What Happens If You Can't Pay Your Tariffs?

If you do not pay your tariffs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will not release your goods. After 15 days without an entry, the merchandise can be sent to a general order warehouse at your expense and risk, and if 6 months pass without paying the duties and storage, it is considered abandoned and can be auctioned. If what you are not paying is a later CBP bill, interest piles up, CBP can collect from your surety bond and, if you become a habitual delinquent, you will have to pay estimated duties up front before any shipment is released.

This guide walks through each stage under the federal customs regulations (Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations, checked October 20, 2026), what you can do at each one and how to find capital to get your goods out before the problem grows. This is not legal advice: for your specific case, talk to your customs agent or a trade attorney.

Who owes the tariffs and when they are paid

The tariff (import duty) is owed by the importer of record: the person or company listed on the entry with CBP. If you buy from a U.S. distributor, the duty is already baked into the price and you will never see a Customs bill. If you import directly, the bill is yours, even if the foreign supplier shipped the goods.

Here is the cycle, simplified:

1. The goods arrive. You have 15 calendar days to file the entry.
2. You pay estimated duties with the entry or entry summary, usually through your customs agent.
3. Liquidation. Months later, CBP reviews the entry and sets the final amount. If you underpaid, you get a bill for the difference, plus interest from the date you should have paid.
4. The bill is due 30 days after it is issued.

Many problems start at step 3: an importer who has already sold the goods receives a large bill months later and does not have the cash. That is why it pays to set aside a reserve whenever there is doubt about the classification or the applicable rate.

If you don't pay when the goods arrive: hold, warehouse and auction

When your goods land and you cannot pay the estimated duties, here is what the regulations say:

• No release. Without a complete entry and estimated duties paid, the goods stay in CBP custody.
• General order. If you do not file entry on time, or the entry is incomplete because estimated duties were not paid, the goods can be moved to a general order warehouse at your expense and risk. That means storage, handling and charges that add up every day.
• Abandonment at 6 months. Goods that sit in custody for 6 months without payment of estimated duties, storage and other charges are considered unclaimed and abandoned.
• Auction. Abandoned goods are sold. Perishables, like fresh produce, can be sold after just 3 days of public notice. Goods that are losing value can be auctioned before 6 months.

On top of CBP, the ocean carrier or terminal usually charges its own fees for container delays. For a store or restaurant importing supplies, a few weeks of delay can cost more than the duty itself and leave you with nothing to sell.

If you don't pay a CBP bill: interest, bond claims and sanctions

The second scenario is when you already received your goods and later get a CBP bill, for example for additional duties after liquidation. If you do not pay it:

That last sanction hurts a small importer the most: you can no longer receive goods and pay later; every container requires the money up front. And your surety can refuse to renew your bond, without which you cannot import normally.

If you disagree with the bill, you have the right to file a formal protest with CBP, generally within 180 days. While the protest is pending, you are generally not sanctioned over that bill.

What to do today if you can't cover the tariffs

1. Call your customs agent the same day. Ask exactly how much is owed, how many days remain before the goods go to general order, and what storage charges are already running.
2. Check the classification and origin. A wrong tariff code or a misdeclared country of origin can change the rate a lot. If you find an error before liquidation, your customs agent can file a correction.
3. Ask about periodic monthly statements. Approved importers can pay duties on a monthly statement instead of entry by entry, which gives your cash flow a few days of breathing room.
4. Prioritize. If you have several containers, release first the one carrying your best sellers or perishables.
5. Talk to your supplier. For future orders, negotiate for them to absorb part of the cost or to price "delivered duty paid" (DDP).
6. If you will re-export, ask about duty drawback: CBP refunds most of the duties paid on goods that later leave the country.
7. Get bridge capital if the numbers work: what you sell has to cover the duty, the storage and the cost of the financing.

How to finance tariffs without putting your business at risk

Paying tariffs with borrowed money makes sense when the goods already have a buyer or sell quickly. If the product will sit in your warehouse for months, adjust prices or orders first. These are the most common options:

• Line of credit: ideal if you import several times a year, because you pay only for what you use. Ask that payments not land in slow-sales weeks.
• Sales-based working capital: fast and with less paperwork; useful for releasing an urgent shipment.
• Purchase order financing: if you have a firm order from a creditworthy customer, some companies finance the supplier and import costs. See our guide to purchase order financing.
• SBA export programs: if you also export, the SBA backs working capital lines for exporters through participating banks.

Merchant Fund Express, our recommended funder, reviews your sales and deposits along with credit, considers FICO 500+, handles $5,000 to $5,000,000 and often decides in 2–4 hours, which matters when storage charges run every day. It offers Spanish-speaking support and does not require collateral in most cases. You can apply for free with no impact to your credit. For more detail on each option, see our guide to financing for import and export.

How to keep it from happening again

• Estimate the duty before you buy, not when the ship docks. Ask your customs agent for an estimate by tariff code and country of origin.
• Build the duty into your selling price. If import costs went up, your margin has to reflect it. Many small immigrant-owned shops absorb the hit for fear of losing customers and end up starved for cash.
• Set aside a liquidation reserve. If the rate is uncertain, hold back part of the cash in case an additional bill arrives months later.
• Forecast your cash flow using each container's arrival date. We show you how in cash flow forecasting.
• Diversify suppliers across countries with different rates where possible.
• Open a line of credit before you need it. Applying while your goods are on hold gives you less leverage to negotiate. For the bigger picture, read small business tariffs.