CBP Starts Voiding Importer of Record Numbers on September 18: The Form 5106 Checklist, and What Happens to Cargo on the Water When Yours Is Voided

CBP Starts Voiding Importer of Record Numbers on September 18: The Form 5106 Checklist, and What Happens to Cargo on the Water When Yours Is Voided

Nine days from today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection acquires a switch it has never used at scale. Under a general notice published in the Federal Register on August 19, 2026 — "Accuracy of Importer of Record Data Submitted to CBP," 91 FR 53627, FR Doc. 2026-16911, Docket USCBP-2026-1024 — CBP will, beginning Friday, September 18, 2026, "immediately void" any importer of record (IOR) number whose CBP Form 5106 information it finds inaccurate or incomplete. A voided number is, in the notice's words, "invalid for any purpose, including entering imported merchandise into the United States."

There is no cure period in the notice. There is no proposed penalty schedule to negotiate, no comment window (it is a general notice, not a rule), and no phase-in by importer size. CBP says it is "comprehensively reviewing" the 5106 data on file for every IOR now, and that on September 18 it starts acting on what it finds.

For most importers this will be a non-event, because their 5106 was filed correctly and has stayed correct. The population at risk is specific and, in our experience, large: small and mid-size importers whose 5106 was set up years ago by a customs broker, with the broker's address, the broker's email, and a power of attorney that came through the freight forwarder. Every one of those is now a listed reason to void. This article walks through what the notice actually requires, how to check your own record this week, and — because the deadline falls in the middle of peak season — what physically happens to a container that lands at a U.S. port under a number that no longer works.

Where this comes from

The notice implements Section 2(e) of Executive Order 14411, "Strengthening Customs Enforcement," signed June 3, 2026 (91 FR 35125), which directs DHS to "confirm that active IORs are compliant with all applicable regulations and disclosures." It is the same order behind the supply-chain disclosure ANPRM published September 2 and, as the notice says, CBP is separately "taking steps to revise importer eligibility regulations, guidance, and policies." Read the IOR sweep as step one of a longer program: CBP wants a clean, verified identity behind every entry before it starts layering new disclosure requirements on top.

The legal hook is old. 19 U.S.C. 1484 makes the importer of record the party responsible for entry, and 19 CFR 24.5 requires an importer identification number — obtained by filing CBP Form 5106, Create/Update Importer Identity Form, through ABI or by email to the assigned Center of Excellence and Expertise — before anyone can make entry or receive a refund. What is new is the enforcement posture: CBP is treating the accuracy of the six mandatory fields on that form as a condition of the number's continued existence.

The field-by-field test CBP says it will apply

Form 5106 has six mandatory data elements: (1) importer name, (2) IRS EIN, Social Security Number, or CBP-assigned number, (3) mailing address, (4) physical location address if different, (5) phone number, and (6) email address. Optional fields cover business structure, beneficial ownership, and company officers. The notice singles out three of the mandatory fields and states, in terms that leave no room for interpretation, what does not count:

Physical address. Must be "the actual physical location of the business or individual." It cannot be a registered agent, a customs broker, a freight forwarder, a P.O. box, a business service center, "or an address of another person or entity." The one concession, in a footnote: for a business, the address "can be the principal's home address." A sole-proprietor importer running out of a house is fine. A Delaware LLC whose only U.S. address is its registered agent is not.

Email address. Must be "valid and belong to the IOR." Brokers and third parties "may not supply their own email address, or the email address of another person or entity, in place of the IOR's."

Phone number. Same rule. It must belong to the IOR; a broker or forwarder number is a listed defect.

The EIN or SSN must, of course, match the IRS record for the named entity. Beyond the data fields, the notice adds a fourth test aimed at brokers: any broker submitting a 5106 on an importer's behalf "must have a valid Power of Attorney executed directly with the IOR," citing 19 CFR 111.36(c)(3). A POA "executed via a freight forwarder or other third party" does not satisfy it. Brokers are reminded of their due-diligence obligation under 19 CFR 111.29(a) and the prohibition in 19 CFR 111.32 on transmitting information they "know or should know is false or misleading, including unverified information."

The exposure runs both ways. The importer faces a voided number and, the notice says, potential liability under 18 U.S.C. 1001 for false statements and under the False Claims Act, because IOR identity "is material to an obligation to pay money to CBP." The broker faces penalties under 19 U.S.C. 1641. That combination is why brokers have been sending 5106 questionnaires to every client since late August — they are cleaning their own files, not just yours.

Who is actually at risk

Run through this list and count the matches:

- Your 5106 was filed by a broker before roughly 2020 and you have never seen a copy of it. - The address CBP has for you is your broker's office, your forwarder's office, a Regus or UPS Store suite, or a registered agent. - You are a non-resident importer — a foreign company acting as IOR on its own U.S. entries — and the U.S. contact information on file belongs to your broker or your 3PL. - The email on file is a former employee's, a generic broker alias, or an address that no longer exists. - Your POA with your broker was arranged by your forwarder or NVOCC and you never signed a document that names the broker. - You changed legal name, merged, moved, or converted entity type and updated the IRS but not CBP.

One match is enough. The notice does not distinguish between an outdated field and a deliberately false one; both are "inaccurate or incomplete."

The non-resident importer case deserves its own sentence. A foreign IOR can lawfully hold a U.S. importer number, and its physical address can be its overseas address — that is not a defect. The defect appears when, somewhere along the way, a U.S. broker address was substituted to "make things easier." Those records are the ones we would expect CBP's review to flag first, because they are exactly the pattern the executive order describes: an importer of record that cannot actually be located or held accountable.

How to check and fix it before September 18

1. Pull what CBP has. If you have an ACE Secure Data Portal account, your importer profile shows the 5106 data on file. If you do not, your broker can retrieve it through ABI. Get the actual record, not your broker's assurance that "it's fine." The notice was published three weeks ago; if you have not seen a printout of your own 5106 by now, ask for it today.

2. Correct through the same channel. Updates go in via ABI (through your broker, under a direct POA) or by emailing a completed 5106 to your assigned Center. The form's instructions specify what corroborating documents accompany a change — typically IRS documentation for the EIN, and proof of address for a physical-location change. Build in processing time: a change submitted on September 17 is not necessarily on file on September 18.

3. Fix the POA at the same time. If your broker's authority came through a forwarder, execute a new POA directly between you and the broker now. It is a one-page document and it removes a listed void trigger.

4. Decide who owns the email. The address on file is where the void notice will be delivered (more on that below), so it needs to be a mailbox a decision-maker reads daily — not a shared "imports@" alias that routes to whoever is on shift, and not your broker.

5. Consider the ACE freeze. Once the record is clean, ACE offers an account-freeze option that prevents changes to 5106 data without additional verification. For an importer that has just spent a week getting its identity right, locking it is cheap insurance against the next unauthorized "helpful" edit by a third party.

6. Enroll in ACH while you are in there. Not a void trigger, but the same ACE session that fixes your 5106 can set up ACH refunds, and CBP's own IEEPA refund reporting shows 22,170 refunds worth $1.7 billion frozen for missing bank details. Two problems, one login.

Questions on the enforcement effort, and requests to reestablish a voided number, go to IORProgram@cbp.dhs.gov with the subject line "Enforcing IOR Accuracy." The named contact is Anita Rivera, Branch Chief, Revenue Enforcement Branch, Office of Trade, (771) 233-2939.

The notice goes to the email on file — which may be the problem

Section III of the notice describes the mechanics. When CBP voids a number, it "will issue a written notice of this action to an IOR to the email address the IOR most recently submitted to CBP," stating the basis for the void and how to request reestablishment, and will copy "the customs broker that last filed entry on behalf of the IOR."

Follow the logic through. The most common defect is a broker's email on file in place of the importer's. In that case, the void notice goes to the broker, and the copy goes to the broker. The importer learns its number is dead when the next entry rejects. If the email on file is simply dead — a departed employee, a domain that lapsed — the notice goes nowhere, and the broker copy is the only warning. If you have changed brokers since your last entry, the copy goes to the old one.

This is the strongest practical argument for fixing the email field first, ahead of everything else: it is the only channel through which you will be told your number was voided, and the notice is the only place CBP will tell you what to submit to get it back.

What happens to a container that lands under a voided number

Here is the part of the notice that trade lawyers have been quiet about and operations people need to understand. The notice does not say entries already on file are affected; the plain reading is that a voided number cannot be used to file *new* entries. So the scenario is a container — or ten — booked in late August, sailing now, arriving at a U.S. port in the last week of September under an IOR number that CBP voids on September 18 or shortly after.

The 15-day clock starts at landing. Under 19 CFR 141.5, merchandise must be entered within 15 calendar days of arrival (or of arrival at the destination port for in-bond cargo). No valid IOR means no entry — not a consumption entry, not a type 21 warehouse entry, nothing. On day 16, under 19 CFR part 127, the cargo goes to General Order: the carrier moves it to a bonded GO warehouse at the importer's expense, where it accrues storage until it is entered, exported, or, after six months, sold at auction. Terminal demurrage runs the whole time it sits on the pier waiting.

