On October 16, 2018, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued CSMS 18-000609 Procedures & Requirements: Implementing Craft Beverage Modernization & Tax Reform of 2017 (CBMA), which revises, effective immediately, previous CBP guidance on the CBMA. CSMS 18-000609 addresses the foreign assignment aspect of CBMA for 2018 entries. CBP will issue further communication for 2019 entries at a later date.
CBP will also issue at a later date separate procedures and requirements addressing the CBMA’s temporary changes to the tax classification of certain wines, including wines containing more than 14% but not more than 16% alcohol by volume.
Effective immediately, CBP advises importers claiming a reduced tax rate or tax rate incorporating applicable tax credits as permitted by the CBMA (hereinafter “CBMA rate”) to do so at the time of entry summary. In addition, going forward, importers will use the CBMA flag to identify entry lines for which the CBMA rate is claimed and declare the lower tax rate (as opposed to the excise tax rate required prior to the enactment of the CBMA). Importers should ONLY use the CBMA flag when claiming the CBMA rate, whether at the time of entry summary filing or the filing of a PSC.
For entries filed since January 1, 2018 that have not liquidated and for which the importer wants to make a CBMA claim, effective immediately:
A) If not flagged, importers should file a PSC with the CBMA flag and the CBMA rate.
B) If flagged but the CBMA rate has not been claimed, importers should file another PSC with the CBMA rate and the CBMA flag.
For those importers that have liquidated entries for which they would like to claim the CBMA rate, the importer may file a protest. Importers filing protests claiming the CBMA rate should identify “CBMA” in the protest issue dropdown.
For any entries filed since January 1, 2018, for which the low excise tax rate was claimed, importers must complete the CBMA claim by flagging the entry immediately via PSC, and submitting the substantiating documents, as defined below, prior to CBP review and liquidation. PSC is the mechanism for submitting CBMA claims in this situation if within the PSC timeframe.
The CSMS discusses at length the documentation to complete a CBMA claim that importers are required to file at the time of entry summary, PSC filing or protest filing.
If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact CBMA@cbp.dhs.gov. CBP encourages trade members to continue to visit the CBMA page on CBP.gov.
