Add duty lines to an invoice

Turn on duty lines in Settings → Accounting, then let Linbis work out customs duty, import tax and US government fees on a new invoice from the HS code, origin and customs value.

A duty line bills your customer for the customs duty, import tax and government fees you pay to customs on their behalf. Linbis works the amounts out from the HS code, the origin and the customs value, and posts them to a duties account that you pay on to customs, never to income.

Where the rates come from:

US Virgin Islands: the territory's duty and VI excise tax.
United States: the US tariff (HTS), plus the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and, for ocean freight, the harbor maintenance fee (HMF).
Other countries: the national rates Linbis has on file, where it has them.
Anywhere else, you type the rate.

Before you start

An admin turns duty lines on, once, for the whole company (below).
Duty lines go on an invoice whose lines you type: a new one, or a draft you edit. They are not available when you bill from an operation.

Turn duty lines on (admins)

Go to Settings → Accounting. Only admins see the Duties and taxes on invoices section.
Turn on the Duty lines on invoices switch. Linbis creates three charge codes for the lines it writes: INV-DUTY (customs duty), INV-IMPTAX (import tax) and INV-GOVFEE (government fees). If your company already has a charge code with one of those names, the switch tells you: rename that code, then turn it on.
Check the Duties account: the liability account duty lines post to. When your chart of accounts has 2230 Accrued Customs Duties, Linbis uses it; otherwise it creates "Duties collected for customs". You can pick any other active, postable liability account. When no account is set, the section says Pick the duties account.
Set the Default import country: the country your goods are most often imported into. You can change it on each invoice.
Choose whether to Print HS code and rate. When it is on, a duty line prints its HS code, origin and rate; when it is off, it prints only "Customs duty". The choice applies to new invoices, and to duty lines changed from then on.
Optional: turn on Offer US government fees if you bill the US merchandise processing fee (MPF) and harbor maintenance fee (HMF) on US imports. It is off at first; you can also bill those fees as ordinary lines.
Optional: build the Fees you usually bill list, the fees you add to duty invoices (for example a customs entry fee). Each fee has a name, an amount that is either Flat or a % of customs value, a charge code, and whether it is ticked by default. You can keep up to 20. A fee row saves once it has a name, an amount and a charge code; until then it says "Not saved yet".

Each control saves as you change it.

If your company is connected to QuickBooks, the section tells you, before you turn duty lines on and for as long as you are connected, that invoices with duty lines are not sent to QuickBooks yet (see below).

Add a duty line to a new invoice

Open Accounting → Receivables → Invoices and click New Invoice. Leave Bill from an operation empty: you type the lines.
In the Duty details strip, check Import into. For the United States, pick the Transport (ocean, air or truck), which decides the fees. For the US Virgin Islands, Goods are for a business (VI excise tax applies) is ticked; untick it for goods that are not for a business.
On a line, switch the Charge | Duty control to Duty, or click Add Duty Line.
Find the HS code: type a code or a few words (for example "cotton t-shirts") and pick a result. Each result shows its duty and import tax. You can also type a full code and pick Use 6109.10.00 as typed; this works even when nothing matches.
Enter the Origin (the country the goods were made in) and the Customs value. For some countries the customs value must include freight and insurance; the field says so.
Check the Duty %. Linbis fills it from the tariff and marks it "From tariff". Goods from an exempt origin pay no duty ("Exempt origin: no duty"). You can type another rate: the line then shows "Changed by you", and Use tariff rate puts the tariff rate back. When Linbis has no rate for the code, the line asks you to Type the duty rate.
Choose the Import tax: Automatic, one of the country's rates, Exempt, or Type the amount. For goods taxed per case or carton, Linbis picks Type the amount for you.
In the Fees box, which appears once the invoice has a duty line, tick the fees to add. Your company's fees come ticked as your admin set them, and you can change each amount. For the United States, when your company offers them, the box also shows MPF and HMF with their amounts. On an invoice that is not in US dollars, type the US fee amounts in the invoice currency.
Check the totals: Charges, Duties, Import tax, Fees, Tax on charges and Total. While Linbis works the amounts out, Create Invoice waits. If it cannot, the form says "Couldn't work out the duty. Try again."
Click Create Invoice. Linbis works the amounts out again as it saves, so the saved figures are always its own.

