Low-value shipments after de minimis: how the two entry paths actually work now

The short answer: the $800 de minimis exemption is suspended in every mode, the flat 10% postal duty expired July 24, and a low-value shipment now needs a real entry, a filer with entry rights, and a bond. Express-carrier shipments run through informal Entry Type 11. Postal shipments run through a new monthly process: a 14-element spreadsheet and a Pay.gov payment, both due by the 7th of the month after arrival. Two dates are still ahead: September 22 (a new electronic filing test opens) and October 22 (agency-regulated mail gets forced into formal entry unless you’re in that test).

How we got here, in six dates

• July 4, 2025: Congress repeals commercial de minimis by statute, effective July 1, 2027 (with a new civil penalty of up to $5,000/$10,000 for abusing the privilege in the meantime).
• August 29, 2025: the executive-order suspension of de minimis begins.
• February 20, 2026: the Supreme Court holds IEEPA doesn’t authorize tariffs. The IEEPA duties end; the de minimis suspension survives, and postal duty gets re-pegged to the 10% Section 122 surcharge.
• June 24, 2026: CBP publishes two interim final rules suspending the exemption indefinitely: immediately for all non-postal modes, and for mail.
• July 24, 2026: the new postal informal entry process takes effect, and the Section 122 surcharge lapses at 12:01 a.m. the same day. Ordinary HTS rates now apply everywhere.
• August 13, 2026: the Court of International Trade upholds the suspension (Axle of Dearborn), holding IEEPA’s power to nullify a privilege reaches de minimis even though it can’t impose tariffs. No court action currently threatens the suspension, though that ruling isn’t final yet.

Path one: express carrier, air, ocean, truck

Entry Type 86 (the old low-value electronic path) is suspended, and release from manifest is gone. CBP’s own words: that “leaves Entry Type 11 as the main appropriate informal entry method for these shipments, although formal entry remains an option.” Practically, an entry is filed for each shipment, ordinary duty rates apply, and the merchandise processing fee applies too. This is the mode most e-commerce importers land in, and it’s why consolidating shipments into fewer, larger entries usually beats a stream of small ones now.

Path two: mail, and the monthly spreadsheet

For mail shipments worth $2,500 or less, classifiable only in HTS Chapters 1-97, the new process under 19 CFR 145.12(b) works like this:

• Who files: only an owner or purchaser of the goods, or a licensed customs broker they appoint. A foreign postal operator, USPS, a forwarder, or a carrier is a consignee only; CBP says it “must obtain the services of a licensed broker who will act as the importer of record.” (When a broker files in that role, it’s the broker’s own bond on the line, which is why brokers vet this work carefully.)
• What gets filed: an Excel spreadsheet emailed to CBP with 14 data elements per shipment: filer code, bond number, merchandise description, country of origin, all applicable 10-digit HTS numbers, quantity/weight (only if a specific duty rate applies), duty rate, value, total duty owed, carrier, flight/conveyance number, the foreign post’s tracking number, arrival port, and arrival date.
• When: spreadsheet and Pay.gov payment are both due by the 7th day of the month after arrival. CBP’s own example: a package arriving April 15 is due by May 7. The duty rate locks when the entry is transmitted.
• The bond: goods are not released from CBP custody without a single transaction or continuous bond on file meeting 19 CFR 113.62 conditions. CBP officers no longer prepare mail entries or collect duty at delivery; the whole burden moved to the filer.

Formal entry is required above $2,500 and for quota goods, AD/CVD goods, alcohol and tobacco, and (from October 22) agency-regulated and Chapter 98/99 mail. One old protection survives: separate shipments mailed at different times can’t be added together to force formal entry, unless the splitting was done to dodge duty.

The October 22 trap, and the September 22 escape hatch

Here’s the planning point that matters most. On October 22, 2026, mail shipments subject to another agency’s requirements (FDA-regulated goods, for example) or to Chapter 98/99 provisions must move to formal entry. But on September 22, 2026, CBP opens a voluntary test of a new electronic Entry Type 13 (informal mail entry) in ACE, and for test participants both of those formal-entry triggers are waived. No application is needed. The test uses a 12-element electronic transmission instead of the email spreadsheet, and a bond is still required. AD/CVD and quota goods stay formal-entry-only even in the test.

In other words: the escape hatch opens a month before the trap closes. Anyone regularly mailing agency-regulated low-value goods should be planning for Type 13 now, not discovering formal entry in late October.

What it costs, in government terms

Postal informal entries are exempt from the merchandise processing fee, but pay the dutiable mail fee ($7.61 per dutiable item starting October 1, 2026). Non-postal informal entries pay MPF (minimum $34.58 from October 1) plus the automated informal entry fee ($2.77) and, at express hubs, a per-waybill fee ($1.38). Until October 1, current-year fee levels apply. And in both modes the actual duty is now the ordinary HTS rate plus whatever 2026 tariff layers apply to the product and origin, which you can price with our tariff simulator.

What this means if you’re a seller

If your business was built on sub-$800 parcels clearing free, the era is over in every mode, and the July 2027 statutory repeal means it isn’t coming back. The decisions now are structural: consolidate into formal entries with a broker, or (for postal flows) set up the monthly process properly with a bond and a filer who actually has entry rights. We wrote a companion guide for e-commerce sellers, and the cost guide shows what the brokerage side costs.

Two honest caveats. The June rules are interim final rules; comments closed July 24 and the text can still change in a final rule. And everything above is current as of August 30, 2026, in a year when the details have moved monthly.

Sources

• 91 FR 37789 (non-postal suspension, eff. June 24, 2026)
• 91 FR 37801 (postal rule + new entry process, eff. July 24, 2026)
• 91 FR 38007 (Entry Type 13 test, commencing Sept. 22, 2026)
• Pub. L. 119-21, § 70531 (statutory repeal eff. July 1, 2027)
• Axle of Dearborn, Inc. v. Dep’t of Commerce, CIT Slip Op. 26-94 (Aug. 13, 2026)
• 91 FR 48398 (FY2027 user fees, eff. Oct. 1, 2026)