USA CBP - Australia Post

AusPost CBP Announcement:

[Affecting small goods items only] - Bodykit and Wheel orders are unaffected

In short: Australia Post has temporarily suspended certain methods of shipping to the US ahead of new tariffs due to come into effect.

From August 29, low-value parcels imported into the US will attract tariffs or flat fees.

Until now, parcels of goods from Australia worth less than $US800 ($AU1,200) were not taxed when they arrived in the US, under what was knows and the “de minimis” exemption.

What does this mean for you?

• Australia Post is investigating paying duties and taxes through an approved third-party platform provider on behalf of merchants.
• These new duties and taxes, including a handling fee charged by the carrier would be charged on top of goods and freight costs for items sent to the United States.
• All items sent to the United States must be accurately declared.
• Incomplete or incorrect customs declarations will result in items being returned.

Important notice: New US tariff rules for postal shipments – Effective 29 August 2025

The United States recently announced significant changes to its import tariff rules that will impact customers sending items from Australia to the US.

The changes are described in a US Executive Order. Australia Post is working closely with the United States Postal Service (USPS), US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), along with third-party platform partners, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and other partners to ensure accurate information concerning the changes is shared with customers, and to provide updates as they are available.

Effective 29 August 2025, the key changes, are as follows:

1. Suspension of de minimis threshold:
   • The USD$800 exemption for low-value goods has been removed for postal and commercial sending.
2. Mandatory customs declaration requirements:
   • Every shipment from Australia to the US must include:
     1. Country of origin (COO) in customs declaration and the manifest. For clarity, country of origin refers to the country of manufacture, not sale.
     2. Value of goods in customs declaration and the manifest. This must be declared accurately for eachitem within your parcel.
     3. Harmonized System (HS) tariff code for each item in the customs declaration and manifest.
3. Duties are to be collected prior to goods entering the US:
   • US Customs & Border Protection has indicated that the duties and taxes will be collected on goods prior to entering the US. CBP has not yet advised the preferred method for duty and tax collection.

The information above is subject to change.

Australia Post is monitoring the situation closely and will provide updates on the impacts of the regulatory changes on our customers, and Australian outbound parcel services to the US, as they become available.