CHRISSI: Good afternoon I am
Chrissi Guth with the office of
tribulations. Today's webinar is on
triennial status reporting. Please be
mindful that you will be on mute during
the presentation. Therefore we ask that
you please submit any questions you have
in the chat feature. If you plan to
request the optional CCS CES credits
through the educational institute please
check the chatbox for the completion
code. It will be provided several times
throughout the webinar. Now I would like
to pass it over to Director of
commercial operations revenue and entry
division, Shari McCann.
SHARI: Thanks Chrissi and hello,
everybody. Thank you for joining today's
webinar on the 2024 triennial status
report and the annual user fee. I am the
director of the commercial operations
revenue division here in the office of
trade. Today our broker management ranch
and revenue modernization team will
provide an in-depth explanation of your
responsibilities for filing a 2024
triennial status report and the 2024
annual permit user fee. Including
detailed instructions on how to complete
these actions.
CBP is encouraging everyone to save
time by submitting online via the ECB
portal. During today's webinar we
encourage your active participation and
we will have two dedicated question
answer portions. One for the triennial
status report and one for the annual
permit user fee. Please exhibit your
questions through the chat function in
the webinar. Our team will cover as many
questions as time allows. The team has
also provided some sponsors to frequent
asked questions on the customs broker
webpage on CBP.gov and on the ECB
portal.
We also have a job page describing
triennial status report submission
available on the modernized customs
broker webpage on cbp.gov and now I
would like to turn webinar over to
Janine our international trade
specialist with the broker management
branch. To review today's agenda and
introduce the team.
>> Hello, everyone this is Janine
Delgado here in the big room on screen.
I am going to I'm going to cover rental
status reporting today and we are also
going to cover the annual permit user
fee. Submissions. Today. Both of those
are now available in the eCBP portal. I
will cover policy and regular in portion
of each of those. Then I will pass it
over to to the office of finance for
them to cover mechanics of submitting
your triennial status report in the
portal and submitting your user fi
payment in the portal.
We know we have about 15,000 brokers
with licenses who have to submit their
triennial status report so we will cover
that portion first. And then stop for a
Q&A session on TSR. And after that, we
will move on to the annual permit user
fee portion. There is a much smaller
universe of you folks out there that
need to pay your annual user permit fee.
So we are holding that for the end so
those of you who don't want to hear
about that -- you can drop off.
Then we will do a Q&A session
specifically to permit user fee at the
end.
So Chrissi let's move to the next
light.
We briefly want to show you all the
hard-working people we have here in the
broker management branch. Sherry is part
division director. Omar Qureshi is our
branch chief and we have a great group
of international trade specialists that
work on all of our poker management
projects. To my left is Marianna and
that is all of us in the room here
today.
Also with us today are folks in the
office of finance revenue modernization
also known as COE. We have a host of
wonderful folks that have worked on this
great eCBP portal to get the broker fees
moved into an electronic environment.
And stop requiring you all to write
checks and us to write cash receipts.
The presenter today will be William with
Rev Mod will make it to that portion. So
2024 triennial status report. That
report and the 100-dollar associated fee
is required from every single license
holder whether individual, Corporation,
partnership, LLC. You need to submit
that report to us once every three
years. All license holders are on the
exact same schedule. It does not matter
when your license was issued to you.
Everybody pays -- and some is that
report and paste that fee in the same
year. The last time you all submitted it
was in 2021. Now we are submitting it
again three years later in 2024.
The report is due by February. In
2024 it is due no later than the 29th of
February. You guys get an extra day.
The eCBP portal for submit your
report will be open next Monday December
18th of 2023. We just issued a C SMS
message on that yesterday. If you have
not seen it go check it out. The TSR
itself is due from every license holder
who had a license issued on or before
December 31 of 2023.
If you get your license issued
today, you will oh a TSR for 2024. I'm
not talking about you got your paper
license because those are lagging
behind. I am talking about you were
notified by your BMO that your license
applications was approved and you have a
license -- that means you have a TSR.
Your license is active as of this month
or anytime sooner.
Licenses that are issued on or after
January 1st of 2024 will not owe that
TSR until the 2027 reporting year.
Just another reminder -- we have
been saying this often -- continuing
education is not a requirement for the
2020 for filing. You will not need to
report continuing education or take
continuing education until we issue a
federal register notice in the future.
Giving you the details. And then it will
be reported on the 2027 TSR.
Last item here is just so everyone
understands -- you don't get that TSR
exhibited by February 29th of 2024 your
license will become suspended the
following day. You don't want that to
happen.
