US Customs User Fees Explained: MPF, HMF, COBRA & APHIS Rates for 2026

## US Customs User Fees Explained: MPF, HMF, COBRA & APHIS Rates for 2026

Every formal entry filed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2026 carries a base layer of statutory user fees that have nothing to do with Section 122, Section 301, Section 232, or any other trade-remedy duty. They are charged on the merchandise itself, on the vessel that carries it, and on the inspection services that move it through the port. For most importers they are unglamorous line items at the bottom of the entry summary, but in aggregate they materially affect landed cost — and the FY2026 inflation adjustments raised several of them by more than 4 percent on October 1, 2025.

This guide covers every customs user fee that hits a normal commercial import entry in 2026: the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF), the Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF), the COBRA-based inspection fees on vessels and trucks, and the APHIS user fee on agricultural cargo. For each fee it shows the current rate, the basis on which it applies, the legal citation, and where it lands on the entry summary. At the end you will find worked examples for ocean LCL, ocean FCL, air freight, and truck imports — so you can see exactly how the fee stack builds before duties.

For importers running a full landed cost build-up, this guide pairs with the Landed Cost Calculator and the Duty & Tariff Calculator. Together they give you the complete picture: product duty stack on top, statutory user fees on the bottom, and freight in the middle.

The Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) — The Single Largest User Fee

The Merchandise Processing Fee is the user fee that funds CBP's commercial entry processing operations. It applies to virtually every formal entry of merchandise filed at any port — sea, air, or land — and is the single line item that most importers focus on when they audit their fee exposure.

MPF rate (FY2026, effective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026):

- Ad valorem rate: 0.3464% of the entered value of the merchandise - Minimum fee: $33.58 per entry - Maximum fee: $651.50 per entry - Manual entry surcharge: $4.03 per entry (for paper or non-ABI filings)

The 0.3464% rate has been frozen by statute since 2011. What changes annually is the minimum and maximum cap, which is adjusted for inflation under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act). FY2026 raised the minimum from $32.71 to $33.58 (a 2.66% bump) and the maximum from $634.62 to $651.50 (the same percentage). The figures published in the Federal Register at 90 FR 35257 (CBP Dec. 25-10) are the legal authority.

How the MPF actually calculates. The fee is the entered value multiplied by 0.3464%, subject to the minimum and maximum. So:

- A $5,000 entry: 0.3464% × $5,000 = $17.32 → bumped up to the minimum of $33.58 - A $50,000 entry: 0.3464% × $50,000 = $173.20 → charged as calculated - A $250,000 entry: 0.3464% × $250,000 = $866.00 → capped at the maximum of $651.50 - A $5,000,000 entry: capped at $651.50

The economic implication for importers is that consolidating shipments into fewer, larger entries reduces the relative MPF burden once entries pass the cap threshold of approximately $188,063 in entered value. Below that threshold, splitting an entry has no MPF benefit and may add other costs.

Informal entries (under $2,500 in value, post de-minimis era). With the de minimis exemption suspended effective February 24, 2026, every parcel now requires a formal or informal entry. Informal MPF rates are tiered:

- $2.69 for express consignment carrier facility entries - $8.06 for informal entries filed manually - $12.09 for informal entries filed manually with a paper packet

For e-commerce importers running thousands of parcels, the informal MPF stack is now one of the largest components of post-de-minimis landed cost — and the reason most are consolidating to formal Type 11 entries.

Preferential trade program exemptions. Some free trade agreements waive MPF entirely. Goods qualifying under USMCA, the U.S.-Korea FTA (KORUS), the U.S.-Singapore FTA, the U.S.-Australia FTA, the U.S.-Chile FTA, the U.S.-Israel FTA, the U.S.-Bahrain FTA, and several others are MPF-exempt when properly claimed on the entry. The exemption is not automatic — the importer or broker must claim the preference using the appropriate Special Program Indicator (SPI) on the entry summary. A surprising number of USMCA-eligible entries from Canada and Mexico are filed without the SPI and pay MPF unnecessarily; the recovery path is a post-summary correction within 270 days of entry summary.

The legal citations are 19 U.S.C. § 58c and 19 CFR § 24.23.

The Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) — Ocean Cargo Only

The Harbor Maintenance Fee funds the Army Corps of Engineers' maintenance dredging and harbor projects at U.S. ports. Unlike MPF, HMF applies only to cargo that arrives by ocean vessel — air freight, truck, and rail are exempt.

HMF rate: 0.125% of the cargo value, with no minimum and no maximum.

This rate has been fixed by statute since 1987 and is not subject to inflation adjustment. A $50,000 ocean container pays $62.50 in HMF. A $5,000,000 ocean shipment pays $6,250 in HMF — meaningfully more than the capped MPF on the same entry.

Who pays HMF. The fee is the responsibility of the importer of record on imports, the exporter on exports, and the operator of the vessel for passengers. It is calculated on the CBP-appraised value at the port of unlading.

