Supporting Laws and Regulations

§ 24.25

19 CFR Ch. I (4–1–03 Edition)

the harbor maintenance fee. The number will be used to compare the information on the summary sheets with information submitted to the government on other forms required in the
course of shipping or importing merchandise, which contain the identification number, e.g., Vessel Operation Report, to verify that the information
submitted is accurate and current.
Failure to disclose an identification
number may cause a penalty pursuant
to paragraph (h) of this section. The
above information is set forth pursuant
to the Privacy Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93–
579).
[T.D. 87–44, 52 FR 10201, Mar. 30, 1987; 52 FR
10970, Apr. 6, 1987, as amended by T.D. 91–44,
56 FR 21446, May 9, 1991; T.D. 92–4, 57 FR 609,
Jan. 8, 1992; T.D. 92–7, 57 FR 2457, Jan. 22,
1992; T.D. 93–37, 58 FR 30983, May 28, 1993;
T.D. 97–45, 62 FR 30449, June 4, 1997; 62 FR
45157, Aug. 26, 1997; 62 FR 51774, Oct. 3, 1997;
T.D. 98–64, 63 FR 40823, July 31, 1998; T.D. 99–
64, 64 FR 43266, Aug. 10, 1999; T.D. 00–57, 65 FR
53574, Sept. 5, 2000; T.D. 01–25, 66 FR 16857,
Mar. 28, 2001; T.D. 01–34, 66 FR 21086, Apr. 27,
2001; T.D. 01–46, 66 FR 34818, July 2, 2001; T.D.
02–24, 67 FR 31953, May 13, 2002]

§ 24.25 Statement processing and Automated Clearinghouse.
(a) Description. Statement processing
is a voluntary automated program for
participants in the Automated Broker
Interface (ABI), allowing the grouping
of entry/entry summaries and entry
summaries on a daily basis. The related duties, taxes, fees, and interest
may be paid with a single payment.
The preferred method of payment is by
Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) debit
or ACH credit, except where the importer of record has provided a separate check payable to the ‘‘U.S. Customs Service’’ for Customs charges (duties, taxes, or other debts owed Customs (see § 111.29(b) of this chapter)). A
particular statement payment must be
accomplished entirely through ACH or
completely by check or cash. A mixing
of payment methods for a single statement will not be accepted. ACH debit
(see paragraph (b)(2) of this section) is
an arrangement in which the filer electronically provides payment authorization for the Treasury-designated ACH
processor to perform an electronic
debit to the payer’s bank account; ACH
credit is described in § 24.26. The pay-

ment amount will then be automatically credited to the account of the Department of the Treasury. If a filer
chooses to use statement processing for
entries of quota-class merchandise and
other special classes of merchandise
designated by Customs Headquarters
under § 142.13(c) of this chapter, he
must also use statement processing as
a normal course of business for the
largest possible portion (see § 24.25(d))
of his eligible non-special class entries;
further, he must use the ACH payment
mechanism to pay all his ABI statements containing entries for quotaclass merchandise. In no circumstance
will check or cash be acceptable for
payment of ABI statements containing
entries for quota-class merchandise.
(b) How to elect participation—(1)
Statement processing. An ABI filer must
notify Customs in writing of the intention to utilize statement processing.
(2) Automated Clearinghouse debit. If
an ABI filer pays his statements
through ACH debit, rather than by
check, he must provide to Customs the
bank routing number and the bank account number for each account from
which ACH payments are to be electronically debited. Upon the determination by Customs that the ABI filer
has the necessary software to participate and otherwise qualifies to participate in ACH, Customs shall assign a
unique identifying payer’s unit number
to the participant and the Treasurydesignated ACH processor. This unique
number assigned by Customs will alert
the ACH processor as to which bank
and account to issue the electronic
debit. If a client of a ABI filer opts to
pay Customs charges from his own account through an ABI filer, the client
must provide directly to Customs the
bank transit routing number and the
bank account number for each of his
accounts from which ACH payments
can be electronically debited. Customs
will then assign a unique payer’s unit
number to each of his accounts and
provide the assigned unit number directly to the client and the Treasurydesignated ACH processor. The client
would then provide the appropriate
payer’s unit number to his broker to
pay his statements through ABI. It is
the responsibility of the participant to

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United States Customs Service, Treasury
ensure that all bank account information is accurate and that the correct
unique payer’s unit number is utilized
for each ACH transaction.
(c) Procedure for filer. (1) The filer
shall transmit entry/entry summary
and entry summary data through ABI
indicating whether payment for a particular entry summary will be by individual check or by using statement
processing. If statement processing is
indicated, the filer shall designate
whether the entry summary is to be
grouped by importer or broker, and
shall provide a valid scheduled statement date (within 10 days of entry, but
not a Saturday, Sunday or holiday).
(2) Customs shall provide a preliminary statement to the ABI filer on the
scheduled statement date. The preliminary statement shall contain all entry/
entry summaries and entry summaries
scheduled for that statement date. The
preliminary statement shall be printed
by the filer, who will review the statement entries and the statement totals,
assemble the required entry summaries
as listed in the statement, and present
them to Customs with the preliminary
statement. This presentation must be
made within 10 working days after
entry of the merchandise. If a filer
elects to perform deletions from the
preliminary statement (other than
items related to special classes of merchandise provided for in § 142.13(c) of
this chaper), the filer shall notify Customs in such manner as designated by
Customs Headquarters. Any entry
number deleted from a statement may
be paid by an individual check or
scheduled for another statement by
transmitting the entry summary data
through ABI with a future payment
date.
(3) The ABI filer using statement
processing is responsible for ensuring
that payment is made within 10 days of
the entry of the related merchandise.
(4) When payments are made through
ACH, Customs shall, upon acceptance
of the ACH debit payment authorization or ACH credit payment, identify
the preliminary statement as paid and
shall post the appropriate amounts to
the related entries. The final statement generally shall be available to
the filer the day following the acceptance of the ACH payment; this final

