How much duty will I pay on books from Japan?

On a $100.00 shipment, expect roughly $12.50 to $12.50 in duty — 12.5% to 12.5% of declared value. That is the MFN rate for the goods plus the country-level Section 301 duty. The exact figure depends on your 10-digit HTS classification.

Is there still a reciprocal tariff on goods from Japan?

No. Executive Order 14389 terminated all IEEPA reciprocal tariffs on 20 February 2026. The country-level duty that applies now is a Section 301 forced-labour tariff, effective 24 July 2026.

What paperwork do I need?

Commercial invoice showing a realistic transaction value; Country of origin for each item (where it was made, not where you posted it); 10-digit HTSUS classification for each item; Accurate goods description — "gift", "sample" and "no commercial value" are what get parcels held; Your buyer's full name, address and phone number.

Import duty on books from Japan to the US

Q: Does the $800 de minimis exemption still apply to books from Japan?

The $800 de minimis exemption does not apply. It has been suspended for all non-postal modes since 24 June 2026, so this parcel needs a customs entry no matter how little it is worth.

Japanese books arriving by courier carries an estimated 12.5% – 12.5% duty. The $800 de minimis exemption no longer applies to it. Here is the whole calculation, with the rule behind each line.

Shipping from

What you are sending

Declared value USD

How it ships Courier / express Post

Updates as you type. This site is static, so the button above needs JavaScript. Without it, pick your country and product from the pre-computed pages at the foot of this page — every combination has one.

$800 exemption It has been suspended for all non-postal modes since 24 June 2026, so this parcel needs a customs entry no matter how little it is worth.

Estimated duty on $100.00 $12.50 12.5% of declared value · Entry Type 11 informal entry

This is a range, not a number, because the exact rate depends on your 10-digit HTS line — fibre content, construction, value per dozen. Anyone quoting a single figure without that detail is guessing.

How that is built up
MFN (Column 1 General) dutyHTS 4901	0%
Section 301 top-upSection 301 (forced labour), net of MFN	12.5%
Total duty rate	12.5%

Fees, on top of duty (FY2026 schedule)
Informal entry fee (Entry Type 11, automated)	$2.69
Charged per entry. A manual entry costs $8.06 instead.
Express consignment fee (per waybill)	$1.34
Charged by CBP per individual waybill on express-carrier shipments.
Carrier brokerage / disbursement fee	varies
Set by the carrier, not by CBP, and it is usually the largest fee on a small parcel. Carriers charge it for advancing the duty on your buyer's behalf. We do not quote a number because we have not verified current published rates — check your carrier's fee schedule.

Landed cost, goods + duty + known fees $116.53 – $116.53 Excludes the carrier or postal handling charge above, which we will not invent a number for. Add it from your carrier's published schedule.

What has to be on the paperwork

Commercial invoice showing a realistic transaction value
Country of origin for each item (where it was made, not where you posted it)
10-digit HTSUS classification for each item
Accurate goods description — "gift", "sample" and "no commercial value" are what get parcels held
Your buyer's full name, address and phone number

Every number above, traced to its source

USITC HTS headings 4901–4902 (General rates) verified 1 August 2026
USTR Notice of Action §II.A, §II.B.28 (doc 2026-15181) verified 1 August 2026
CBP interim final rule, 91 FR 37789 (doc 2026-12670) verified 1 August 2026
E.O. 14389, 91 FR 9437 (doc 2026-03832) verified 1 August 2026
Proclamation 11012, 91 FR 9339, cl. 7 (doc 2026-03824) verified 1 August 2026
CBP Dec. 25-10, customs user fees FY2026 (doc 2025-13869) verified 1 August 2026

Books specifically

Printed books, brochures and leaflets are free of MFN duty. Books may also qualify as informational materials, a category that has historically been carved out of country-level trade actions — worth checking the Section 301 annex before assuming the country rate applies.

