding description. CBP applies the General Rules of Interpretation, and the first one covers most ordinary goods: "Classification of goods shall be determined according to the terms of the headings of the tariff schedule and any relative Section or Chapter Notes" (CBP ruling H301075). Where the goods cannot be classified on that basis alone, the remaining rules apply in their appropriate order.
Read the section and chapter notes before you settle on a heading. GRI 1 gives them the same weight as the heading text, so a note can decide a question the heading wording leaves open.
Beside the tariff sit the Explanatory Notes, the WCO's commentary on the scope of each heading. The same ruling describes them as the official interpretation of the Harmonized System at the international level, not legally binding, and useful in ascertaining the proper classification of merchandise. Your broker will have them. They are worth asking about when two headings both look defensible.
One heading, five duty rates
Heading 6109 covers T-shirts, singlets and tank tops, knitted or crocheted. Under it, the tariff splits by what the shirt is made of:
| Rate line | What it covers | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 6109.90.40 | Containing 70% or more by weight of silk | 2.6% |
| 6109.90.15 | Of wool, with long sleeves | 5.6% |
| 6109.90.80 | Other | 16% |
| 6109.10.00 | Of cotton | 16.5% |
| 6109.90.10 | Of man-made fibers | 32% |
Five rate lines under one heading, and a buyer would call every one of them a T-shirt. Duty is that rate applied to the customs value you declare, which under transaction value is the price actually paid or payable to the supplier plus the statutory additions, with international freight and insurance left out (19 USC 1401a).
Illustrative figures. On a $40,000 customs value, the cotton line costs $6,600 in duty and the polyester line costs $12,800. The $6,200 between them is decided by a fiber-content spec that nobody reads at quoting time, and it does not appear anywhere until the entry is filed. Rates move, so check the current edition before you rely on one: CBP's own rulings carry the warning that duty rates are subject to change (ruling N170259).
The special column, and what it costs to use
Most rate lines carry a second rate beside the general one, with a list of letters after it. On the cotton T-shirt line that special rate is Free, for a list that includes CO and P. Those letters are trade agreements, and for a South Florida importer they are the two worth knowing.
P is CAFTA-DR, between the United States and Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, phased in by country between March 2006 and January 2009. Its rules of origin sit in HTSUS General Note 29 and 19 CFR part 10 subpart J. CO is the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, in force since 15 May 2012, with its rules in General Note 34. CBP notes that most Colombian goods now enter the United States free of duty and free of the merchandise processing fee.
Neither rate arrives by itself. Both have to be claimed on the entry:
- A prefix on the entry summary is the claim itself: the letter
PorP+in front of the subheading for CAFTA-DR (19 CFR 10.583),COfor Colombia (19 CFR 10.3003). - A certification or your own knowledge has to stand behind the prefix. The certification can be prepared by the importer, the exporter or the producer; the knowledge route means reasonable reliance on information you actually hold.
- No official form, but the certification must be in writing or transmitted electronically, and it has to state the HTSUS classification to six or more digits and the applicable rule of origin from General Note 29 (19 CFR 10.584). The classification question comes back around: you cannot certify origin for a code you have not settled.
- A blanket period of up to 12 months, so one certification can carry repeat shipments of identical goods instead of one per container.
- Thirty calendar days to fix a bad claim, counted from the day you discover the information behind it was inaccurate, plus the duties then owed.
CBP has classified this exact situation. A women's knit T-shirt of man-made fibers from Guatemala went into 6109.90.1050 at 32% ad valorem, and qualified for DR-CAFTA treatment only on the assumption of compliance with General Note 29(m)(viii)(B)(1) (ruling N248770). The 32% is the price of getting the origin paperwork wrong on a shirt that was eligible all along.
When a binding ruling is worth the trouble
Before you ask, search CROSS, CBP's database of published rulings. Somebody has probably imported something close to your product, and the reasoning in their ruling tells you which facts CBP thought were decisive.
