Customs Valuation & Landed Cost
Computed Value
Also known as: Computed Method
Computed value builds the customs value from the ground up rather than from a sale price, adding together the cost of materials and fabrication in producing the goods, an amount for profit and general expenses typical of the industry, and the cost of getting the goods to the place of importation as the country's rules require. Because it depends on cost information usually held by the foreign producer, computed value can be difficult to apply in practice and sits low in the valuation hierarchy, used when the transaction, identical-goods, similar-goods, and deductive methods cannot establish a value.
The method importers ask for and almost never get. It needs your foreign producer to open its cost accounts, and a factory that would not give you a bill of materials for an origin claim is not going to hand over its margins. When transaction value fails you usually land at deductive value instead, whatever you asked for.
Where it matters for compliance
- May be applied before deductive value at the importer's request, in the prescribed order.
Related terms
Reviewed by a licensed customs broker. Definitions are general information, not legal or customs advice for a particular shipment. Duty rates, tariff programs and agency requirements change frequently.