01What is duty drawback?
Duty drawback is a refund of the duties, taxes and certain fees you paid on imported goods, granted when those goods, or interchangeable substitutes, are later exported or destroyed.
The logic is simple. Import duties exist to protect the domestic market. Goods that leave the country, or are destroyed, never compete here, so they shouldn’t carry that cost. The idea is as old as U.S. customs law: it was written into the very first Tariff Act, in 1789.
Today drawback is governed by 19 U.S.C. § 1313 and the regulations at 19 CFR Part 190, which were rewritten after the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA). The older Part 191 now applies only to legacy claims.
02A worked example
Say you import $1,000,000 of goods in a year and pay $80,000 in duty. Later, a third of those goods are exported.
That is one year. Because claims reach back five years, a business with the same pattern every year would have roughly five times that sitting in its past entries, around $132,000, less whatever has already aged out of the window. For companies that export regularly, it adds up fast.
03The three main types of drawback
Almost every claim falls into one of three buckets.
Manufacturing drawback
You import materials, make a different product with them, and export that product. You recover the duty paid on the imported inputs.
19 U.S.C. § 1313(a) · § 1313(b)Unused merchandise drawback
You import goods and export or destroy them without using them in the U.S. Common for returns, overstock and distribution hubs that re-export.
19 U.S.C. § 1313(j)Rejected merchandise drawback
Goods arrive defective, not to specification, or shipped without your consent, and you export or destroy them.
19 U.S.C. § 1313(c)04Substitution: you don’t need the exact same item
This is the feature that makes drawback practical for most businesses. Under TFTEA you can often claim against a commercially interchangeable good instead of the exact item you imported, as long as the two share the same 8-digit HTS code. That means you don’t have to trace every serial number from import to export.
05Who qualifies?
If any of these describe your business, drawback deserves a serious look.
- You import, and you also export, directly or through customers and distributors abroad.
- You manufacture with imported inputs and ship finished goods overseas.
- You destroy unsold, expired or defective imported stock under CBP supervision.
- You run a distribution or e-commerce operation that re-exports part of what it imports.
You don’t even have to be the company that exported. Drawback rights can be passed along the supply chain: an importer can claim on goods a customer later exported, with the right paperwork showing the transfer.
06The rules that trip people up
The five-year clock
A claim must be filed within five years of the date of import. Miss it and the duty is gone for good. It is the most expensive mistake in drawback, because companies often discover the program a year too late.
It’s electronic now
Claims are filed in CBP’s ACE system as a type-47 entry. The old paper CBP Form 7551 is legacy.
Privileges speed up the cash
Accelerated Payment pays the refund before CBP finishes reviewing the claim. Waiver of Prior Notice lets you export or destroy without notifying CBP each time. Both need an application, and Accelerated Payment needs a bond.
Records matter
You must be able to link the import to the export: entry summaries, proof of export and, for manufacturing claims, bills of materials. Keep them for three years after the claim is paid.
Not every duty comes back
Eligibility depends on the duty, and 2026 has changed several of the rules. It is exactly the kind of detail worth checking line by line.
| Duty or fee | Drawback | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary customs duties | Yes | The core of most claims. |
| Merchandise Processing Fee, Harbor Maintenance Tax | Yes | Both are listed as drawback-eligible in 19 CFR 190.3. |
| Section 301 duties | Yes | Includes the China tariffs and the forced-labor duties on 60 economies in effect since July 24, 2026. |
| Section 122 surcharge | Yes | The 10% surcharge collected from Feb 24 to Jul 24, 2026. CBP has said standard drawback rules apply. |
| Section 232 duties | Varies by program | Pharmaceuticals and lumber: yes. Steel, aluminum, copper, auto parts and truck parts: manufacturing drawback only, with conditions. Automobiles and semiconductors: no. See Section 232 drawback, program by program. |
| IEEPA duties | Refund instead | The Supreme Court struck these down in February 2026 and CBP stopped collecting them. Duties already paid are being refunded through CBP’s CAPE process. See CAPE vs. drawback. |
| Antidumping and countervailing duties | No | Excluded by statute. |
Status as of September 28, 2026. Tariff actions change often; confirm the current rule for each duty before you file.
07Why most importers leave it on the table
Drawback is one of the few places where the government will write you a check, yet many eligible mid-market importers never claim it. Three reasons come up again and again.
The data is scattered
Proving drawback means joining import entries to export records across different systems, often years apart.
The matching is fiddly
8-digit substitution, the lesser-of calculation and per-duty eligibility are all easy to get wrong.
It feels like a project
Companies assume they need a specialist engagement before they even know whether there is money there.
So the duty sits unclaimed until the five-year window quietly closes.
08How Aduara helps
Aduara is built to make drawback visible by default. Because the platform already holds classified data for every entry it clears, it can do most of the work before anyone starts a project.
Find eligible entries
Scans your cleared entries and flags the ones with drawback potential.
Match imports to exports
Links lines at the 8-digit HTS level, including substitution, and applies 99% × lesser-of.
Watch the clock
Tracks every eligible entry against its import date and surfaces it well before it expires.
Prepare the claim
Assembles a type-47 drawback entry for a licensed broker to review and file.
09Frequently asked questions
How far back can I claim duty drawback?
Up to five years from the date of import, under TFTEA’s uniform rule. Entries older than five years are no longer claimable.
How much can I get back?
Up to 99% of the duties, taxes, and eligible fees paid on the imported merchandise. CBP retains 1%.
Do I have to be the company that exported the goods?
Not necessarily. Drawback rights can be assigned, and substitution rules let you claim against commercially interchangeable goods classified under the same 8-digit HTS code.
What records do I need?
Enough to trace the import to the export or destruction — entry summaries, proof of export, and (for manufacturing drawback) bills of materials. Retain the records for three years after the claim is paid.
Is drawback worth it for a mid-size importer?
Often, yes. If you export or destroy even a modest share of what you import, five years of accumulated duty can be substantial — and electronic filing in ACE has lowered the effort considerably.
See what you could recover.
Tell us what you import and export. We’ll look for drawback, and overpaid duty, in your own entries.
Or see how Aduara handles duty drawback.
This article is general information, not legal or customs advice. Drawback eligibility depends on your specific facts; confirm program details with a licensed customs broker or CBP. Sources: 19 U.S.C. § 1313; 19 U.S.C. § 1508(c)(3); 19 CFR Part 190, including § 190.3; Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (U.S. Feb. 20, 2026); Section 232 proclamation of April 2, 2026; USTR Section 301 forced-labor action effective July 24, 2026; CBP guidance on the Section 122 surcharge and CAPE.