All About Our Foreign Trade Zone

As a designated general purpose foreign trade zone (FTZ), Brendamour Warehousing, Distribution & Other Services can accept goods from countries outside the U.S. and store them until they are ready for U.S. commerce or exportation. Located throughout the U.S., foreign trade zones were established by the Foreign Trade Zones Board under the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to streamline international trade by allowing goods to be imported to the U.S. without being subject to duties or excise taxes until they are distributed for sale in the U.S. market.

Services Offered In Our Foreign Trade Zone

Brendamour Warehousing’s foreign trade zone offers a full range of warehousing and distribution services to companies importing goods from outside the United States. In addition, our foreign trade zone is equipped to prepare your foreign or domestic merchandise for sale in the U.S. market or for exportation, either in its original or altered form.

These services include: assembly, manufacturing, repairing, processing, repacking, sorting, mixing with other domestic or foreign merchandise, cleaning, grading, manipulating, repackaging and relabeling. Additional services include testing, sampling, displays and exhibition.

Brendamour also accepts various types of machinery, construction materials, tooling, equipment and furniture. However, these imported supplies are not exempt from duty payment when in the foreign trade zone.

Determining U.S. Custom Fees in a FTZ

When your goods are admitted to the Brendamour Warehousing foreign trade zone, the status designation for which you apply determines how U.S. Customs duties, state and local taxes, quotas and other fees are applied. Status designation options include:

Domestic Status – Applies to either merchandise manufactured, produced, or grown in the U.S. where all applicable federal taxes have been paid or merchandise previously imported where duties and taxes were paid. When domestic status goods enter the U.S. market, they are free of duties, taxes and quotas.

*Non-Privileged Foreign Status – *Pertains to goods of foreign origin. Foreign trade zone users pay duty on the goods based on the type, condition and quantity at the time they enter the U.S. market for sale.

Privileged Foreign Status – Refers to goods of foreign origin that will be altered or manufactured into products without a change in their original product classification. The same amount of duty fees and taxes will be charged when readied for U.S. commerce.

Zone Restricted Status – Applies to domestic or foreign goods that are admitted to a foreign trade zone strictly for the purpose of destruction (such as damaged goods) or exportation to another country other than the United States. U.S. Customs duty fees do not apply.

Benefits of Using Brendamour’s Foreign Trade Zone

Whenever goods come in to the U.S. from a foreign country, they must clear U.S. Customs and the applicable U.S. Customs duty fees must be paid. However, businesses that send their goods to Brendamour’s foreign trade zone are not subject to U.S. Customs laws regarding entry of goods and its duties until they are distributed in the U.S. for sale. What’s more, any goods in a foreign trade zone being sent to countries outside the U.S. bypass U.S. Customs laws or its duties, taxes and other fees.

In addition, international companies that store their merchandise in our foreign trade zone realize significant financial benefits, including:

- No time constraints on storage.
- Duty-free storage.
- Exemption from state and local ad valorem taxes.
- Deferred payment of federal excise tax, duty charges and other fees until goods are transferred from a zone to the U.S. market or other NAFTA country, such as Canada and Mexico.
- Elimination of duty fees and excise taxes when imported goods are exported from a zone to certain countries.
- Reduced tariff rates if an imported part leaves the zone incorporated into an assembled unit.
- Lower security, insurance and transportation costs.

Along with these financial benefits, businesses that use the foreign trade zone at Brendamour Warehousing enjoy all our other warehousing and distribution services. Contact Brendamour today to learn more about our foreign trade zone services and how we can help you do business more efficiently.