§ 24.25
statement may be utilized as evidence
that statement payment has occurred
through an ACH transaction. In other
instances, a cancelled check may serve
as evidence of payment.
(d) Choice of excluding certain entries
from statement processing. An ABI filer
using statement processing, generally,
has the right to inform Customs electronically whether he desires that a
particular entry summary be paid by
individual payment or through statement processing. If a filer opts to use
statement processing for entry/entry
summaries for quota-class and other
special classes of merchandise defined
in § 142.13(c) of this chapter, he shall
use statement processing in the normal
course of business for the largest possible portion of his eligible non-special
class entries also; further, he shall pay
for
these
entry/entry
summaries
through ACH. If a filer opts to use
statement processing and, therefore,
ACH for entry/entry summaries for special classes of merchandise defined in
§ 142.13(c) of this chapter, these entry/
entry summaries cannot be deleted
from a statement. A filer who excludes
or deletes entries from the statement
process and ACH should be prepared to
articulate a sound business reason why
these exclusions or deletions have occurred. If Customs believes that a
broker is using ACH for his quota-class
entries and not using statement processing and ACH for the largest possible
portion of his eligible non-special class
entries, the ABI participant may be
consulted by Customs as to why he has
not used statement processing and
ACH for certain entries. If Customs is
not satisfied, after such consultation,
that there were sound articulable business reasons for the exclusion or deletion of non-special class entries, Customs may disqualify the participant
from using statement processing/ACH
for quota-class entries.
(e) Scheduled statement date. Entry/
entry summaries and entry summaries
must be designated for statement processing within 10 working days after the
date of entry. It is the responsibility of
the ABI filer using statement processing to ensure that the elected scheduled statement date is within that 10day timeframe. Customs will not warn

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§ 24.26

19 CFR Ch. I (4–1–03 Edition)

the filer if the scheduled statement
date given is late.
[T.D. 89–104, 54 FR 50497, Dec. 7, 1989, as
amended by T.D. 98–51, 63 FR 29125, May 28,
1998; T.D. 99–75, 64 FR 56439, Oct. 20, 1999]

§ 24.26 Automated Clearinghouse credit.
(a) Description. Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) credit is an optional payment method that allows a payer to
transmit statement processing payments (see § 24.25) or deferred tax payments (see § 24.4) or bill payments (see
§ 24.3) electronically, through its financial institution, directly to the Customs account maintained by the Department of the Treasury.
(b) Enrollment procedure. A payer interested in enrolling in the ACH credit
program must indicate such interest by
providing the following information to
the Financial Management Services
Center, U.S. Customs Service, 6026
Lakeside Boulevard, Indianapolis, Indiana 46278: Payer name and address;
payer contact name(s); payer telephone
number(s) and facsimile number; payer
identification number (importer number or Social Security number or Customs assigned number); and 3-digit
filer code.
(c) Routing and format instructions.
Following receipt of the enrollment information, the Financial Management
Services Center will provide the payer
with specific ACH credit routing and
format instructions and will advise the
payer that the following information
must be provided to its financial institution when originating its payments:
Company name; company contact person name and telephone number; company identification number (coded Internal Revenue Service employer identification number or DUNS number or
Customs assigned number); company
payment description; effective date; receiving company name; transaction
code; Customs transit routing number
and Customs account number; payment
amount; payer identifier (importer
number or Social Security number or
Customs assigned number or filer code
if the payer is a broker who is the importer of record); document number
(daily statement number, entry or
warehouse withdrawal number for a deferred tax payment, or bill number);

payment type code; settlement date;
and document payment amount.
(d) Prenotification procedure. Before
effecting any payments of funds
through the ACH credit process, the
payer must follow a prenotification
procedure, involving a non-funds message transmission through its financial
institution to the Customs account, in
order to validate the routing instructions. When the routing instructions
are validated, the Financial Management Services Center will notify the
payer that the prenotification transaction has been accepted and that payments may be originated on or after
the tenth calendar day following the
prenotification acceptance date.
(e) Payment origination procedures. (1)
General. Once the payer has received
authorization to begin originating ACH
credit payments under paragraph (d) of
this section, the payer, through its financial institution, must originate
each payment transaction to the Customs account no later than one business day prior to the payment due
date. The payer’s account will be
charged by the financial institution on
the settlement date identified in the
transaction. The payer is responsible
for following the routing and format
instructions provided by Customs and
for ensuring the accuracy of the information when originating each payment. Improperly formatted or erroneous information provided by the
payer will delay the prompt posting of
the payment to the receivable.
(2) Procedures for daily statement filers.
The procedures set forth in § 24.25(c) for
ABI filers using statement processing
remain applicable when payment is effected through ACH credit. However,
when the ABI filer is a customs broker
who is not the importer of record and
thus is not responsible for the payment, the ABI filer must provide the
statement number and statement
amount to the importer of record at
least one business day prior to the due
date so that the importer of record can
originate the payment.
(f) Date of collection. The date that
the ACH credit payment transaction is
received by Customs shall be the collection date which equates to the settlement date. The appropriate daily

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