So what happens if you fail to pay
your status -- file your status report
by February? What happens? Your license
will go into suspension status and CBP
-- manager who manages your license --
we'll mail you a certified letter
notifying you that your license is
suspended and that letter will give you
60 days in which to rectify that. 60
days from the date on that letter which
is the date the letter is mailed.
You can still go into the portal in
those 60 days and file it through the
portal. That is your fastest means. We
ask that you do that. And then the
license will become activated again.
If you missed that 60 day window,
your license will become revoked by
operation of law without prejudice to
the submission of a new license. What
does that mean? It means that license
won't be done revoked -- it remains
revoked -- but you can file a new
application for a license and it will be
reviewed by CBP and we will process it
just like we did the first time you
applied for a license.
For individuals, you still have to
meet the exam requirement. If you are
beyond your three years from when you
passed the exam and you have lost your
license through revocation you will have
to take the exam again. No one wants to
do that. So please file your TSR. Tell
your friends.
Lastly, once revocation occurs CBP
will publish notice in Federal Register
listing licenses revoked by operation of
law.
The processing centers are sending
out her minor information. Beyond the
CSMS we issued their various means by
which they sent information out.
Information notices. Emails. To the
brokers they are responsible for. They
may send individual mailings -- smaller
locations are easier to manage then say
New York. And they may sent information
out to local brokers associations who
can let members know we issued a CSMS
message. We will send out tweets once in
a while as well. And we also have some
flyers created by Rev Mod that we will
be sending out to the centers that they
will be posting and they can
electronically send you as well.
We have also published updated FAQs
on our customs Rocher FAQ page. We will
post that link in the chat. We also have
updated TSR system quick reference
guides for the variety of types of
broker licenses that are out there --
individual versus Corporation. Not
conducting customs business versus
conducting customs of business business.
Those guys are very useful when you go
online to guide you if you run into
issues. It always helps to have a
visual.
I want to go over what is required
for an individual license holder to
report and then we will go over what is
required for an organization license to
report.
The items that are bolded are the
new information in a modernized
regulations that became effective last
December. Of 2022.
We did not talk too much about these
new requirements back when we were
rolling this out. In the webinars we
gave a year ago because we did not want
to tell you something about your TSR you
are not going to file in a year. We are
now giving you the information as needed
up front so you remember it.
Every individual will need to type
in -- once they have logged in -- they
will need to type in their license
number and license issue date. Once you
type that in it will pull up your name.
Because you need to have the name of
your license. The eCBP is pulling that
for you so you don't have to type it in.
Then you need your port of license
issuance but the eCBP system will also
populate that for you out of a. So at
the top of the screen as you navigate
through you have your ices number. Your
name. And your port of license. Whether
or not you actively engaged in customs
business you have to lettuce know that.
So there is a question you will have to
answer. Also you have to indicate
whether or not you meet all applicable
requirements to hold a license. Those
are requirements 11111. You also have to
indicate whether or not you have engaged
in any conduct that would constitute
grounds for suspension or revocation of
your license. Those are the grounds that
are in 1 11 53.
Also all licensed individuals will
have to provide current personal mailing
address. If you're actively engaged in
customs business as a sole proprietor
you will need to provide your business
address and you will all need to provide
an email address. That is also new. Not
only requiring a mailing address but
also a email address. Trying to move
into the new world of emails.
If an individual license holder is
employed by a broker, you also need to
provide your employer's name and
address. That is for individuals.
So for organizations, you also need
to provide the organizations license
number and issue date. If you are a
licensed broker filling it out for your
organization, you will not need to give
us your license number -- you need to
give organization license number and
organization license issue date.
Then organizations are supposed to
indicate -- tell us whether corporate
association or partnership. But eCBP
will retrieve that information for you.
You will need -- the system will be
pulling that information about the
license type from Ace so it will
populate for you. And the company name
as well will populate for you.
As you are filling out the corporate
TSR you will need to indicate whether or
not the company is actively engaged in
transacting business as a broker.
You need to indicate whether or not
the company continues to meet all
applicable requirements. And that is 1
11 11. Whether or not the company has
engaged in any conduct that would
constitute grounds for suspension or
revocation of their license. That is the
items identified in 1 11 53.
Those two are new that I just
mentioned.
You have to provide brokers office
of record address. And then you will
need to provide the permit qualifier
name and the licensed member or licensed
officer names. You may have more than
one licensed. Their addresses and
emails. And that list should include the
license qualifier. That piece of
information we are going to ask you to
upload via a PDF, Word, or Excel
document. I will talk more about that in
a moment.
Finally, that report should be E
signed by a licensed officer or license
member of the partnership.
One great thing is brokers no longer
need to provide CBP with full employee
list as part of their TSR submission.
