US duty drawback · 19 USC § 1313

Find every dollar of duty refund you're owed.

DrawbackAI matches your imports to your exports, applies US Customs' drawback rules, and tells you exactly how much you can recover under 19 USC § 1313 — in minutes, not months.

Built on19 USC § 131319 CFR Part 190Files via CBP ACETFTEA-aligned
Integrates with
The problem

Most importers leave money on the table — because the people who do this charge a fortune and only work with billion-dollar accounts.

$2–4B
in eligible drawback goes unclaimed every year
Source — CBP & trade industry estimates
40–60%
of importers eligible for drawback never file a single claim
Source — GAO & trade compliance surveys
20–30%
is what specialty firms charge as a contingency fee — when they take you on at all
Source — published rates, top-5 drawback specialists
How it works

From two files to a defensible recovery estimate.

STEP 01

Upload your data.

Imports as CSV, ACE export, or PDF 7501s. Exports as CSV, AES/EEI filings, or commercial invoices. No mapping work — we infer fields. Sample data is one click away.

drawback.ai / upload
imports_2021_2025.csv5,184 rows
aes_exports_2022_2025.csv3,402 rows
cbp_7501s.zip214 PDFs
STEP 02

AI finds your matches.

We pair imports to exports across all five drawback types — direct identification, substitution, manufacturing, unused, and rejected. We respect the 5-year clock, the 8-digit HTS rule, the "lesser of" cap, and AD/CVD and IEEPA exclusions.

matching · 8,586 pairs evaluated
8418.10.00
8418.10.00
7326.90.86
8501.31.40



no export
EX-2024-1142
AD/CVD excl.
EX-2024-2037
STEP 03

See your recovery.

A dashboard with your estimated refund, a breakdown by drawback type, expiration warnings for time-sensitive lots, and a one-page PDF you can share with your CFO or hand to your broker to file.

opportunities dashboard
$847,200
§ 1313(j)(1) Unused$524,700
§ 1313(j)(2) Substitution$203,150
§ 1313(b) Mfg$94,820
§ 1313(c) Rejected$24,530
What's covered

Every drawback type CBP recognizes, and the duties that ride along with them.

Unused merchandise drawback

Imports later exported in the same condition, or substituted on an 8-digit HTS basis under TFTEA. We pair every line to the best-cost export available.

19 USC § 1313(j)(1) · § 1313(j)(2)

Manufacturing drawback

Direct-identified or substituted inputs consumed in producing exported finished goods. We trace BOMs across multi-input products.

19 USC § 1313(a) · § 1313(b)

Rejected merchandise drawback

Goods returned, destroyed, or not conforming to specification. We surface eligible rejection events from your data and tie them to the original entry.

19 USC § 1313(c)

Section 301 China duty recovery

Drawback-eligible. We isolate § 301 duties on Chinese-origin lines and roll them into the recoverable total under each applicable drawback type.

HTSUS Ch. 99 Subch. III · USTR § 301 lists

Section 232 steel & aluminum

Direct-ID drawback eligible. Substitution is not. We calculate § 232 recovery only where the rule allows — and tell you which lines were excluded and why.

19 USC § 1862 · CSMS guidance

MPF, HMF, and IRT refunds

Merchandise Processing Fee, Harbor Maintenance Fee, and Internal Revenue Tax all recoverable on the 99% factor. We compute them line-by-line.

19 CFR § 24.23 · § 24.24 · 26 USC § 5001
Excludes AD/CVD and most IEEPA reciprocal tariffs. We flag every excluded duty in your report so nothing's hidden.
For brokerages

Run drawback for your clients without building drawback.

  • Whitelabel the tool with your logo, primary color, and footer text. Clients never see our brand.
  • Run unlimited client estimates from a single multi-tenant workspace.
  • Hand off filing to your team or to ours. CBP ACE-ready packages either way.
  • One flat per-seat price. No contingency on your refund. No contingency on top of yours.
Talk to us about whitelabel

Already have a compliance team? Give them a tool that finds the opportunities they don't have time to chase.

