Dutiable

Dutiable (adjective, /ˈdjuːtiəbəl/) means subject to customs duty. When a customs authority describes goods as dutiable, the importer must pay a tariff on them before the shipment can be released. The opposite is duty-free — goods that are not dutiable, either because they are under the de minimis threshold, qualify for a preferential rate under a free-trade agreement, or benefit from a specific tariff suspension or quota.

The word also appears in several customs-specific phrases. Dutiable goods and dutiable articles are the items themselves. Dutiable value is the value used to calculate the duty — transaction value plus freight and insurance (CIF) in the EU and UK, or transaction value (FOB) in the US. Dutiability is the noun form: the property or condition of being subject to duty.

Examples in a sentence. "The shipment is dutiable at the 6.5% MFN rate." "Personal effects under $800 entering the US are not dutiable under Section 321 de minimis." "The customs broker filed an entry summary declaring a dutiable value of €4,200 CIF Rotterdam."

What makes goods dutiable? Three conditions usually apply together: (1) the goods cross an international customs border, (2) the importer is not personally exempt (e.g. diplomats, returning residents under personal-exemption limits), and (3) the goods themselves are not granted relief by an applicable rule. Relief comes from de minimis thresholds, FTA preferential rates conditional on rules of origin, sector-specific suspensions (e.g. ITA-covered electronics at 0%), or quotas. If none of these apply, the goods are dutiable at the MFN rate listed in the destination country's tariff schedule for that HS code.

Dutiable vs duty-free vs duty-paid. "Dutiable" describes a status — the goods can be charged duty. "Duty-free" means they cannot, by rule. "Duty-paid" describes a transaction state — the duty has actually been settled, regardless of whether the goods were dutiable in principle. Incoterm DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) is the contractual outcome where the seller has paid all dutiable charges before delivery.

Why this site is called Dutiable. Most cross-border shipments are dutiable. The work of import compliance is figuring out the exact HS code, the exact rate, the exact Incoterm-driven cost split, and the exact landed cost. Dutiable.io is the toolkit that does that — HS classification, duty calculation, rules-of-origin, monitoring, and customs documents — for e-commerce and B2B importers.