What is the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS)?

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) is the system used to classify goods imported into the United States. Every product is assigned a 10-digit code that sets the duty rate and determines eligibility for trade programs. It is maintained and published by the U.S. International Trade Commission and administered at the border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The first six digits come from the international Harmonized System used worldwide.

Who assigns the HTS code and who publishes the schedule?

The U.S. International Trade Commission maintains and publishes the HTS. The importer of record is legally responsible for classifying its goods correctly, usually with the help of a licensed customs broker, and CBP reviews and enforces classification at entry. Classification follows the General Rules of Interpretation.

The U.S. import classification system

What is the Harmonized Tariff Schedule?

Q: How is an HTS code structured?

An HTS code has 10 digits. The first six are the international Harmonized System subheading used by most countries. Digits seven and eight form the U.S. rate line that sets the duty rate. Digits nine and ten are a statistical suffix used for trade data. The schedule is organized into 22 sections and 99 chapters, with headings and subheadings that add detail, and there are more than 17,000 ten-digit codes.

Q: How does the HTS affect duty drawback?

The HTS code sets the duty you pay at import, which is the amount drawback can recover when the goods are exported. It is also central to substitution drawback, which matches imported and exported goods at the 8-digit HTSUS level rather than by part number. Accurate classification protects both what you pay and what you can recover.

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, the HTSUS, is how every imported product is classified for duty. Each good gets a 10-digit code that sets the duty rate and decides which trade programs and tariffs apply. It is published by the U.S. International Trade Commission and enforced at the border by CBP. That same code also drives duty drawback, because it sets what you paid and, under substitution, how imports are matched to exports.

10 digitsThe length of a full HTSUS code

17,000+Unique classification codes

8 digitsThe level substitution drawback matches at

The definition

One code that decides what you pay.

The HTSUS is the U.S. version of the international Harmonized System, the product nomenclature maintained by the World Customs Organization and used by most trading nations. The U.S. International Trade Commission publishes the schedule, and the importer of record is legally responsible for classifying its goods correctly, usually with a licensed customs broker, while CBP reviews and enforces classification at entry. Get the code right and you pay the correct duty and qualify for the right programs. Get it wrong and you can overpay, face penalties, or lose recovery you were entitled to.

How a code is built, using 3926.90.99.90

39ChapterPlastics and articles

3926HeadingOther articles of plastics

3926.90SubheadingInternational HS, first 6 digits

3926.90.99Rate line8 digits, sets the duty rate

3926.90.99.90Statistical10 digits, trade data suffix

The first six digits are shared with most of the world. The United States adds digits seven and eight to set the duty rate, then nine and ten for statistics. The 8-digit rate line is also the level substitution drawback matches on, which is why it matters twice.

What the code decides

The HTS sets more than a duty rate.

One classification cascades into most of what a shipment costs and qualifies for.

The duty rate

The 8-digit rate line sets the base rate of duty owed at import, from free to double digit percentages depending on the product and its origin.

Tariff exposure

Whether Section 301, Section 232, or other additional tariffs apply is keyed to the HTS code. Classification decides how much extra duty a good carries.

Program eligibility

Free trade agreement treatment, exclusions, and quota status all turn on the code. The right classification can lawfully lower the rate.

Admissibility

The code flags partner government agency requirements, from FDA to USDA, that determine whether a shipment can enter at all.

Drawback matching

Under substitution drawback, imports are matched to exports at the 8-digit HTSUS level, so the code is what makes recovery possible.

Trade statistics

The final two digits feed the official trade data the government uses to measure imports and exports by commodity.

A common mix-up

HTS vs. Schedule B.

Both are 10-digit codes built on the international Harmonized System, but they are used at opposite ends of the trade.

HTS (imports)

Published by the U.S. International Trade Commission and used to classify goods coming into the United States. It sets the duty rate, tariff exposure, and program eligibility, and it is the code drawback recovery is built on.

Schedule B (exports)

Published by the U.S. Census Bureau and used to report goods leaving the country in the Electronic Export Information. There are fewer Schedule B codes, and they exist for export statistics rather than duty.

Why it matters for recovery

Your codes are the key to your refund.

Duty drawback refunds up to 99 percent of the duties, taxes, and fees you paid at import when the goods are later exported. Two things decide how much you get back, and the HTS drives both. It sets the duty you paid, which is the ceiling on what is recoverable, and under substitution it is how each import is matched to an export at the 8-digit level. Classifications that are wrong, inconsistent, or stale quietly cap recovery long before a claim is ever filed.

Specialist, not a generalist

Many firms that offer drawback also clear imports, file exports, and move freight, with drawback as one service among many. Alliance does one thing: duty drawback. That undivided focus is the point. We are not classifying your entries at the border or filing your exports, your broker and forwarder do that. We read your HTS data across your entire import and export history and solve for the highest compliant refund, with no conflict and no divided attention. It is the difference between drawback as a side service and drawback as the whole business.

How substitution matching works → Our managed drawback services → What a customs broker does →