How to pay Prime Freight and how duties get paid

You pay Prime Freight for freight and services against the invoice for your shipment. Customs duties and taxes are a separate charge owed to the government — they're estimated at quote time and typically advanced by Prime Freight on your behalf, then billed back to you. A customs bond guarantees those duties will be paid.

Your freight charges are billed on an invoice for each shipment (or group of shipments). You can view your invoices in the portal under invoices and manifests.

To keep billing accurate, make sure your company account details are current — see Update your profile and account.

Customs duties and taxes are set by the government, based on your product's HTS classification and its declared value. They are not part of your freight price — they're quoted as a separate estimate and reconciled to the actual amount customs assesses at clearance.

In most cases, Prime Freight (through the customs broker) advances the duties to customs on your behalf so your cargo isn't held up, then bills that amount back to you. This is why duties are estimated separately from freight and can differ slightly from the estimate once customs finalizes the entry.

A customs bond is a guarantee to customs that the duties, taxes, and fees on your import will be paid. It's a standard requirement for commercial imports and comes in two forms:

• Single-entry bond — covers one shipment.

• Continuous (annual) bond — covers all your imports for a year; more economical if you import regularly.

See ISF, POA, and IOR basics for how the bond fits alongside the other clearance essentials, and The customs clearance process for how an entry moves through customs.

You import a container of goods. Your quote shows the freight and a separate duty estimate. When the cargo arrives, the customs broker files the entry, and Prime Freight advances the duties to customs so release isn't delayed. Your invoice then shows the freight charges plus the duties advanced, and you pay Prime Freight the total.

Freight and duties are kept as separate lines so you can always see what you're paying for transport versus what's owed to the government. For the full anatomy of a bill, see How to read your invoice and What's included vs excluded in your pricing.

• How to read your invoice

• What's included vs excluded in your pricing

• Customs duties and HTS codes

• ISF, POA, and IOR basics

• The customs clearance process

• Freight & shipping glossary