Continuous Customs Bond Calculator
CBP sizes your continuous bond at whichever is greater: $50,000, or 10% of the duties, taxes, and fees you paid over the trailing 12 months — then rounds up. Enter your number below, and test what a stacked 2026 tariff layer would do to it.
Continuous Customs Bond Sizing Tool
Enter what you paid CBP in duties, taxes, and fees over the trailing 12 months. The bond amount updates instantly -- nothing to submit yet.
This is your CBP duty bill, not the value of the goods you imported -- it's what shows on your CBP entry summaries (CBPF 7501) as duties, merchandise processing fees, and harbor maintenance fees combined.
At the $50,000 statutory floor -- your duty volume is low enough that the minimum applies, not the 10% math.
Get My Continuous Bond QuoteLayered Section 301, Section 232, and IEEPA tariffs can raise your effective duty rate on the same goods without you importing a single extra box. See what that does to your required bond.
Estimate only, based on CBP's published bond-sizing formula and typical 0.5%–2% premium market range. Your exact bond amount and premium are set by CBP and the underwriting surety. Not a quote or offer of insurance.
Request Your Exact Continuous Customs Bond (CBP Activity Code 1) Quote
Estimated premium: $250–$1,000/yr — request your exact rate in minutes
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Estimates are illustrative. Final premium is set by the underwriting surety at time of application and varies by credit, experience, state, and carrier.
Why the $50,000 Floor Doesn't Stay a Floor Forever
Most first-year importers land at the $50,000 minimum and stop thinking about their bond entirely — with good reason, since below roughly $500,000 in annual duty exposure, the 10% math never overtakes the floor. The problem is that the floor is a snapshot of last year's duty bill, not a permanent rating. CBP reviews continuous bonds on a rolling 12-month basis, and the calculation resets with every entry you file, not once a year at renewal.
That matters more in 2026 than it did a few years ago because tariff layers now stack rather than replace one another. A product that cleared at a 3% duty rate under standard HTS classification can carry an additional Section 301 tranche, a Section 232 metals surcharge, and an IEEPA reciprocal tariff on top of it — all on the same commercial invoice, with no change in what you're actually importing. Your trailing-12-month duty total moves even when your shipment count doesn't, and once the 10% calculation crosses out of the $50,000 floor into real percentage territory, every additional stacked tariff layer compounds the bond increase rather than adding to it in a straight line.
The practical takeaway: run this calculator against your actual trailing-12-month CBP duty total, not your bond's face amount from last renewal. If the two numbers have drifted apart, you want to know before CBP's bond sufficiency team tells you with a formal insufficiency notice and a 15-day clock attached.
The Formula Behind This Calculator
This tool applies CBP's published bond-sufficiency formula exactly — no proprietary adjustment, no padding. The only inputs are your trailing-12-month duty total and, optionally, a tariff-stacking scenario to test.
Continuous Bond Amount Formula
Basis: CBP Directive 3510-004 (Monetary Guidelines for Setting Bond Amounts); discretion to set bond amounts codified at 19 CFR § 113.13.
| 10% of Trailing-12-Month Duties | Rounding Convention | Resulting Bond Amount |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 or less | No rounding — statutory floor applies | $50,000 |
| $50,001 – $999,999 | Round up to nearest $10,000 | $60,000 – $1,000,000 |
| $1,000,000+ | Round up to nearest $100,000 | $1,100,000+ |
Annual premium runs roughly 0.5%–2% of the bond amount on top of these figures, depending on business credit and CBP compliance history.
Official CBP Requirements
"The Secretary of the Treasury may by regulation or specific instruction require, or authorize customs officers to require, such bonds or other security as he, or they, may deem necessary for the protection of the revenue or to assure compliance with any provision of law, regulation, or instruction which the Secretary of the Treasury or the Customs Service may be authorized to enforce."19 U.S.C. § 1623(a) • 19 U.S.C. § 1623 — Bonds and Other Security
Official CBP Requirements
"If merchandise is imported and released from CBP custody...into the commerce of, or for consumption in, the United States...the obligors (principal and surety, jointly and severally) agree to deposit...any duties, taxes, and charges imposed, or estimated to be due, at the time of release...and pay, as demanded by CBP, all additional duties, taxes, and charges subsequently found due."U.S. Customs and Border Protection • 19 CFR § 113.62 — Basic Importation and Entry Bond Conditions
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Start My Customs Bond QuoteThis Page Is the Calculator — Here's the Rest of the Picture
For the full Activity Code 1 filing walkthrough — reconciliation riders, ISF coverage, and who actually needs a continuous bond — see our Continuous Customs Bond guide. For premium ranges and the full cost breakdown against single entry bonds, see how much a customs bond costs in 2026. If CBP has already sent you a notice, jump straight to our CBP bond insufficiency letter checklist.
Calculator Questions
Why does the calculator round my bond amount up instead of matching my duties exactly?
Because CBP itself rounds. Once 10% of your trailing 12-month duties, taxes, and fees is calculated, CBP rounds the result up to the nearest $10,000 (for amounts under $1,000,000) or the nearest $100,000 (at or above $1,000,000) rather than binding a bond at an odd figure like $64,700. That convention comes from CBP's own bond-sufficiency guidelines exercised under the discretion 19 CFR § 113.13 gives the agency — it is not something a broker or surety adds on top.
What exactly counts as "duties, taxes, and fees" for the 10% calculation?
It is the total of ordinary customs duties, Merchandise Processing Fees (MPF), Harbor Maintenance Fees (HMF), and any special or additional duties assessed on your entries — including Section 301, Section 232, and IEEPA tariff layers — over the trailing 12 months. It is not the value of the goods you imported. Two importers bringing in identical $1 million shipments can owe very different duty totals, and therefore need very different bond amounts, depending on tariff classification and country of origin.
How does 2026 tariff stacking change my bond size without me importing more?
Your bond is sized off your dollar duty total, not your shipment volume. If Section 301, Section 232, or IEEPA reciprocal tariffs stack on the same goods you were already importing, your effective duty rate rises, which raises your trailing-12-month duty total, which can push the 10% calculation into a higher rounding bracket — even though nothing about your import volume changed. The stacking toggle above models that scenario directly so you can see whether your current bond would still clear CBP's sufficiency review.
I'm a brand-new importer with no 12-month duty history. What should I enter?
Enter $0, or your best estimate of duties for the next 12 months if you have one. With no history, the calculator (like CBP) defaults you to the $50,000 statutory floor. CBP reassesses your bond at the next sufficiency review once real duty data exists on your entries — typically after your first several months of import activity — so budget for a possible bond increase at that review rather than assuming $50,000 is permanent.
Does this calculator work for single entry bonds too?
No — this tool is scoped specifically to continuous (Activity Code 1) bonds, which is why it only asks for annual duty totals. A single entry bond is priced off one shipment's entered value plus duties, not a trailing-12-month total. Use our single entry customs bond calculator for a one-shipment estimate, or the general customs bond calculator if you're still deciding between the two bond types.
How often should I re-run this calculator?
Every time your duty exposure meaningfully changes — a new tariff layer taking effect, a shift in country of origin sourcing, a new product line, or roughly quarterly as routine maintenance. CBP reviews continuous bonds on a rolling 12-month basis, so a bond that was sufficient in January can become insufficient by November purely from Q3/Q4 import volume or a mid-year tariff change, and CBP will not necessarily wait for your renewal date to send an insufficiency notice.
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