De Minimus Focus

Let us start our in-depth consideration of the de minimis regime with a quote published by Ms. Cindy Allen, CEO of Tradeforcemultiplier: “If the option to utilize de minimis was eliminated for goods, large marketplaces may structure the transactions differently for transportation, sale, and entry declaration to reduce costs. They would consolidate the merchandise on one entry per conveyance. They would establish a U.S. based entity, and a U.S. warehouse location, which some of the large online companies have already done. They would then structure the sale to be between the foreign online retailer as the seller, their own U.S. company as the buyer, and the goods would be delivered to the U.S. based warehouse. The sales to the individuals would be considered a domestic transaction as it takes place after the goods have arrived. The regulations state that the seller, buyer and consignee must be reported to U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP on the transaction. In this scenario the reporting parties would be the foreign marketplace seller, its U.S. company serving as the buyer, and its U.S. warehouse as the consignee recipient. This allows the seller or importer to report the shipment on one entry to CBP, instead of thousands of individual entries. It also reduces the brokerage costs associated with the customs entry.” This is the precise language that emerges from the very careful and thoughtful study provided to us by Cindy Allen.