That ended with new regulation. Instead,
you are reporting employees through the
ACE portal. So because you are now
reporting every employee on your
national permit, we do not need you to
send in a list of your employees on your
TSR.
But we still are going to need an
upload and that is what I was talking
about a minute ago. We will need an
upload that contains the name of the
permit qualifier and the name of all
licensed officers along with their
addresses, emails, and an indication
which one of them is the qualifier.
License qualifier. And I could be the
same person as the permit qualifier but
in some cases it is not. That should be
uploaded on eight PDF or a Word or Excel
document. I have created an example here
on screen. In this case we have one
officer -- John Marshall -- who is also
license qualifier. I have included his
license number. That is a unique
identifier for him. His home address and
his email. And then this company also
has another officer -- Alex Thomas --
who is just an officer but he is a
license holder along with his license
number, home address an email. And then
Amy Brown is the permit qualifier. And
her license number. We're not requiring
you to notify us of permit qualifier
home address or email.
I type this into an Excel document
but you can type that information out on
a Word document. You can write it on a
piece of paper and scan it to send to us
but those are the data elements we
require in the regulation.
I have one more slide.
So a quick overview and then I will
pass it over to will to walk you through
the TSR filing.
Just so everyone know, once again
December 18th Monday you can go in and
begin filing your triennial status
report on eCBP. You can use smartphone,
computer, tablet. And pay your $100 fee.
We take credit cards -- the system takes
credit cards and debit cards. The
payment piece is run through pay .gov.
No additional fees for using the credit
card. The other plus to doing this on
eCBP is your completed TSR and receipt
associated with it can be retrieved from
the eCBP portal at any time. You can
even -- you file your TSR in 2021. You
can go into the system now and retrieve
the receipt and a copy of the TSR you
filed in 2021.
That's a pretty cool piece about
eCBP.
And the other piece the portal will
do -- you as an individual broker who
work for a brokerage conducting customs
business -- you can fill out your TSR, E
signed it and then your brokerage can
come in behind you and submit the
payment for your TSR for you. If the
brokerage has 10 employees, 10 of them
can fill their own TSR out and E signed
it and the brokerage can go in and pay
for all 10 of those with one payment
transaction.
So that is some of the exciting
details about using eCBP. Will will talk
more about all of this. And another
reminder -- frequently asked questions
and reference guides are available
online. We encourage you to check that
stuff out.
I'll pass it over to Will.
>> Will: Thank you Janine. While
the first slide is loading giving you a
perspective of the progression of
workflow I will introduce myself. My
name is William Clancy and I am a
project manager for revenue
modernization electronic payments
options project. Our team has developed
systems that allow for the online
registration for customs brokers license
exams and since 2021 the online
processing of triennial status reports.
And now, with the 2024 filing period, we
have introduced the permit annual user
fee online collections. We look forward
to future where we can put online the
license application process in the
permit application process as well.
I will go off picture here so I
don't run into any bandwidth issues.
Just turn off the video.
Today's topic as Janine has already
introduced is the online filing of
triennial status reports. Saving time
and increasing data quality. For both
CBP and trade community. Janine has gone
through the regulations and how they
apply to requirements for filling out
TSR. This portion of the presentation
will focus on the online mechanics of
filing the TSR and paying corresponding
fee.
We'll guide you through several
workflow diagrams. To highlight the data
elements required for filing the TSR and
their order of completion. And hints on
how to make the process smoother.
This slide represents the general
workflow of the TSR system. By the way,
all items covered here are also covered
in our quick reference guides and those
can be found at CBP .gov/trade/eCBP.
So in this diagram the first four
boxes at the top show you how you access
the eCBP portal and log in via login
.gov.
They are the same for each being
applied for. One item you might remember
as a change since 2021 is when you start
the login process you will be presented
with two boxes you need to acknowledge
one covers the security -- CBP security
statement and the other represents CBP
privacy Act information. Those come
directly before signing on through
Login.gov.
When Login.gov returns you to the
portal you will notice that these email
address used to sign on will be
displayed up in the right-hand corner of
the screen. If there is no email address
up there there has been an issue or
problem in the login process.
Once logged in, press the TSR button
and proceed to the input pages.
Login.gov provides external security for
the portal. Whereas the etching of the
license and license issue date provides
internal security for brokers.
As Jeannine mentioned before, the
first thing the system requires you to
furnish is your license number and the
issue date of that license. So it
matches up and allows you further access
into the system.
We will focus on the complete status
report box. Not here. In different
variations. There are four basic types.
First will go over the individual broker
non-active status. Then the individual
active broker which is our largest group
represented. And then the sole
proprietor and the organization licenses
which covers corporations, partnerships
and associations.
