Drawback

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., told International Trade Today that a carbon border adjustment tax is still "in the mix" as Democrats try to figure out how to pay for a broad array of social and environmental spending. A carbon border adjustment tax could add tariffs to certain imports that are carbon-intensive, if the U.S. determines their manufacture was less clean than the domestic manufacturing processes. But when pressed during a Sept. 23 hallway interview with reporters for more details on where things are on the tax, Neal acknowledged that the discussion of this tax is more conceptual than practical. "Did it come up as a talking point? Yes. Did it come up as a solution point? No." Neal said that all the pay-fors that passed out of Ways and Means are on the menu of options for how to pay for the Build Back Better bill. That includes restricting the use of drawback by tobacco importers and exporters (see 2109130038).

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Sept. 13-17 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The legislative language for a proposed change to the treatment of excise tax drawback claims on exported tobacco would make such claims ineligible not just going forward (see 2109130038), but also would disallow claims filed since Dec. 18, 2018. That is the date that CBP issued a final rule saying that such claims were not allowed. However, the prohibition did not take effect until Feb. 19, 2019, because of the 60-day waiting period after the rule's publication (see 1908300032). The final rule was overturned in court, so some exporters have been collecting substitution drawback on these goods -- or as the government calls it, "double drawback," since the case was won.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says that although his initial list of pay-fors did not include any taxes on tobacco, he thinks the House Ways and Means Committee proposal is worthy of being included on what he called "a menu of options" to give Democratic senators choices. "I happen to think that this is an important idea, they're talking, I gather, at e-cigarettes," he said during a Capitol hallway interview.

The ability to eliminate excise taxes on tobacco products through substitution drawback would end if the tax legislation the House Ways and Means Committee is considering becomes law. The U.S. considers this sort of drawback "double drawback," because the substitute exported product was never subject to excise taxes, and that is how the committee characterized it. "This provision stops the practice of double drawbacks for tobacco products by making exports that are not subject to excise tax ineligible for a drawback claim," the summary says.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Aug. 30 - Sept. 3 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Operations including the oiling of a machine, the fitting of a transformer to adjust electrical voltage and the uploading of software patches to a machine tool do not constitute manufacturing or use, and do not render the machine tool ineligible for unused merchandise drawback, CBP said in a recent ruling. The operations do not transform the machine tools into a new product, but merely make them operational for the end customer, CBP told Knuth Machine in HQ H290897, issued July 28 and publicly released Aug. 26.

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Aug. 26. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP: