Filing Harbor Maintenance Refund Claims

November 5, 2001

In 1997, the United States Supreme Court ruled in United States Shoe Corporation v. United States that the Harbor Maintenance Tax, ("HMT"), as applied to exports was unconstitutional. As a result of this decision, exporters have recovered refunds of HMT payments they made on exports. Following the Supreme Court's ruling regarding exports, attempts have been made to extend the Court's ruling to include HMT on imports. The courts, however, have rejected these attempts to date. Thus, importers are still required to pay HMT on imports.

The future of the HMT on imports is far from certain, however, in that the HMT on imports is currently under a very legitimate attack by U.S. trading partners who allege that the HMT on imports is protectionist and contrary to the U.S.'s responsibilities under the WTO, absent a similar tax on exports. To protect their rights to future refunds of HMT payments on imports, importers should: (1) request refunds of the HMT on imports that they have paid over a two year period prior to requesting such a refund by filing a summons and complaint against the U.S. Government at the Court of International Trade; and (2), protest their current payments of HMT on imports by filing a Customs' protest on each individual import entry. For further developments regarding the payment of HMT on imports, continue to check our Important Developments.