Shipping from Japan

Japan is capped rather than stacked, under its Agreement on Reciprocal Trade. Where the MFN rate is below 12.5%, the Section 301 duty tops the total up to exactly 12.5%; where MFN is already 12.5% or more, the Section 301 duty is zero. So the total never exceeds 12.5% on this account — do not add 12.5% to the MFN rate.

Sending it by courier

De minimis has been suspended for this mode since 24 June 2026, so there is no value floor — a $15 parcel gets an entry just like a $1,500 one. Below $2,500 the normal path is Entry Type 11 informal entry; above it, formal entry. The carrier almost always files on your buyer's behalf and then bills the duty plus its own brokerage or disbursement fee to whoever the incoterm makes liable.

The rules behind this estimate

In forceEndedUpcomingConditional

24 JUL 26 The 10% across-the-board surcharge expired on 24 July 2026 Expired

Between 24 February and 24 July 2026 almost everything entering the US carried an extra 10% Section 122 balance-of-payments surcharge under Proclamation 11012. Section 122 caps such a surcharge at 150 days unless Congress extends it, Congress did not, and it lapsed by operation of law at 12:01 a.m. EDT on 24 July 2026. It is no longer collected. If you are comparing a quote against an invoice from June or early July, that 10 percentage points is the difference.

Proclamation 11012, 91 FR 9339, cl. 7 (doc 2026-03824) · verified 1 August 2026

24 JUL 26 What replaced it: Section 301 forced-labour tariffs, live since 24 July 2026 In force

The same instant the surcharge lapsed, a new country-level duty took its place. USTR investigated 60 economies over their failure to impose and enforce a prohibition on importing goods made with forced labour, and now applies 10% or 12.5% ad valorem to all goods of each, with annex exemptions. It took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on 24 July 2026. Goods already loaded and in transit before that moment and entered before 28 July 2026 were spared; everything since is caught. This is now the main country-level add-on on top of the ordinary MFN duty rate.

USTR Notice of Action, 91 FR 47317 (doc 2026-15181) · verified 1 August 2026

24 JUL 26 Some products are exempt — and we cannot read the list for you Conditional

Annexes I and II of the USTR notice exempt specific HTS lines from the Section 301 tariff for each economy. In the Federal Register those annexes are published as scanned page images, not as text, so they cannot be encoded here and this calculator does not apply them. If your product is exempt, your real duty is lower than the estimate below. Check the annex against your 10-digit HTS code before you price anything.

USTR Notice of Action, Annexes I and II (doc 2026-15181) · verified 1 August 2026

24 JUN 26 The $800 de minimis exemption is gone for courier and freight In force

Since 24 June 2026 the $800 de minimis exemption is indefinitely suspended for every mode of importation except the international postal network. Any shipment arriving by courier, express, air, ocean or truck — whatever it is worth, even $12 — must now go through formal or informal entry procedures. Entry Type 86 is suspended and release-from-manifest is no longer available, which leaves Entry Type 11 informal entry as the normal path for shipments valued at $2,500 or less.

CBP interim final rule, 91 FR 37789 (doc 2026-12670) · verified 1 August 2026

20 FEB 26 Reciprocal tariffs were abolished in February 2026 — ignore any page that still quotes them Terminated

This is the one almost every other site still gets wrong. On 20 February 2026, Executive Order 14389 terminated all additional ad-valorem duties imposed under IEEPA — including the reciprocal-tariff regime of E.O. 14257, along with the Canada, Mexico, China-fentanyl, Brazil, Russia, Cuba, Iran and Venezuela-oil duty orders. The order states those duties "shall no longer be in effect and, as soon as practicable, shall no longer be collected." If a landed-cost calculator is still adding a 26%, 34% or 50% "reciprocal tariff" for your country, it is quoting a rule that has been dead since February.

E.O. 14389, 91 FR 9437 (doc 2026-03832) · verified 1 August 2026

Get told when these rules change

US import rules for small sellers changed three times in 2026 — February, June and July. When the next one lands, you get one plain-English email. No schedule, no filler; some months there is nothing to send.