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Customs & Tariff Classification

Entry Type 13

Also known as: ET13, ET-13, postal entry type 13, low-value postal entry

Entry type 13 is the CBP entry type for U.S. mail processing, introduced as a test in the Automated Commercial Environment as de minimis treatment is withdrawn from postal shipments. CBP runs it under two paired tests: Entry Type 13 Test in ACE for U.S. Mail Processing (INT-057) and Mail Entry Type 13 Test (CBP-290).

Entry types classify the filing rather than the goods. Type 01 is a formal consumption entry; type 11 is an informal entry; type 86 was the streamlined electronic filing built for de minimis shipments. Type 13 sits with the informal entries, for mail that is no longer exempt but does not require a full formal entry — which for mail begins above the $2,500 threshold that separates informal and mail entry from formal entry.

Read the word test literally. Type 13 is a voluntary alternative to the postal entry process that took effect on 24 July 2026, not a replacement for it, and CBP opens it at the end of the delayed compliance window on 22 October 2026. Until then it is something to watch rather than something to file.

What it eventually replaces is a paper process. Dutiable mail has historically been assessed on a CBP-prepared mail entry — CBP Form 3419 or 3419A — attached to the parcel. Type 13 moves that into ACE as an electronic filing.

The JFS takeLicensed customs broker · Filer 82G

Read the CSMS numbers before you plan around this. Type 13 is a test, deployed to the ACE certification environment on 2 July 2026, and CBP has been amending it since — the PGA flag enforcement table was updated for it, and so was the CATAIR for stand-alone Prior Notice filing. Those two updates tell you something the announcement does not: agency requirements did not go away with de minimis. An FDA-regulated parcel is still an FDA-regulated parcel, and it now needs the data to say so.

The rest is a volume problem wearing a compliance costume. One parcel needing an entry is a filing. A hundred thousand is an operation, and the constraint is data quality rather than filing capacity. The message set an operator already produces was designed to move mail, not to compute duty — "gift", "sample" and "clothing" were adequate when nothing was dutiable and are useless the moment something is.

We are in the test. JFS CHB participates in CBP's entry type 13 test as a filing broker, and covers the postal entry paths either side of it — IMD worksheet, enhanced IMD and type 13 — as a CBP-recognized Qualified Party, which means we can collect and remit the duty rather than leave it to be chased on a doorstep.

For an operator working out a post-de-minimis flow, that combination is the conversation worth having. The entry and the money are the same problem, and solving one without the other just moves the failure downstream.

Where it matters for compliance

  • JFS CHB is a participant in the test as a filing broker, which means the guidance below is what we are working to rather than what we have read about.
  • A test, not a settled program. Implementation guidance is being issued and amended — CSMS 69289734 announced the ACE CERT deployment, 69298180 added implementation guides, and 69379504 and 69379627 amended the Prior Notice CATAIR and the PGA flag enforcement table for it.
  • Partner government agency requirements survive the change. The PGA flag table was updated for entry type 13 specifically, so FDA, USDA and the rest still apply to a parcel that would once have entered free.
  • $800 and $2,500 are different thresholds doing different jobs. $800 was the de minimis exemption; $2,500 is the line above which mail requires a formal entry rather than an informal or mail entry.
  • Advance electronic data is a precondition, not a nicety. USPS must transmit AED before inbound mail is loaded, and the filing is built from it.
  • An entry type describes the filing, not the goods. Moving from an exempt flow to type 13 changes whether anyone has to declare the parcel, not what it is or what it is worth.
  • The importer of record on a mail entry is ordinarily the addressee, whatever commercial arrangement funds the duty.

Related terms

De MinimisDe minimis is the value below which goods may enter the United States free of duty and without a formal customs entry.Customs EntryA customs entry is the formal declaration an importer or its broker files with the customs authority to secure the release of imported goods and to account for the duties and taxes owed.Merchandise Processing FeeThe merchandise processing fee is a charge assessed by United States customs on most formal and informal import entries to help fund the processing of merchandise, calculated for formal entries as a percentage of the shipment's value within a legislated minimum and maximum, and as a small flat amount for many informal entries.ManifestA manifest is the comprehensive list a carrier files describing all the cargo aboard a conveyance — each shipment's shipper, consignee, description, quantity, and weight — submitted to the customs authority before or upon arrival.

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.