The individual nonactive TSR is the
most elementary of the TSR. After login
the -- after you login, for the broker
homepage selects the TSR button. On the
system will ask you for your license
number and date of issue combination.
At times there can be a data
mismatch and this needs to be rectified.
We will cover some of those scenarios at
the end of these TSR slides.
Once the system has accepted the
licensee credentials it will ask the
three eligibility questions and these
are represented by little dots that you
select yes or no two. Are you actively
engaged in the brokers business yes or
no? Are you currently a federal employee
-- yes/no/or active reserve. And do you
still need the applicable requirements
of a license holder and certify that the
licensee has not been involved in
conduct that could bring license
suspension? So these are three
checkboxes that you have to acknowledge.
If you think you are nonactive
licensee but you work for an active
license broker you still may be
considered an active broker.
So you need to be careful about that
selection.
It will come up later on in the
process when you are trying to have --
if you select that your broker pay on
your behalf, that will not be available
to you. You will only be available to
pay for yourself.
Next the system will ask you to
confirm your address on record. And make
edits to the address and supply current
email address.
Nonactive license holders are
required to provide CBP with current
mailing address. So that is the box in
the middle. Next we will go with pair
selection. And that is the only other
requirement for the nonactive license
fee. That is to sign -- E signed the
form and make payment through pay .gov.
Since by definition nonactive license
holder is not conducting broker
business, they only have the self-pay
option. Once E signed, if you need to
make edits or changes to the information
in the TSR form you will need to re-E
signed before the system will navigate
you to pay .gov for payment.
The portal currently accepts debit
and credit cards for payment. And once
you have entered payment information in
pay .gov and authorized the payment for
your TSR, you're TSR is considered
complete and your receipt of payment
will be emailed to the address in the
TSR form.
We will discuss the difference
between a receipt and a notification
another scenario.
So that shows you -- that workflow
-- payer selection is only allowed for
yourself. And you will type in your name
and press the E sign button and it will
take you to pay .gov.
This slide indicates the individual
active broker which is the vast majority
of license holders.
The individual box is determined by
identification of the license number and
date of issue combination. So the system
knows from last report based on your
license number what category you were
filing under.
Later on in this workflow we will be
submitting the filer code of the broker
and that will further solidify that this
is an active Rocher -- license broker --
operating under a brokerage.
The address and content section
first requires the answers to the three
eligibility questions. Are you actively
engaged in broker business? Yes or no.
Are you a federal employee? And do you
still meet the applicable requirements
of a license holder and certify that the
licensee is and has not been involved in
conduct that would bring license
suspension or revocation.
The system will ask you to confirm
your address on record for make edits to
that address and supply current an email
address.
So that is the address and contact
box.
The box is broker employer. It will
first ask you if you are the qualifying
member or officer of the brokerage.
Where you are employed. You can answer
yes or no. By entering your employer's
filer code you will be provided name of
license brokerage in their default
address. Business address. Directly
below the brokerage name, there is a
small hot key and link that says select
here. Press on the select here button
and a list of likely business addresses
linked to that brokerage will appear.
Please select the address you work from.
And if that address is not in the list
supplied, you do have the option of
adding an address. But what we want here
is you to prove or acknowledge that it
is the brokerage you work for. And then
provide your place of business where you
are conducting broker work.
In the payer section, it will ask
you -- will you be paying for the TSR
for your license? TSR are not considered
timely submitted until the fee is paid.
By selecting myself, under the payer
selection, you'll be taken directly to
the E sign area and you will type in
your name and then E sign the document.
And then it will take you to the pay
.gov area for payment.
That process is the same for all
types of licenses. You will E sign and
as long as you are paying it will take
you directly to pay .gov.
But by selecting brokerage, this is
one of the big and if it's Jeannine
referred to -- the filing will E signed
the report and leave it in a payment
pending status. If you navigate away
from the screen and make any additional
edits you will once again have to E sign
the form. If the form is left in any
other status than payment pending, your
employer will not be able to locate or
pay for this TSR form.
Again -- if you are paying for
yourself you go to -- the system shifts
you to pay .gov and debit card or credit
card are accepted.
So what is the difference between
having a receipt for payment and a
payment notification? The actual payer
receives the receipt. That lists out all
of the licenses that are represented by
that payment. Whereas the note is prove
of payment for an individual license
holder. When the payment is successfully
made, the payment maker will receive the
receipt. And the individual licensing
folder will receive the payment
notification. That can serve as proof of
payment if there is ever a question.
This slide represents the sole
proprietor type of license. Where an
individual license holder who also
possesses a brokerage permit. The
complete status report box license type
is determined by the identification of
the license number and the date of issue
combination. And then, confirming the
sole proprietor information in the
subsequent box.