HMF exemptions. A handful of ocean cargo categories are HMF-exempt: cargo destined for foreign trade zones (FTZs) before entry into US commerce, cargo loaded at one US port and unloaded at another US port (domestic coastwise trade is separately covered by Jones Act rules), bunker fuel, military cargo, and intra-port traffic. Most importantly for FTZ users — cargo admitted into an FTZ pays no HMF until withdrawn for consumption, which is one of the structural cost advantages of foreign trade zones over bonded warehouses.

HMF and the duty stack. HMF is calculated on entered value, not on duty-paid value. So while Section 122 and Section 232 duties are calculated on top of HMF in the entry-summary sequence, HMF itself does not multiply the duty calculation. The importer pays HMF and the various duty rates as parallel line items, all of them grounded in the same entered value.

The legal citations are 26 U.S.C. § 4461 and 19 CFR § 24.24.

COBRA User Fees — Inspections at the Port of Arrival

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) created a layer of inspection user fees on commercial conveyances and passenger arrivals. For commercial import operations, the relevant COBRA fees are charged on the carrier rather than the cargo, but they are passed through to the importer or broker on the freight invoice.

COBRA rates (FY2026, effective October 1, 2025):

- Commercial vessel arrival fee: $597.74 per arrival, capped at $8,143.86 per calendar year per vessel - Commercial truck arrival fee: $7.21 per arrival, capped at $115.49 per calendar year per truck (the annual prepay option) - Commercial rail car arrival fee: $11.55 per car - Commercial aircraft arrival fee: $469.07 per arrival - Air passenger fee: $7.20 per passenger - Commercial passenger fee (vessel): $2.40 per passenger

These figures come from CBP Dec. 25-10 (90 FR 35257) and represent the FY2026 inflation-adjusted rates. The most material commercial-cargo fees are the vessel arrival fee and the truck fee. The vessel arrival fee is typically allocated by the steamship line across the BLs on a per-vessel basis and shows up as a small line item on the freight invoice ("Customs User Fee" or "USCBP COBRA"). The truck fee is generally absorbed into the carrier rate or charged as a flat per-crossing fee on land border imports from Canada and Mexico.

The annual prepay option for trucks. Trucking carriers crossing the border more than 16 times per year save money by prepaying the $115.49 annual fee instead of paying $7.21 per crossing. Most LTL carriers running cross-border lanes already prepay; small fleet operators and one-off cross-border moves typically pay per arrival.

The legal citation is 19 U.S.C. § 58c.

APHIS User Fees — Agricultural Inspection on Cargo

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the USDA charges user fees on cargo subject to agricultural inspection — principally cargo that originates in or transits through countries with elevated pest risk. For most general-merchandise importers, APHIS fees apply only to the carrier (the vessel or aircraft), not to the cargo itself, but for agricultural and food importers the fees can be material.

APHIS commercial vessel fee (FY2026): $2,403.00 per arrival APHIS commercial truck fee (FY2026): $7.55 per arrival, with a $321.32 annual prepay option APHIS commercial aircraft fee: $237.55 per arrival APHIS commercial rail car fee: $2.00 per car

These are charged at the time the conveyance arrives in the U.S. and are typically passed through by the carrier on the freight invoice.

For specific agricultural commodities — fresh fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, plant material, certain wood products — additional commodity-level inspection and treatment fees apply, often charged by the inspection service provider rather than as a line item on the entry summary. These are addressed separately and outside the scope of this guide.

How the Fee Stack Lands on the Entry Summary

Reading from top to bottom on a typical CBP Form 7501 entry summary:

1. Entered value (commercial invoice value, plus assists, packing, etc., per 19 USC 1401a) 2. Duties (Column 1 base rate, Section 301, Section 232, Section 122, AD/CVD, all stacked per HTS line) 3. MPF (0.3464% of entered value, subject to min/max) 4. HMF (0.125% of entered value, ocean only) 5. Other fees (bond fees, exam fees, sugar fees, beef fees if applicable) 6. Total amount due

The importer-of-record's ACH account is debited for the total. On a typical formal ocean entry, MPF and HMF together add roughly 0.47% to entered value — a layer that is dwarfed by the current trade-remedy duty stack but that runs every entry, every shipment, with no exemption short of an FTA preference claim or FTZ admission.

Worked Examples — Four Common Import Scenarios

Example 1: Ocean FCL from China, $80,000 entered value

- MPF: 0.3464% × $80,000 = $277.12 (under cap, charged as calculated) - HMF: 0.125% × $80,000 = $100.00 - Vessel COBRA (allocated): approximately $25 to $50 per BL, depending on how the line allocates across BLs - User fee subtotal: approximately $377 to $402, before duties

If the cargo is steel derivatives subject to Section 232 at 50% plus Section 122 at 15%, the duty stack on this entry is approximately $52,000. User fees are about 0.7% of duties — a rounding error in the trade-remedy era, but the floor that applies even after IEEPA refunds and Section 122 sunset.

