Low-value parcels lost duty-free entry in 2025: how the de minimis suspension works in 2026

Headphones, smart plugs and kitchen gadgets ordered from sellers abroad used to arrive duty-free if the shipment was worth $800 or less. That changed on August 29, 2025. Under Executive Order 14324 of July 30, 2025, the de minimis exemption no longer applies to shipments into the United States, regardless of value, country of origin or how they are sent, apart from items the emergency powers law itself exempts. In 2026 a new executive order kept the suspension, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wrote it into its regulations as indefinite. This guide sets out what each step did and what applies on November 11, 2026.

What the 2025 order did

The order took effect for goods entered on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on August 29, 2025. Goods from China and Hong Kong had already lost the exemption under an April 2025 order. Shipments arriving by any route other than the international mail became subject to all applicable duties, taxes, fees and charges, with an entry filed in CBP's electronic system by a qualified party. Parcels sent through the international postal network were handled differently: the carriers delivering them had to collect duty and remit it to CBP, either at the emergency tariff rate for the product's country of origin or, for the first six months, as a flat amount per item of $80, $160 or $200, depending on that rate.

The order said the suspension was needed so that the emergency tariffs would not be evaded or undermined. It said some shippers use re-shippers in the United States, false invoices, fraudulent postage and deceptive packaging to hide what parcels contain and where they come from, and that the risks of evasion and illicit-drug importation are particularly high for low-value goods that had qualified for the exemption. It also provided that the suspension would stand even if the related emergency tariffs were held invalid.

What changed in 2026

On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court held in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose additional tariffs, a decision CBP says did not address the de minimis suspension. The postal duty rates had been based on tariffs imposed under that law, and Executive Order 14388, signed the same day, kept the suspension, saying the conditions set out in section 6 of the 2025 order had occurred. From February 24, 2026, it charged postal parcels at the rate of a temporary 10% import surcharge, until that surcharge expired or CBP's new postal entry process took effect, whichever came first.

CBP then issued two interim final rules on June 24, 2026. One suspended the exemption indefinitely for imports valued at $800 or less arriving by every route other than the mail, so those shipments must use formal or informal entry. The other did the same for mail and created a new informal entry process for postal shipments worth $2,500 or less, which took effect on July 24, 2026. CBP says neither rule affects the separate exemptions for bona fide gifts and for personal or household articles that travelers bring with them. It said the rules follow the policy of the President's orders and rest, independently, on its own authority over the exemption under section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930. As the eCFR showed them on November 11, 2026, both regulations keep the suspension until CBP finds, among other things, that the exemption no longer puts the revenue at risk or helps unlawful imports, and say any change will be announced in the Federal Register.

Why CBP says it acted

In its postal rule of June 24, 2026, CBP said it processed more than 1.36 billion de minimis shipments in fiscal 2024, almost ten times the 139 million of 2015, and described the volume as a significant and costly burden. It said the new mail process would let it collect all applicable duties, taxes and fees rather than a subset, and better police undervaluation, evasion and fraud. It also argued that consumers unfamiliar with customs law may buy items that do not meet U.S. health and safety standards. CBP estimated that the postal rule would raise tariff revenue by about $166 million a year at a 7% discount rate, which it counts as a transfer from those who pay duties to the federal government.

CBP also cautioned that the revenue estimate assumes import volumes stay the same, although higher duties and other costs are likely to lead importers to import less, which would mean a smaller revenue gain. Not every commenter accepted CBP's approach. In a public comment on the postal rule received on July 20, 2026, Manthan Inc., a Canadian snack maker planning to sell to Americans by mail, said it supports CBP's revenue and enforcement goals but argued that the rule could make many low-value personal-use imports “commercially impractical” for U.S. residents, so that shipments might stop altogether, reducing both consumer access and tariff revenue. It asked CBP to keep simplified postal entry open for such shipments.

CBP issued both rules without taking comment first, citing the foreign affairs and good cause exceptions in federal rulemaking law, and asked for comments afterwards, until July 24, 2026. It said it did not prepare an analysis of the postal rule's effects on small businesses because no general notice of proposed rulemaking was required.

What is still changing

Some postal shipments cannot use the new informal process: goods subject to other agencies' requirements, goods subject to duties under chapters 98 or 99 of the tariff schedule, and goods for which duty-free treatment is claimed under chapter 98 or a free trade agreement. They need formal entry. CBP first set October 22, 2026, as the compliance date, then moved it to January 20, 2027, saying the public would benefit from more time. For eligible shipments, a voluntary electronic alternative, the Entry Type 13 test, began on September 22, 2026.

On October 8, 2026, CBP also proposed changing the filing rules for informal entries of goods worth $2,500 or less, creating a new electronic informal entry type for mail, adding a data element for carriers and requiring bonds for some informal entries. That is a proposal, not a rule in force, and comments are due by December 7, 2026. CBP notes in that proposal that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted on July 4, 2025, terminates the de minimis exemption by law from July 1, 2027. The act itself, in section 70531, calls this the repeal of the “commercial shipment exception”, effective that day. For questions about a specific shipment, CBP is the authority; our guide to late online orders covers what the FTC requires of sellers on shipping times.