Yesterday, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1295, which renews the Generalized System of Preferences. GSP is a trade program that allows for preferential duty-free entry for nearly 5,000 specific products from 122 designated developing countries. The GSP program previously expired in July of 2013. The length of time it took to renew GSP hit many U.S. companies hard, especially small businesses who greatly benefited from duty-free trade.
GSP will go into effect on July 28, 2015 and is set to expire in December 2017. US based companies that import GSP-eligible products will be able to receive a retroactive refund on qualified imports since GSP expired. Importers should continue to pay duty on GSP-eligible imports until the reinstatement date (July 28th).
The refund process is not automatic – refund requests must be filed within 180 days of the reinstatement date (July 28th). Refunds may be delayed due to potentially 2 years worth of filings.
If you have imported GSP-eligible products in the last two years and would like for us to file for a refund on your behalf, please reach out to us.
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