Again, address and contact section
first requires answers to the three
eligibility questions. The system will
then ask you to confirm your address on
record and make edits to the address and
supply current email address.
In the sole proprietor section, you
are invited to verify the name of the
sole proprietor and to verify or edit
the address for where the broker
business is conducted. In the payer
selection section, it will ask you who
be paying for the TSR fee for your
license. Again TSR are not considered
finally timely submitted until the fee
is paid. By selecting myself you will be
taken directly to the E sign section
where you will E sign, type in your name
and then be forwarded to pay .gov.
Similarly when the brokerage pay or sole
proprietor pay is selected the filer
will E sign the report and leave it in
the payment pending status. The most
complex of the formats of TSR filings is
the corporate partnership Association.
The organization TSR should not be
forgotten as it is a licensed holder and
needs to also submit a TSR. What we have
seen in the past is people neglect --
because it is not their own possession
and they are not representing their own
license -- the organization TSR
sometimes gets overlooked or not filed.
So you want to make sure that you are
completing those TSR as well.
Again, the complete status report
box license type is determined by the
identification of the license number and
date of issue and confirming
organization information in the
subsequent box. The address and contact
section first requires you to enter the
name an email of person completing the
form. This is intended to be an officer
of the organization but want to know who
is completing the form.
The system presents the two
eligibility questions which are -- are
you actively involved in the broker
business? And -- do you still need --
does the organization still need meet
the applicable requirements of license
holder and certify that the licensee is
and has not been involved in conduct
that would bring suspension or
revocation.
The system will ask you to confirm
the office of record address and the
email contact information.
The qualifier information section
first asks you if you presently have a
designated license qualifier. If you
answer yes, it will direct you to input
that persons license number into verify
in a pop up window that the named person
is the qualifier.
If you select no, the system will
prompt you to provide date of separation
from the previous qualifier. This will
not affect the workflow. You can
continue on.
The section four licensed officers
and members and permit license qualifier
section will guide you through file
upload process to meet this requirement.
As Jeannine indicated earlier are
requiring one file upload -- same
mechanism that was used in 2021 for
uploading employee lists. It will ask
you -- the file needs to be included --
needs to include license number of each
officer and member of the organization.
The name, address, email address,
license number, designation of the
license qualifier. And the permit
qualifier. This file can be submitted in
Word, Excel, PDF or CSV formats.
By selecting the button that says
select file, a file directory will
display and you can navigate throughout
your file structure to find the file you
want uploaded.
Once you have selected that file and
it has been uploaded, the name will
appear next to the upload button. You
can repeat this process numerous times.
You only have to remember that the last
file uploaded is the file of record. So
the system only accepts one file per
TSR. So if you think you have made
mistakes mistake or need to add
additional information, the last value
upload is the complete and final file.
And all of the forms, should there be
data missing or issues that will not
allow proceeding through payment the
selection between review E sign header
an actual signature box will display a
list of outstanding items.
So if for some reason you get
through the process or think you have
gotten through the process but the
system senses there is some required
data that has not been supplied, it will
give you a message there in red font
that will indicate what needs to be
addressed. So you can go back, rectify
the situation, and then continue on.
The payer selection again will ask
you who will be paying for the TSR. The
TSR are not considered timely submitted
until the fee is paid. By selecting
myself, you will be taken directly to
the E sign and pay area where you enter
your name and select E sign and go to
pay .gov.
If you select brokerage option, the
filer will E sign and leave it in
payment pending status.
If you navigate away from this
section before proceeding you will have
to E sign again to make sure the file is
in payment pending status.
Pay .gov excepts debit and credit
cards. And the notifications will be
distributed when the license holder has
made the payment.
This is one of the best features we
believe -- allowing people to make
multiple payments at one time. So you
are making one payment. One charge. For
multiple TSR and that save you a lot of
money and time -- if each individual
broker has to make the payment and then
seek reimbursement -- that is to your
company's benefit. Allows you to save
the time of reconciliation and payments.
So very easy. Concept. When you want to
make a batch of payments it does not
have to be all of your payments. From
the TSR period. If you feel you have
enough in there that you want to make
payments and then come back later and
clean up the rest as the brokers
complete their TSR, you can do that.
Without having to go through the
reimbursement process, they can also
better monitor compliance of their
brokers.
After logging on -- if you are
already in the system and navigating
back to the broker homepage, you select
brokerage/sole proprietor payment
button. You enter the organization or
sole proprietor license number and date
of issue. Enter name an email of the
person making the payment so they
receive the actual payment receipt. And
upon selecting the next button, the
payment list section will appear. If the
corporate association or partnership TSR
has yet to be filed, a warning message
will appear as indicated earlier.