Self-serve workspace, role-based access, and an audit trail behind every match.

Start a free estimate
Trust & accuracy

Can you trust the number? Click any line and see exactly how we got there.

Every dollar shows its math.

Click a match and see the "lesser of" calc, the 99% refund factor, and which fees rode along — duty, MPF, HMF, and IRT.

duty_recoverable = min(import_duty, export_duty) × 0.99
+ mpf × 0.99 + hmf × 0.99

Every excluded duty is named.

AD/CVD, IEEPA-restricted Executive Orders, and out-of-window imports are itemized — never silently dropped from your total.

excluded · AD/CVD case A-570-879
excluded · IEEPA EO 14257 (reciprocal)
excluded · imported > 5y from filing date

Every estimate cites the rule.

Each match links to the statutory basis (19 USC § 1313(a)–(p)) and the relevant 19 CFR Part 190 section, with confidence shown line-by-line.

basis · 19 USC § 1313(j)(2)
procedure · 19 CFR § 190.32
confidence · high (HTS exact, 14d window)
Estimates are estimates. Final refund is determined by CBP at liquidation. We tell you the confidence level on every line, and we are not your lawyer. Not legal advice.
Pricing

Simple, opinionated, and never a contingency on your refund.

Free Estimate
$0
Find out what you're owed in under 10 minutes.
  • Up to 500 import line items
  • Full opportunities dashboard
  • Watermarked one-page PDF
  • All five drawback types
  • No card required
Start free
Brokerage / Whitelabel
Custom
For customs brokerages and trade-services firms with multiple clients.
  • Multi-client workspace
  • Branded reports & portals
  • API access & SSO
  • Filing handoff (yours or ours)
  • Volume per-seat pricing
Contact us
We don't take a contingency fee on your refund. Ever.
FAQ

Smart questions, plain answers.

Drawback is a US Customs program that refunds 99%of duties, taxes, and fees on imported goods that are later exported, destroyed, or used to manufacture exports. It exists so US producers and re-exporters aren't taxed on goods that never end up consumed in the US.

The legal basis is 19 USC § 1313, with implementing regulations in 19 CFR Part 190.

Five years from the date of import to the date the drawback claim is filed (19 USC § 1313(r)). DrawbackAI flags lots within 90 days of expiration so you can prioritize filings before the clock runs out.

Section 301 — yes, fully drawback-eligible across all five drawback types. Section 232 — direct-identification only; substitution is not allowed under current CBP guidance. IEEPA reciprocal tariffs — generally not eligible; we exclude them and tell you so.

AD/CVD duties are not drawback-eligible and are excluded line-by-line in your report.

Not by default. The estimate is yours to take to your existing broker, or we can route filing through our partner brokerage at a flat per-claim fee. Brokerages on our whitelabel plan file directly out of their own ACE accounts.

At minimum: your import history (CBP 7501s, an ACE export, or a CSV with entry number, HTS, country of origin, entered value, and duty paid) and your export history (AES/EEI filings, commercial invoices, or a CSV with date, HTS, value, and destination). Manufacturing claims also need a BOM.

If you don't have one of these in a clean form, we'll parse PDFs. If you have nothing, try the sample dataset.

Every match has a confidence rating — high, medium, or low — based on HTS specificity, time-window proximity, and value alignment. We never include a low-confidence match in your headline number without flagging it. The estimate is bracketed by a low and high range so you can see the spread.

Final refund is always determined by CBP at liquidation.

Encrypted in transit and at rest. SOC 2 Type II in progress (audit window ends Q4). Your data is never used to train models that benefit other customers, and you can delete every uploaded file with one click. Brokerage workspaces are tenant-isolated.

Specialty firms charge 20–30%contingency, work mostly with the largest importers, and turn estimates around in months. We are software: flat pricing, no contingency, an estimate in minutes, and an audit trail you can read. We're a complement to those firms — many brokerages run our tool under their own brand to serve clients they couldn't profitably serve before.

Find out what you're owed.

Upload your data. Get an estimate in under 10 minutes. No card required.

Get free estimate