One duty row becomes a customs duty line plus, when the country has one, an import tax line. Each fee is a line of its own. Line text is written in English, like the rest of the printed invoice, for example: "Customs duty: T-shirts, singlets, tank tops and similar garments, knitted or crocheted (HS 6109.10.00, origin CN), 6% of 12,500.00".

Change the duty lines of a draft

Open the draft invoice and click Edit. Its duty lines open as duty rows, with the HS code, origin, customs value, rate and import tax that were saved, and the amounts that were billed.
Change what you need: the HS code, the origin, the customs value, the duty rate or the import tax; add or remove a duty row; tick or untick a US government fee (MPF, HMF); change Import into or the transport.
Check the totals. As soon as something of the duty part changes, Linbis works every duty line of the invoice out again, and Save Changes waits for it.
Click Save Changes. Linbis works the amounts out again as it saves. The invoice keeps its number, its customer and its currency.

Good to know:

If you change only other things (a charge line, the dates, the notes), the duty lines stay exactly as they were saved: nothing is worked out again.
When the duty part changes, every duty line of the invoice is worked out with the rates in force on the invoice date, as on a new invoice. A rate that changed since the invoice was made shows before you save.
A row that was saved with no import tax opens as Exempt. If you change its product (the HS code) or the import country, it goes back to Automatic and shows the tax that product owes.
In Edit, your company's fees are ordinary lines: change or delete one in the line table, and add one with Add Line. The Fees box holds only the US government fees.
A posted invoice goes back to a draft first (Unpost), where your company allows it. Otherwise void it and create it again.
When duty lines are switched off, the duty rows show what was saved and cannot be changed. The rest of the invoice can still be edited.

What you cannot do yet

Add the first duty line to an existing draft, or remove its last one, everywhere. It works on a draft whose lines were typed, at a company that is not connected to QuickBooks, while QuickBooks has no record of the invoice and no credit memo was issued against it. Otherwise create a new invoice. Every other change of a duty line works at any company.
Add duty lines when you bill from an operation. Bill from an operation has no Duty control in this release.
Put duty lines on a credit or debit memo. Credit a duty invoice with an ordinary credit memo against it.
Sync invoices with duty lines to QuickBooks. They are not sent yet. Such an invoice shows "Not sent to QuickBooks: this invoice has duty lines.", and its QuickBooks badge reads "Not sent: duty lines". Enter it in QuickBooks by hand, its charge lines included. Credit memos against it are not sent either. A payment is sent without the part that pays such an invoice: enter only that part by hand. Record in Linbis any payment you receive in QuickBooks on such an invoice. For a company connected to QuickBooks, Settings → Accounting also says: "An ordinary invoice or bill typed under one of the three duty codes makes a QuickBooks item for that code. Point that item's accounts at your duties account in QuickBooks."
Add more than 100 duty lines to one invoice, or more than 500 lines in all.
For the United States, other duties such as Section 301 or 232 are not included.

If you see a message

"Duty lines are switched off.": duty lines were turned off while you edited an invoice. Its duty rows go back to what was saved and cannot be changed. The rest of the invoice still saves.
"This line was worked out from a duty calculation. Change it in its Duty row.": a duty line is changed in its duty row. Open the invoice with Edit and change it there.
"Duty lines cannot be added to this invoice: it was not typed line by line. Create a new invoice for them.": the draft was billed from an operation, or its total holds an amount that is on none of its lines.
"This company is connected to QuickBooks, or QuickBooks has a record of this invoice. To add its first duty line or remove its last one, create a new invoice and delete this draft.": at a company connected to QuickBooks an ordinary draft cannot get its first duty line, and a duty draft cannot lose its last one.
"A credit memo was issued against this invoice. To add its first duty line or remove its last one, create a new invoice.": once a credit memo exists against an invoice, the invoice cannot get its first duty line or lose its last one.
"Duty lines are switched off. Remove them to save this invoice.": duty lines were turned off while you worked. Remove duty lines keeps your charge lines ready to save.
"Pick the duties account in Settings → Accounting.": posting needs a duties account. An admin picks one.
"The duty settings need attention. Ask an admin to check Settings → Accounting.": one of the three duty codes, or the duties account, was deactivated. Settings marks it, for a code with "Reactivate this code under Products & Charges."
"The US tariff is loading. Type the duty rate.": the copy of the US tariff is not in yet. Type the code and the rate.