We just don't want you to make your
payments and the overall organization
not to be in compliance because somebody
forgot to fill out a TSR.
You can dismiss the warning and
proceed to marking which or all
available TSR that will be paid for. On
the left-hand side of the form there are
little checkboxes and you can either go
up to the very top on the left-hand side
in the header and click the single box
that it will select all that are
eligible. Or you can click individual
files for processing.
And like I said, you can do a
selective batch if you want to and come
back and pay for more later. And if you
go into this section intending -- your
brokers have said 5 out of 5 brokers
have submitted their TSR and you want to
pay for them. If you go in there and
only four -- you only see four in the
list -- then you need to go back to the
one that is not there and have them open
up there TSR to find out if they didn't
provide the correct filer coat on TSR
for employer or if for some reason they
paid for it themselves.
When you have selected the licenses
desired, you can double-check by looking
at the total amount expected to be paid.
Against licenses you have in hand. And
you wanted to make payment for.
This will then direct you to pay
.gov to complete the payment process.
And then issue payment receipt to the
payer and notifications to the
individual brokers.
Again, the receipt will list out
individually all of the license numbers
that are covered under that payment.
Whereas the notification only gives
notification that that individual had
their feet paid for them by the
organization.
That completes my walk-through of
the TSR process. Here we have a couple
of the common questions. There are a
couple of error codes and warning
messages we can go over before we go to
the question-and-answer period. A couple
of things I didn't mention -- when
entering things like names and
addresses, we have a very particular
format and usually it is broken down
into first name middle name last name.
And for addresses, house or building
number, street name, city and state. If
we keep all of those segmented as
required, that really helps on keeping
the data clean and resolve some problems
down the road. As far as data in the
system.
And we have pretty much developed
this out but sometimes there will be
extra spaces before an entry or at the
end and that will tend to confuse the
system.
But that has pretty much been
resolved over our development time.
Jeannine, I am not sure that we have
time for these questions but other than
that thank you for your time and we hope
you will embrace the online process. And
that we can increase your online
adoption rate. Last time it was 90%. We
are hoping in the high 90s for this go
round.
>> Jeannine: Chrissi can you move
to slide 24 us? We do want to take a few
TSR questions. We are right at the top
of the hour. We have another hour to go.
I think the user fi will be a little
quicker because there is a lot less
involved in paying a user fi than the
filing of the TSR. So we will try to
answer -- spend about 10 minutes
answering questions on the TSR. If we do
not get them all answered, we are going
to collect them all and we will work on
the questions that seem applicable --
not specific questions to someone's
specific situation but general questions
we think people might be asking. We are
going to write up FAQs and we will
publish those on our FAQ page. So if
your question is not answer today please
go to the FAQ page. It might be there
already. In some cases. Or it will be
there once we get these collated and
uploaded.
>> First question we have is I work
for an importer. Moved from broker
employee job last year. I should mention
that engaged it active customs business,
correct?
>> Jeannine: Correct. If you work
for an importer and happen to hold a
brokers license, you are not considered
to be transacting customs business and
you must file TSR. Anyone holding a
broker since right now has to fire file
a TSR.
OMAR: Would you be able to file a
TSR for each broker working in the
corporate license under corporate
account of eCBP?
>> Jeannine: Each individual
license holder is responsible for
completing and E signing their TSR. If
your brokerage -- not if you work for an
importer but if you work for an
brokerage, they can submit the payment
for your TSR for you if that is
something they normally do. If that is
within what they give you. But you need
to complete your TSR and E signed it.
OMAR: Will slides be available
after the webinar?
>> Jeannine: Not immediately. We
will post the slides after the webinar
and I believe Chrissi's group will send
out email letting you know when both the
record webinar and slide deck are
available.
OMAR: If you are working for an
importer as a self filer are we or are
we not actively engaged?
>> Jeannine: If you work for an
importer you are not actively engaged in
conducting transactions business because
your importer is filing entries to
account for its own cargo clearance. Is
only if you work for a broker you would
be considered or if you are a broker
working for yourself as a sole
proprietor would you be considered
actively transacting customs business.
OMAR: Do we provide employer
physical address for brokerage location
or corporate address?
JEANNINE: Great question under the
new regulations for a national permit.
And I'm going to have to put that on
hold. We will make that an FAQ.
OMAR: Can the individual personal
mailing address be a PO Box?
JEANNINE: Yes. Your mailing address
may be a PO Box. Your physical address
needs to be an actual address. But the
TSR is only requiring a mailing address.
OMAR: If we are individuals
qualifying officers of a corporation are
we to indicate when filing our
individual TSR that we are engaged in
customs business?
JEANNINE: Can you read that again?
