HTS code lookup
What an HTS code is
An HTS code is the ten-digit number that classifies an imported product in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. The first six digits are the international Harmonized System subheading, the same in every country that uses the HS. The seventh and eighth digits are the United States rate line, which carries the duty rate. The ninth and tenth are a statistical suffix that the government uses to count trade; it never changes the rate.
Every entry line filed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection carries one ten-digit code. The code decides the general duty rate, whether a free trade agreement rate can be claimed, and which Chapter 99 headings must be reported beside it.
HTS versus HS versus Schedule B
HS is the six-digit nomenclature of the World Customs Organization. HTS is the United States import schedule built on it, with the extra four digits above. Schedule B is the United States export schedule, also ten digits and also built on the HS, maintained by the Census Bureau for export declarations. An import is always filed under an HTS code, never a Schedule B number, even when the first six digits match.
How to find the code for a product
Start from the product as it crosses the border: what it is made of, what it does, who it is for, and how it is put together. The schedule reads in a fixed order, from the chapter to the heading to the subheading to the rate line to the statistical suffix, and the General Rules of Interpretation settle what happens when two lines could both describe the product. The pages below walk that order for each product and name the attribute that decides the line.
How Chapter 99 rides beside the line
Trade remedies such as Section 301, Section 232 and Section 201 are not written into the product's own line. They are separate headings in Chapter 99 of the schedule, reported as their own line on the entry beside the classification, and their duty is charged on top of the general rate. Which Chapter 99 headings attach depends on the ten-digit line and the country of origin, and the set changes with every tariff action. Each product page lists the headings that attach to its lines today.
Products
Chapter 17: Sugars and confectionery
Chapter 18: Cocoa and cocoa preparations
Chapter 33: Essential oils and cosmetics
Chapter 39: Plastics and articles thereof
Chapter 42: Leather articles and travel goods
Chapter 48: Paper and paperboard
Chapter 49: Printed books and other printed matter
Chapter 61: Knitted apparel
- clothing and apparel
- dresses
- hoodies and sweatshirts
- jackets and coats
- pants and trousers
- shirts and blouses
- t-shirts