ACE Portal Application: How to Get an Account and What You Can See

Key Points

• The ACE Secure Data Portal is a free CBP web portal that gives importers, brokers, carriers, and other trade account holders direct access to their own trade data.
• Before you can apply for an importer account, your importer of record number must already exist in CBP's system, which means CBP Form 5106 must be on file first.
• The application designates a Trade Account Owner, the individual responsible for managing access within the organization.
• Once approved, an importer account unlocks entry summaries, liquidation data, antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) detail, and a suite of ACE reports scoped to your own entries only.
• If you prefer not to apply directly, a licensed customs broker who has filed your entries can grant you visibility into that same data through their own ACE account without you needing a separate portal account.

On this page

1. What the ACE Secure Data Portal is and who it serves
2. Prerequisites before you apply: CBP Form 5106 and your importer of record number
3. The ACE portal application: Trade Account Owner and account type
4. What an importer account lets you see
5. The broker alternative: viewing your data through a grant
6. What importers should do
7. Key references

The ACE Secure Data Portal is CBP's free online platform where importers, brokers, and other licensed trade parties can view and download their own import records. To get an importer account, you complete CBP's online ACE portal application, designate a Trade Account Owner, and tie the account to an importer of record number that is already registered with CBP through Form 5106. If your broker has filed your entries in ACE, you can also see the same data through a grant on the broker's account without applying for your own.

What the ACE Secure Data Portal is and who it serves

The ACE Secure Data Portal is the trade-facing interface of CBP's Automated Commercial Environment. CBP built it as a single window where multiple types of trade accounts can interact with the agency electronically. Account types include importers, customs brokers, carriers, surety companies, and others involved in the movement of goods across U.S. borders.

The portal is not a general-public database. Each account holder sees only the data tied to their own trade identifier, whether that is an importer of record number, a broker license number, or a carrier SCAC. This scoping is enforced at the account level, not by individual report settings.

The links in this article go to the primary documents: the CBP portal pages and official agency guidance themselves. Read the source.

Prerequisites before you apply: CBP Form 5106 and your importer of record number

Before submitting an ACE portal application for an importer account, you must have a valid importer of record number on file with CBP. CBP assigns that number after processing CBP Form 5106, the Importer Identity Form. If your company has never imported before, or if your 5106 information is out of date, resolve that first. The ACE application will require you to enter the importer of record number, and CBP will validate it against their records during the approval process.

This sequencing matters: an ACE application submitted with an unrecognized importer of record number will not be approved. There is no workaround inside the portal itself.

The ACE portal application: Trade Account Owner and account type

Submitting the application

The application is submitted through the CBP ACE Secure Data Portal page, which links to the online application form. The form collects basic business information, the account type you are requesting, and the identity of the person who will serve as the Trade Account Owner.

The Trade Account Owner role

The Trade Account Owner (TAO) is the individual CBP recognizes as the responsible party for the ACE account. This person can add or remove other users within the organization, assign permissions, and request additional sub-accounts. The TAO is typically a compliance manager, controller, or other senior employee, not a third-party service provider. Choose this person carefully: changing the TAO after the fact requires CBP interaction and adds delay.

Selecting the importer account type

During the application, you will select "Importer" as your account type and enter your importer of record number. CBP reviews the application, validates the number against the 5106 record, and sends login credentials to the TAO once approved. Approval timelines are not published as a fixed number of days; plan for administrative processing time before you need the account for a deadline-sensitive task.

What an importer account lets you see

Once your account is active, the portal provides access to the following categories of data for your own entries:

• Entry summaries: The filed entry summary data for each of your imports, including entry type, port, entry date, and declared value.
• Liquidation information: Whether an entry has liquidated, the liquidation date, and any change from the filed amount, which is critical for identifying protest opportunities before the deadline passes.
• AD/CVD detail: Antidumping and countervailing duty case data associated with your entries, including case numbers and deposit rates applied.
• ACE reports: A library of standard reports you can run and download on demand, covering entry activity, duty paid, and related metrics, all filtered to your importer of record number. You can export these reports for internal analysis or to upload into a tariff-management tool.

The portal does not give importers access to other companies' data, CBP enforcement records, or Treasury-held drawback accounts unless those are separately configured under the appropriate account type.

If you want to run systematic tariff-exposure analysis across a full ACE report file, see our guide Is There a Tariff Calculator That Checks a Whole ACE File? for what that workflow looks like downstream of an ACE export.

The broker alternative: viewing your data through a grant

How broker grants work

A licensed customs broker who files entries on your behalf already has their own ACE account tied to their broker license number. Within ACE, a broker can grant an importer client access to that importer's specific entry data without the importer holding a separate portal account. This is called an account grant or data grant, and it is configured by the broker's Trade Account Owner on the broker side.

What a grant does and does not provide

A grant gives the importer visibility into the same entry summary, liquidation, and AD/CVD data described above, but through the broker's account interface rather than a standalone importer account. The importer does not have administrative control over the broker account and cannot see the broker's other clients' data. The practical trade-off is that you depend on the broker to maintain the grant and to keep their own ACE account in good standing.

When to get your own account instead

Importers with high entry volumes, multiple brokers, or an in-house compliance team generally benefit from holding their own ACE account. A direct account aggregates data across all brokers and ports in one place, which a grant tied to a single broker's account cannot do. If you work with two or more brokers, a direct importer account is the cleaner long-term solution.

What importers should do

• Confirm that your CBP Form 5106 is on file and current before starting the ACE portal application. If it is not, file or update it first using the guidance in our CBP Form 5106 article.
• Identify the employee who will serve as Trade Account Owner before you open the application, because this designation is not easily changed after the fact.
• If you use a single broker and have a low entry volume, ask your broker whether a data grant on their ACE account meets your needs before committing to the full importer application process.
• Once your account is active, download and review your ACE entry summary and liquidation reports regularly so that you catch unliquidated entries and potential protest windows before they close.

Key references

• CBP ACE Secure Data Portal - CBP's official portal page, including the application link and account-type descriptions.
• CBP Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) hub - CBP's main ACE resource page with program overview and related guidance.
• CBP: Becoming an Importer - CBP overview of the steps to establish an importer identity, including Form 5106 requirements.