OMAR: If we are individuals that
are qualifying officers of the
corporation, are we to indicate when
filing our individual TSR that we are
engaged in customs business?
JEANNINE: Yes. If you are an
officer of the company -- of a brokerage
-- you hold a brokerage license so you
are filing your own personal TSR that
you are considered to be actively
engaged in transacting customs business.
Yes.
OMAR: Does a permit qualifier of
the Corporation have to submit a TSR
under their individual license as well?
JEANNINE: Yes. If you hold an
individual license, no matter what you
do for a living, you must file a TSR.
OMAR: Only brokers that are
licensed brokers or officers in general?
JEANNINE: That was one I was not
sure -- so what you must report on the
upload is only licensed officers of the
Corporation. That is what that question
is. You're only required to report to
us, as an organization you only need to
report to us your licensed officers and
your permit qualifier.
OMAR: Do we need to add all
employees with an organization Rocher
licensed to the list or only officers
and qualifier?
JEANNINE: Just officers and permit
qualifier.
OMAR: What if an individual is
licensed -- newly licensed before
12/31/23 and the plan is to apply for
the company but obviously want to be
approved year? So not a sole proprietor
and no customs business will have been
transacted by the individual. How do we
list that?
JEANNINE: I think you can certainly
list as either. I don't think that is an
issue. You are not yet transacting
customs business so you could certainly
say that. On your triennial status
report. Although I know you are
intending to transact customs business
in the year of 2024. So you could say
transacting customs business. I think in
that case either answer is appropriate.
OMAR: How can I retrieve my
username from my last TSR that was
filed?
JEANNINE: Mark -- do you want to
head that went up?
>> Mark: Username is a Login.gov
account would be an email. But if you
cannot remember it we can contact our
Rev Mod service desk and they can look
it up for you. I believe we have the Rev
Mod service desk information on one of
these slides. Or at least in the QRG.
OMAR: Thank you. Also on Login.gov
-- an employee reached out to me about
the fact that the login system requires
a code to be sent to her phone. She no
longer has a phone. What should she do
in that case? Mark -- can you answer
that one?
>> Mark: That is a tough one. I
know there are different elements on
Login.gov as to how you set that up. You
can actually I believe have them send
you an email. With a code. Rather than
sending it to a phone. But it is how you
set up your Login.gov. I am assuming
since they already had a Login.gov and
they now no longer have the phone they
originally used for that, -- I think
they may have to set up new Login.gov
ID.
JEANNINE: And then they may need to
contact the service desk? For Rev Mod to
assist them. Because if you have already
logged into eCBP previously with that
Login.gov account you can no longer use,
you'll have to contact our service desk
as well after you have created a new
Login.gov. I suggest you first check in
with Login.gov. Go on to your account
and see if you can figure something out.
And if not, do what Mark said.
>> Mark: I think you can indicate
you have lost your password or don't
remember the password and it may be able
to just do it all via email.
Double-check that.
JEANNINE: I wanted that question
asked because I know we have had a few
people that has happened to. And for
those of you who have a set up Login.gov
account is always a good idea to have a
secondary means in your Login.gov
account of being contacted in case the
same kind of thing happens. If you're
using your work phone for your Login.gov
account for a secondary security and you
leave that work and lose that phone
number then you are in trouble. Is
always smart to use a secondary means of
authentication or don't use your work
phone number or email. Use the email you
will always have with you.
OMAR: Another question but I will
skip it because the remedy is what we
just discussed.
Next one on TSR -- is a company
expected to pay the TSR fee for all
individual licensed employees? Not
officers or qualifiers?
JEANNINE: That is the company
decision. It is your company's decision
whether one of the perks or benefits you
is that they will pay your fee for your
TSR. That is between you and your
company. If your company is not willing
to pay it, when you file your TSR you
will have to pay your $100 fee yourself.
OMAR: Let's go ahead --
JEANNINE: Yes. Let's move on. We
will pen it to use that user fees. And
then we will have an additional Q&A at
the end of that for user fees.
2024 permit user fee. I know this
has been a long time coming. I know I
have said this on internal webinars
before. That yes will have a system in
place soon to be able to pay your user
fee online. And this year, we have a
system in place. Really excited about
it. I hope you brokers out there are
excited to see. So we published a
Federal Register notice on November 27th
announcing that the user fee was going
to be do February 9th of 2024. We also
published in that announcement that you
can pay three eCBP. No longer have to
write a check. Go to the port and drop
your check off. Wait for your receipt to
be written. You can do it online and get
your receipt emailed to you and you are
done. So we are really excited that is
available to you and we are hoping you
all will use it.
