CBP · Activity Code 1 bond

Customs bond calculator

Size the continuous bond before CBP sends the insufficiency notice.

Enter the duties, taxes and fees paid in the last 12 months to get the continuous bond amount CBP's published formula gives.

Last updated 2026-09-27. Math runs in your browser, no data leaves your computer.

Pull the duties, taxes and fees from your ACE reports or your broker's statement for the last 12 months. The optional fields only matter when CBP has bills against you that are unpaid, and most importers leave them at zero.

Include Section 301, anti dumping and other duties on formal entries, since Section 301 duty alone can push a small importer past the $50,000 floor.

Unpaid CBP bills (optional)

CBP adds 10% of these, where a bill counts as delinquent once more than 30 days have passed since it was issued.

CBP adds the full amount of these bills dollar for dollar, so clear them before the bond review if you can.

These also count at their full amount, the same way as the long overdue bills above.

Before the booking, screen the name on the invoice. Shipment pre-check is on the paid plans, from USD 59 a month.

General guidance only. Verify against the cited primary sources before you commit to a shipment, declaration, or contract.

CBP's continuous bond formula

Section 6.4.1 of CBP's guide, A Guide for the Public: How CBP Sets Bond Amounts, sets the minimum Activity Code 1 continuous bond at $50,000 or 10% of the total estimated duties, taxes and fees in the previous 12 months, whichever is greater. All continuous bonds are set in increments of $10,000 up to $100,000 and then in increments of $100,000.

CBP calls that base the reviewer formula. Appendix B adds the analytical formula: 10% of delinquent bills that are protested or under 210 days past due, and the full amount of bills over 210 days, bills tied to a denied protest and unpaid debit vouchers. The total is rounded up again in the same steps, so an importer with overdue bills can jump a whole $100,000 step.

10% of last 12 months Bond amount
Up to $50,000$50,000
$50,001 to $100,000Next $10,000 step
Over $100,000Next $100,000 step

The Director of CBP's Office of Finance, Revenue Division runs a periodic review of continuous bond sufficiency, and only that office issues a notice of continuous bond insufficiency. The notice sets a deadline to terminate and replace the bond, and paying overdue bills before that deadline lets CBP recompute the amount.

Worked example. A first year bond that stopped being enough

The booking. An importer bought a $50,000 continuous bond in its first year, when duties were small. Its China product line grew, and the duties, taxes and fees for the past 12 months now total $612,000. Entries keep clearing on the old bond, which looks fine on paper.

The failure. Ten percent of $612,000 is $61,200, above the $50,000 floor, and CBP's rounding takes it to the next $10,000 step, $70,000. At the periodic sufficiency review, the Revenue Division issues an insufficiency notice with a deadline to terminate and replace the bond. The choice is the usual one: replace the bond on CBP's timetable, or on your own.

The fix. The importer runs this tool each quarter on the trailing 12 months of duties, because any total above $500,000 lifts the bond past the $50,000 floor. At $612,000 the tool shows $70,000, the surety files the larger bond before any notice arrives, and the bond already matches CBP's formula when the next review runs.

Working out the fees on each entry as well as the bond? The MPF and HMF calculator works out the merchandise processing fee and harbor maintenance fee on a formal entry.

Frequently asked

How much is a CBP continuous bond?

For an Activity Code 1 continuous bond, CBP sets the minimum at $50,000 or 10% of the duties, taxes and fees paid in the previous 12 months, whichever is greater. The amount then rounds up in steps of $10,000 to $100,000 and in steps of $100,000 above that, according to CBP's bond guide of February 2024.

What if I did not import last year?

CBP sets the bond from your estimate of the duties, taxes and fees that will accrue on imports over the next 12 months. The guide says that in no event can the amount be less than $50,000, so a first year importer starts at that floor or higher.

Which entries do not count toward the bond amount?

The guide lists entry types left out of the sufficiency computation, including 05 vessel repair, 11 and 12 informal entries, 26 warehouse FTZ admission, 31, 32, 34 and 38 warehouse withdrawals, 47 drawback, 51 DCMA and 86 Section 321 de minimis. Leave duties on those entries out of the figure you type in.

Do unpaid CBP bills raise the bond?

Yes, under what CBP calls the analytical formula. It adds 10% of delinquent bills that are protested or under 210 days past due and unprotested, plus 100% of delinquent bills over 210 days unprotested or tied to a denied protest, plus 100% of unpaid debit vouchers, then rounds the total the same way.

Is the ISF bond part of this amount?

An Activity Code 1 bond carries the ISF obligations under 19 CFR 113.62. A continuous bond taken out only to cover ISF, Activity Code 16, has its own floor of $50,000 under the same guide, and it is in addition to any other bond the importer holds.

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Sourzi shows what official files say. It is not customs or legal advice. For a binding answer, ask a licensed customs broker, a CBP ruling or an Australian Border Force Tariff Advice.

File dates and links are on Data sources.