On August 11, 2010 H.R. 4380, the U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act (a.k.a. the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill or “MTB”) was formally signed into law by President Obama, thereby setting in motion the possibility for importers of the various products described in the bill to claim a refund for duties paid since January 1, 2010.

The new bill was, for the most part, an extension of pre-existing MTB provisions that had expired on December 31, 2009. Therefore, if you lost your duty-free status on December 31, 2009 and want to obtain a refund for duties paid since that time, you can file for a refund even if an entry has been liquidated for more than 180 days.

Time is of the essence however, as claims need to be filed within 180 days from the date of enactment of the legislation.

Act now to take advantage of this duty recovery opportunity!

The MTB suspends tariffs for materials and chemicals that are deemed essential for U.S. manufacturing processes but are not made or otherwise available in the United States. 

Normally, the MTB is regarded as “non-controversial” but passage of the bill was complicated this year by political disputes over the nature of so-called earmarks attached to the legislation.  This resulted in the bill being allowed to expire along with the normal suspension of tariffs which it authorized, thereby making many specialized goods subject to duty that would have otherwise been imported on a duty-free basis. 

Now that the MTB has been enacted, any such duties paid during the period of time when the previous MTB had expired can be fully recovered. 
 

Goods eligible for refund are those commodities specifically described in the MTB as detailed here and all claims for refund of duties paid need to be filed prior to February 7, 2011.
  

Our team of recovery experts can rapidly identify any MTB duty refund opportunities and move quickly to expedite the processing of all potential claims on your behalf.  For assistance in this regard, contact us at 701-825-6474 or by email.