Example 2: Ocean LCL from Vietnam, $12,000 entered value

- MPF: 0.3464% × $12,000 = $41.57 - HMF: 0.125% × $12,000 = $15.00 - Vessel COBRA (allocated): approximately $5 to $15 per BL - User fee subtotal: approximately $62 to $72, before duties

For LCL importers running multiple consolidations per month, the per-entry MPF minimum bites: even a $5,000 LCL entry pays the $33.58 MPF floor, which is a higher percentage of entered value than the capped fee on a six-figure FCL.

Example 3: Air freight from Germany, $40,000 entered value

- MPF: 0.3464% × $40,000 = $138.56 - HMF: $0.00 (air is exempt) - Aircraft COBRA (allocated): approximately $10 to $25 per AWB - User fee subtotal: approximately $148 to $164, before duties

The HMF exemption is the single largest reason that landed-cost calculations between air and ocean differ at the user-fee layer. On a $1,000,000 entry the HMF differential alone is $1,250.

Example 4: Truck from Mexico, $25,000 entered value, USMCA-qualifying

- MPF: $0.00 (USMCA exemption claimed with SPI "S") - HMF: $0.00 (truck import, ocean exempt) - Truck COBRA (annual prepay, prorated): de minimis per crossing - User fee subtotal: approximately $0 to $5, before duties

This is the structurally cheapest entry profile in U.S. customs: a USMCA-qualifying truck import. The SPI claim must be made correctly at filing — missing the SPI on a USMCA entry costs the importer the full $86.60 calculated MPF on a $25,000 entry, recoverable only via post-summary correction.

Fee Recovery and Compliance Checks

Three patterns recur in importer fee audits and are worth checking against your own filings:

MPF on FTA-eligible goods. USMCA-eligible imports from Canada and Mexico, KORUS imports from Korea, and goods qualifying under several other FTAs should pay zero MPF. If your entries from these countries show MPF on the entry summary, the SPI was likely missing or incorrectly entered. The post-summary correction window is 270 days from the entry summary date — after that, the MPF refund is generally lost.

HMF on FTZ withdrawals. Goods admitted to an FTZ that are subsequently withdrawn for consumption pay HMF only at withdrawal, on the cleared portion. If your FTZ broker is calculating HMF at admission rather than at withdrawal, you are paying HMF on goods that may ultimately be re-exported and never enter US commerce.

Manual entry surcharges. The $4.03 manual filing surcharge applies to non-ABI entries. Most brokers file electronically and never trigger this fee, but importers receiving CBP Form 7501s with the manual surcharge should ask the broker why an electronic filing was not used.

For a full landed cost audit including duty exposure under current Section 122 and Section 232 rates, the Landed Cost Calculator breaks down the complete stack on a per-shipment basis. The Duty & Tariff Calculator handles the duty side specifically, including the country-of-origin layering across Section 301, 232, and 122.

What Changes Between Now and FY2027

The next inflation adjustment to MPF, COBRA, and APHIS fees will take effect October 1, 2026 (the start of fiscal year 2027). CBP publishes the adjustments in the Federal Register in late July or early August each year. Based on current CPI trends, the FY2027 minimum MPF is likely to land between $34.40 and $34.80, and the maximum between $665 and $675.

HMF is fixed by statute at 0.125% and is not on a periodic adjustment schedule. Any change requires Congressional action — and given that HMF receipts run roughly $2 billion per year and fund Army Corps maintenance dredging at major ports, no rate change is being seriously contemplated.

The bigger policy variable through the rest of 2026 is the Section 122 sunset on July 24. When the 15% Section 122 surcharge expires (assuming Congress does not extend it), the user-fee layer becomes a more visible portion of total landed cost rather than rounding-error noise behind a 25%-50% duty stack. Importers running tight-margin commodities should already be modeling the post-July landed cost scenarios so that pricing decisions in Q3 reflect the actual user-fee floor rather than the current duty-heavy environment.

The Bottom Line

The user fee stack on a normal U.S. import entry in 2026 runs approximately:

- MPF: $33.58 to $651.50 per entry (capped on entries above ~$188,000) - HMF: 0.125% of entered value, ocean cargo only, no cap - COBRA: $0 to $50 per BL allocated through carriers - APHIS: small per-entry pass-through, larger for agricultural commodities

For most general-merchandise ocean importers, MPF and HMF together add 0.4% to 0.5% to entered value before any duties or trade-remedy tariffs. That floor is constant: it applies on USMCA-exempt entries (other than the MPF waiver), on FTZ withdrawals, on every Section 122 and Section 232 entry, and on every entry that falls outside any preferential trade program.

If your operation runs thousands of formal entries per year and you have not run a fee audit since the FY2026 inflation adjustments took effect on October 1, 2025, the $0.87 per-entry minimum increase and the $16.88 per-entry cap increase add up to real money over a year. A 5,000-entry-per-year importer with average entered values above the cap is paying approximately $84,000 more in MPF in FY2026 than in FY2025, and the FY2027 step-up is coming in five months.

The team at Cate Freight runs landed-cost audits as a fixed-fee engagement, including a full check of MPF claim eligibility under USMCA, KORUS, and other FTAs, plus FTZ withdrawal reconciliation for importers operating in zones. Use the homepage quote form to start a conversation.

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