Reestablishment is not instant. The notice says the void notice will explain "what information must be submitted to CBP to corroborate the identity of the requesting IOR." That is a document exchange with a headquarters branch, handled by email, during the first weeks of a new enforcement program. Plan on it taking longer than 15 days, not shorter.

A different importer of record can make entry. Under 19 U.S.C. 1484(a)(2)(B), entry can be made by the owner or purchaser of the goods, or by a licensed broker acting as consignee under its own bond. A related U.S. entity with its own clean IOR number, the supplier's U.S. affiliate under DDP terms, or — for goods that have not yet been sold — the seller retaining title can each file. This is the fastest way to move cargo whose original IOR is dead, and it needs to be arranged *before* arrival: the substitute IOR needs a continuous bond (or a single-transaction bond, priced on the Customs Bond Calculator), a POA with the broker, and a commercial paper trail that supports its status as owner or purchaser.

If none of that is in place, choose where the cargo waits. Cargo that tips into General Order does not have to stay there: it can be entered from the GO warehouse once a valid IOR exists, exported, or transferred in bond. The difference between a good outcome and an expensive one is whether the importer knows which GO warehouse serves its port, what it charges per pallet, and who calls the carrier before the container is trucked to a facility chosen for the carrier's convenience rather than the importer's. At Charleston, the same bonded facilities that handle GO cargo handle type 21 warehouse entries — so once the number is reestablished, the goods can move directly into bond, deferring duty until they are needed, rather than being consumption-entered in a rush to stop the storage meter.

The honest summary: a voided IOR with cargo on the water is an expensive problem that becomes manageable only with a plan made in advance. Nine days is enough time to make one.

For brokers, forwarders, and 3PLs reading this

The notice reaches you directly. If you filed 5106s with your own address, email, or phone "to keep it simple," every one of those records is a client whose number can be voided and a broker penalty exposure under 1641. If your POAs came through forwarders, they do not satisfy 111.36(c)(3). And if you are the party CBP copies on a void notice, you are the one the client will call at 4 p.m. on a Friday with a container on the pier.

The forwarders and 3PLs whose address sits on a client's 5106 as its "physical location" are in a stranger position: you did nothing wrong under the rules as they were, and you are now the listed reason a client's number can be voided. Tell them. A short note to every client whose record you know carries your address is worth more than any other outreach this month.

The calendar around September 18

This deadline does not arrive alone. Canada's counter-tariffs took effect September 8. ACE begins hard-rejecting copper entries without smelt-and-cast data on September 14. The Court of International Trade hears the AD/CVD refund motion September 15. The pharmaceutical tariff stage lands September 29. The full list is in the September import deadline calendar. Of all of them, the IOR sweep is the only one that can stop an importer's entire book of business rather than a tariff line — which is why it belongs at the top of this week's list even though it costs nothing to comply with.

FAQ

What exactly starts on September 18, 2026? Under CBP's August 19 Federal Register notice (91 FR 53627), CBP begins immediately voiding importer of record numbers when it determines the CBP Form 5106 information on file is inaccurate or incomplete. A voided number cannot be used for any purpose, including making entry.

Which Form 5106 fields will CBP check? All mandatory fields, but the notice specifically calls out the physical address (must be the IOR's actual location — not a broker, forwarder, registered agent, P.O. box, or business service center), the email address, and the phone number (both must belong to the IOR). It also requires that any broker filing on the IOR's behalf hold a POA executed directly with the IOR, not through a forwarder.

Is there a grace period or warning before a number is voided? No. The notice describes immediate voiding once CBP determines the information is inaccurate, followed by a written notice to the email address on file explaining the basis and how to request reestablishment.

How do I check what CBP has on file for my company? Through your ACE Secure Data Portal importer profile, or by asking your customs broker to retrieve the record through ABI. Corrections are submitted on an updated Form 5106 via ABI or by email to your assigned Center of Excellence and Expertise.

What happens to cargo that arrives after my IOR number is voided? No entry of any type can be filed under a voided number. The 15-day entry window under 19 CFR 141.5 still runs from arrival, after which the cargo goes to General Order and accrues storage. Options are to reestablish the number quickly, have another qualified party (owner, purchaser, or a broker as consignee) make entry under its own IOR and bond, or manage the cargo in a bonded or GO warehouse until the number is restored.

Can a foreign company still be an importer of record? Yes. A non-resident importer can hold an IOR number and list its actual overseas address as the physical location. The defect is substituting a U.S. broker or forwarder address for the importer's own.

Where do I send questions or a reestablishment request? IORProgram@cbp.dhs.gov, subject line "Enforcing IOR Accuracy." The named CBP contact is Anita Rivera, Revenue Enforcement Branch, Office of Trade, (771) 233-2939.

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