Customs User Fees Change on October 1: New MPF Floor and Ceiling

The merchandise processing fee minimum goes to $34.58 and the cap to $670.86. The rate itself does not move — which is exactly why small entries feel this and large ones do not.

CBP adjusts its COBRA user fees for inflation every fiscal year. The fiscal-year 2027 figures were published on July 31, 2026 and apply to entries on or after October 1, 2026.

MPF: the rate is unchanged, the ends move

The merchandise processing fee on a formal entry stays at 0.3464% of entered value. What changes is the bracket around it:

• Minimum: $34.58 per entry
• Maximum: $670.86 per entry

Those two numbers are where the fee stops behaving like a percentage. Below roughly US$9,980 in entered value the floor takes over — on a $3,000 entry, $34.58 is an effective rate of about 1.15%, more than three times the headline. Above roughly US$193,700 the cap takes over and every additional dollar of value is free of MPF.

The practical consequence is the same as it has always been, just at slightly higher numbers: MPF is charged per entry, not per container. If you are bringing in several small shipments that could lawfully be covered by one entry, the floor is the reason to ask your broker whether they can be consolidated. If you are importing high-value goods, the cap is why a single larger entry can be cheaper than several smaller ones.

Informal entries and express shipments

Informal entries are charged a flat fee rather than a percentage: $2.77 when processed automatically and not prepared by CBP, $8.30 when prepared by CBP, and $12.45 for manual processing. Express consignment shipments are $1.38 per individual waybill or bill of lading.

The fees that follow your containers inland

The same notice adjusts the arrival fees, which matter if your freight moves across the northern border or inland by rail:

• Commercial truck arrival: $7.60 — but that is CBP's portion only. With the USDA APHIS agricultural inspection fee of $14.50, a single crossing is $22.10. Annual prepayment is $138.32 to CBP, or $1,008.92 once the APHIS transponder fee is included. After eighteen paid single crossings on one vehicle in a calendar year, the CBP portion drops off for the rest of that year.
• Railroad car arrival: $11.41, with a calendar-year prepayment cap of $138.32.
• Commercial vessel arrival: $604.47, capped at $8,237.06 per calendar year; barges and other bulk carriers $152.15, capped at $2,074.83.
• Customs broker permit: $190.88 — your broker's cost, not yours, but it is in the same notice.

This notice covers COBRA fees only. The harbor maintenance fee is a separate charge and is not part of this adjustment.

MPF and the arrival fees are declared and paid alongside duty, so they reach you through whoever files your entries rather than as a separate bill from us. If you want to know what the October figures do to a specific lane or a specific product, send us the values and the entry pattern and we will work it through with you. Contact us.