A TariffTrust estimate answers one question: what will the United States charge when these goods enter, on this date? Here is how to read one, from top to bottom.
The total and its share of the value
At the top comes the total, "Duties and fees" ("Duties" when you leave the fees out), and its share of the value of the goods. Beside it: the duties and the fees apart, and the landed cost, which adds the value of the goods, the duties, the fees, and the freight and the insurance you entered.
Without a value or a price, the estimate gives the duty rate instead, to apply to any value.
What the total includes, and what it does not
Under the total, two lines recall what it was calculated for, how and when the goods arrive, and what it leaves out.
- Included: every US duty that applies to the code, the country of origin and the date, the base duty and the additional duties of Chapter 99; and, unless you leave them out, CBP's entry fees: the merchandise processing fee (MPF), and the harbor maintenance fee (HMF) for goods that arrive by sea.
- Not included: the freight or the insurance you did not enter, which the landed cost leaves out; your customs broker's fees; antidumping and countervailing duties; other taxes and fees.
The breakdown, line by line
Under the total, each duty and fee has its own line: its legal basis as a tag (Section 301, Section 232, Section 201, Section 338, Column 2), what it is in plain words, its rate as the official text writes it, the Chapter 99 heading it comes from, its amount and its share of the total. Each line links to its official source. A line marked "Official notice · ahead of the USITC tariff" rests on an official action the USITC has not yet written into the tariff.
Folded under "Sources and details": the measures examined but not applied here, each with its reason; the official sources; the edition used and when the sources were last checked; and the fingerprints that let a saved estimate be replayed exactly.
The status
A badge beside the title says whether the total is complete:
- Complete
- Every component is established; nothing is missing.
- Needs information
- Something only you can give is missing: a complete code, the value or a quantity, or the answer to a question without an ordinary case. What is established so far is shown, and the estimate leads you to the field to fill.
- Partial
- Part of the estimate is withheld for a reason you cannot fix: a Chapter 99 heading under review, a rate under verification after a reported error, or an official notice not read yet. The established components are shown; the total is not.
- No estimate
- The code does not exist (Not found), the date or the code is outside what TariffTrust covers (Not covered), or a rate or the kind of entry is one it does not calculate (Unsupported).
Whatever the status, an unknown amount is never shown as zero.
Questions and their ordinary case
Some duties depend on what the code does not say: what the product contains, how it was made, whether you claim an exemption. The calculator asks these questions under "Questions about these goods", by measure, as soon as the code and the country are entered. Until you answer one, it takes its ordinary case: the goods are what the measures of their code are aimed at, and no exemption, advantage or certification is claimed. Each question shows what the other answers would give, and a tag says where each measure stands: Needed for the total, Answered, Ordinary case or Not claimed.
Scenarios, when an answer is unknown
A question without an ordinary case holds the total back. When such yes-or-no or choice questions remain, the estimate calculates every coherent combination of their answers, up to twelve, and gives the range of the total: "Between … and … depending on …". Beyond twelve, it gives a prudent range when every component can be bounded.
The date the rules apply
An estimate applies the rules in force on one date, printed at its top: the date of entry, the day the goods are entered into the United States or withdrawn from a bonded warehouse, in New York time. Left blank, it is today. You can choose a past date, back to the first edition TariffTrust has in service. On a day when a measure takes effect at a stated hour, the estimate asks for the time of entry when it changes the result.
Keep it: PDF report and proof bundle
In a workspace, included in TariffTrust's plans, an estimate can be saved, shared by a link, downloaded as a PDF report or exported as a proof bundle. A saved estimate keeps its inputs, its result, its data and its engine version: it is never recalculated with newer data, and it replays exactly. The PDF report has the same content as the screen. The proof bundle holds what justifies the result: your inputs and answers, the data and engine versions, each official source with its fingerprint, and the decision on each measure examined. If you believe a result is wrong, "Report an error" sends it to TariffTrust with all of that attached.
Updated October 24, 2026. General information as of that date, not legal or customs advice: the official texts prevail, and a licensed customs broker can confirm what applies to your goods.