Customs Duty Drawback Made Accessible

Customs duty drawback is a U.S. government program administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that refunds up to 99% of import duties, taxes, and fees paid on merchandise that is subsequently exported, used in the manufacture of exported goods, or destroyed. It exists to relieve the tax burden on goods that ultimately do not remain in U.S. commerce. There are several drawback types, including manufacturing drawback, unused merchandise drawback, and rejected merchandise drawback.

Eligibility depends on your trade activity. Importers who later export the same goods unused, manufacturers who import raw materials and export finished products, retailers who re-export inventory, and companies that destroy unsaleable imported goods may all qualify. The key requirements are that duties were originally paid on import and that the goods were subsequently exported, used in exported manufacturing, or destroyed under CBP supervision. Companies of any size — including SMBs — may be eligible.

U.S. law allows recovery of up to 99% of the duties, taxes, and fees originally paid on eligible imported goods. The actual amount recovered depends on your specific trade activity, the drawback type that applies, and how import and export records are matched. Algorithmic optimization — as used by Zollback — can meaningfully increase recovery compared to manual matching methods.

With traditional providers that rely on manual workflows and legacy software, the process typically takes 9–12 months from document collection to refund receipt. Zollback's automated platform compresses this to 10–15 working days by using AI to parse documents and electronic filing via certified ABI software to submit claims directly with CBP — significantly accelerating the timeline.

The documentation required typically includes import entry summaries, commercial invoices, bills of lading, export records (such as shipper's export declarations or electronic export information), and proof of payment of duties. For manufacturing drawback, production records showing how imported materials were used in finished goods are also required. Zollback's AI can ingest these documents in PDF, CSV, or ERP export formats without manual data entry.

No. Zollback operates on performance-based pricing — there are no upfront fees. Zollback takes a percentage of the refund amount recovered. You only pay when the refund is successfully returned to you, which means Zollback's incentives are fully aligned with maximizing your recovery.