If nothing fits, ask for your own. A ruling letter is the official position of CBP on the transaction described in it and binds all CBP personnel until it is modified or revoked (19 CFR 177.9). Rulings can cover tariff classification or appraised value, the liquidation of an entry, or exclusion from entry.
| What to expect | The detail |
|---|---|
| What you file | A complete statement of all relevant facts, with photographs or drawings and, wherever possible, a sample |
| How many products | Up to five items of the same class or kind per request |
| How long | Generally 30 calendar days from receipt; 90 days if the request is referred to Headquarters |
| When | Classification rulings from a port or the National Commodity Specialist Division cover prospective transactions |
| One condition | You state that no issue on the commodity is pending before CBP or any court |
| At the border | Provide a copy of the ruling, or its control number, with the entry documents |
Those come from 19 CFR 177.2, CBP's eRuling requirements, and the closing paragraph CBP puts on every classification ruling.
Two limits matter. A ruling protects the transaction it describes, and applies only where the goods and the conditions are the same as the ones you set out, so a spec change can put you outside your own ruling. And CBP can modify or revoke a ruling without notice to anyone but the person it was addressed to, except in the cases that call for public notice and comment.
That makes a ruling worth it when the rate materially moves your price, when two headings are both arguable, or when you are committing to a product line you intend to import for years. For a one-off container of goods with an obvious heading and a low rate, it is paperwork.
In practice
Classify before you quote, not after the entry. The tariff is free and the search takes an afternoon; the same question asked after the container lands is answered by a broker under time pressure with the goods already bought.
Give your broker your reasoning, not a number. The heading you chose and the note that decided it. A broker who can see how you got there will tell you quickly whether they would file it, and that conversation is the confirmation your entry actually rests on. Any rate you find yourself is a planning figure until they agree with it, because only the customs officers where the goods clear make the final determination.
Then keep the classification with the container rather than in someone's head, alongside the spec sheet it came from. When the duty line lands at entry, you want to compare it against the rate you priced with and know immediately whether the gap is a rate change, a different product, or a classification that was wrong on every shipment this year. Software that allocates freight, duty and insurance into landed cost per product, the way Clasto does, will use whatever rate you hand it. The habit is the classification, and it belongs at the order, not at the port.
Step by step
How to find your HTS code and duty rate before you place an order
- Write down what the product is, not what it is called. Material or fiber content by weight, what it does, and how it is packed for sale. Classification turns on those facts, and a product name is not one of them.
- Find the four-digit heading first. Search the tariff for the goods, then read the heading text and the section and chapter notes above it before you accept the match.
- Work down to the line that carries a rate. Follow the indented subheadings until you reach the eight-digit line with a duty rate against it. That is the number your duty comes from.
- Read the general rate, then the special column. Budget the general rate. Treat anything in the special column as available only if the goods originate in a party country and you claim it on the entry.
- Send your reasoning to your customs broker. Give them the facts and the heading you landed on, not just a ten-digit number, and ask what they would file and why.
- Ask CBP for a binding ruling when the rate moves your price. File through eRulings with a full statement of the facts and a sample. Port and NCSD classification rulings cover prospective transactions, so ask before the goods ship.
Frequently asked
How many digits does a US HTS number have, and which ones matter?
Ten. The first six are the international Harmonized System subheading, shared with your supplier's country. Digits seven and eight make the US rate line, which is where the duty rate sits. The last two are a statistical suffix that carries no rate of its own.
Can I just use the HTS code my supplier put on the invoice?
Use the first six digits and check the rest yourself. Those six are common ground between the two tariffs; everything after them is a US decision, and the entry is filed in your name, not the supplier's.
Who is responsible for the classification, me or my customs broker?
You are. The importer of record has to use reasonable care in filing the classification and rate of duty, and the broker files what you give them. Their reading is worth paying for, but it does not move the obligation.
Does a free trade agreement rate apply automatically if my supplier is in the region?
No. The goods have to meet the agreement's rules of origin and you have to claim the rate on the entry summary, with a prefix in front of the subheading and a certification or your own documented knowledge behind it.
How long does a binding ruling from CBP take?
The National Commodity Specialist Division generally issues rulings within 30 calendar days of receipt, and requests referred to Headquarters go out within 90 days. One request can cover up to five items of the same class or kind.