Customs Duty & Tariff Estimator (Landed Cost)
Calculate estimated customs import duty and total CIF landed cost for apparel export consignments.
Read this first, because it changes how every number below must be used. This tool does not know your duty rate. You enter the rate yourself, from your own tariff source, and the tool multiplies it by the CIF value. The calculator opens with 16.5 pre-filled, but that figure is only a placeholder default in the form, not a real tariff rate for any product, country or HS code, and it must be replaced before any result is trusted. On this site, only 47 of 315 HS code records carry a duty note, so most codes give you no rate here at all: confirm the rate with your tariff schedule, customs broker or forwarder first, then calculate.
What is Import Duty and Landed Cost?
Import duty is a customs tax charged when goods enter a country, calculated here as a percentage of the CIF value of the shipment. CIF stands for Cost, Insurance and Freight: the FOB invoice value of the goods plus the freight and insurance paid to bring them to the destination port. Landed cost is the CIF value plus the duty, which is the total cost of the goods sitting at destination before local handling, clearance fees and domestic transport.
Two facts define this tool. First, duty is ad valorem in this calculation, meaning it is a percentage of value, not a fixed amount per piece or per kilogram. Second, the rate is an input, not a fact the tool supplies: you enter the percentage that applies to your goods in your destination market, and the tool applies it. Every other figure in the tool follows from the FOB value, the freight and insurance, and that entered rate.
Formula
CIF = FOB value + Freight and insurance Duty = CIF × Duty rate Landed cost = CIF + Duty
- FOB value: the invoice value of the goods as shipped, in USD as labelled. Must be a positive number.
- Freight and insurance: transport and insurance cost to destination, in USD. May be zero, in which case CIF equals FOB.
- Duty rate: the tariff percentage you enter, from your own tariff source. The form opens with 16.5 pre-filled as a placeholder only; replace it before trusting any result.
- Results: duty amount, CIF value and landed cost, all to two decimals with thousands separators.
How to Calculate
- Find the correct duty rate first, from the importing country tariff schedule for the exact HS code, or from your customs broker or forwarder. Do not use the pre-filled 16.5 unless your tariff source confirms it.
- Enter the FOB shipment invoice value in USD.
- Enter freight and insurance in USD. Enter zero only if no freight or insurance applies to the CIF base for your terms.
- Enter the confirmed duty rate as a percentage.
- Read the duty amount, the CIF value and the landed cost. If the rate changes, the duty and landed cost change in proportion, so re-run the calculation rather than adjusting by guesswork.
Example
Work through one illustrative shipment, with numbers chosen only to show the arithmetic, not to describe any real product, country or tariff. FOB value is USD 50,000 and freight and insurance are USD 3,500, so CIF is 50,000 + 3,500 = 53,500 USD. Enter an illustrative rate of 12 percent, labelled here only as an example rate for the arithmetic and not as a real tariff rate for any goods or market. Duty is 53,500 × 12 percent = 6,420 USD, and landed cost is 53,500 + 6,420 = 59,920 USD.
The same shipment shows how sensitive landed cost is to the rate. At an illustrative 6 percent, duty would be 53,500 × 6 percent = 3,210 USD and landed cost 56,710 USD, a difference of 3,210 USD from the 12 percent case on the same goods. That is why the rate must be confirmed before the calculation, not after: a wrong rate does not produce a slightly wrong answer, it produces a confidently wrong landed cost that flows straight into pricing. For the freight figure inside CIF, the Freight Cost Estimator allocates a freight invoice to pieces and cartons, and the Total Shipment Volume Calculator and Container Loading Estimator support the shipment behind the freight quote.
Assumptions
This calculation assumes a single ad valorem duty rate applied to the CIF base, with no preferential rate, exemption, quota, anti-dumping duty, value added tax, excise or clearance fee, none of which the tool models. It assumes the freight and insurance entered are the figures that belong in the CIF base for the terms used, and that all values are in USD as labelled. It assumes the entered rate is correct for the exact HS code and destination: the tool cannot verify it, and the pre-filled 16.5 is a placeholder, not a verified rate. Rounding follows the tool, to two decimals with thousands separators.