The fee this year is $174.80. It is
due February 9th of 2024. The portal has
been open since the 29th of November. A
soft opening. It took us until now to
officially talk to about it beyond the
CSMS message. So we are hoping, hoping
that the majority of you out there
holding a national permit will pay your
user fee online.
So who owes the user fee? Is not
about licenses. We are talking about
individuals and companies that have a
brokers license and hold an active
national permit. If you hold an active
national permit that has been in place
this month or before this month, it had
to of been issued December this month or
earlier, you owe the 2024 user fee. So
while I talked about 15,000 licenses out
there that have to submit a status
report. The user fee is a very small
pool inside that 15,000 people. So if
you don't have a permit you don't owe a
permit user fee. If all you hold is a
license, we are not talking about
licenses anymore. I want to clarify that
because some people get that confused.
So what happens if you don't pay your
permit user fee? Again, similar to the
license -- if you fail to pay your
permit user fi by February 9th, the BMO
will mill you a letter. That says I am
sorry but your permit has been revoked
by operation of law because you failed
to pay the fees you cannot conduct
customs business in 2024. You don't want
to get that letter. Especially if you
are actively transacting customs
business. So please, please get that fee
paid. If you fail to submit that fee and
it is in fact revoked than the remedy to
that is you will have to file a new
permit application under the new
regulatory requirements. And the broker
management officer will review that and
make a decision on issue the permit.
So please get that fee paid in on or
before February 9th. And just like with
licenses, if you do have a permit
revoked will have to publish that in the
Federal Register. So that is the
regulatory piece. I'll pass it back over
to Rev Mod to show you how to submit
that user fi through the portal. Way
easier than the triennial. A couple of
quick fill in the blocks and submit your
user fi payment. Will?
>> Will: This is just a list of the
elements that are required for you to
quickly fill out. If you have them
convenient and collected before you go
into the system it will make it that
much quicker.
As of this morning, 17% of the
permit holders have filed their annual
user fee for 2024 and 91% of those
people used our system for making their
payment.
There is a commercial I have seen
lately where a bank is advertising -- it
can't be easier than this -- and they
could have used us in one of their
commercials.
As you see in the left-hand corner,
you can go to the eCBP portal and either
click on login at the top or on the
left-hand side. You can click either of
those places and it will start the login
process for Login.gov. You will still
have those two acknowledgments --
acknowledge you agree to CBP security
statement and privacy statement. And
once you do that, you will go to
Login.gov.
When you come back from Login.gov,
you will again be on the brokers
homepage and you select permit user fee
payment button which is represented on
the right-hand side in red.
Once you have selected that button,
it will take you to the screen. Where
the permit user fi payment 2024 and it
requires you to enter license number and
license issue date. There has been some
confusion there and we will talk about
it in a couple minutes but while
Jeannine said this is permits only and
only concerning permits, we still
identify you by the use of your license
number and license issue date. Not any
other issue date. Not permit user issue
date. Or any other issue date. Just
license number and corresponding issue
date.
It will move you down and have you
verify the license name. Permit user
filer code and permit number.
Then you need to enter or update
name an email for receipt.
As one of the requirements, the
permit user has to maintain their office
of record address. That will pop up and
allow you to edit is an edit button in
the address field and business email
field.
If you select the edit on the office
of record address field, there will be a
pop-up on the right-hand side that says
-- are you authorized to make edits to
this address? It is a regulation you
have that address so we want to make
sure the right people are making the
adjustments.
If you select okay then it will take
you to the E signed and you will type in
your name. And press the E sign and pay
button on the right-hand side. That will
take you to pay .gov and again pay .gov
will except credit or debit card.
Here are some common issues. We have
had a number of people and we are taking
steps to clarify this issue but when you
are entering the system you need to use
license number and the license issue
date. For that permit holder.
We have had a number of people
trying to put in their license number
and permit issue date. Or permit number
and permit issue date those simply will
not work. We'll not produce anything.
There are other mismatches of data
down there on the slide but those are
the main thing that are effective it is
very, very simple. Very quick. And
allows you to process it. And not leave
your office or in any other way have to
expend any energy other than going
online and putting in these few data.
Jeannine, back to you.
JEANNINE: Okay. All right. We do
have some questions. On the permit user
fee and another general question. So
Omar will go through the questions and
will get someone to answer them.
OMAR: If we set up new login for
CBP will everything get lost or can
password be recovered?
JEANNINE: Mark or someone from Rev
Mod -- do you have an answer?
>> Mark: If you have created a new
Login.gov account, and you have filed in
the past on eCBP then yes -- please
contact the Rev Mod service desk and
they will reappoint your account to your
new Login.gov account so you can
maintain all of that previous
information.
>> Will: I posted the address for
the Rev Mod service desk in the comments
field a couple minutes ago.
OMAR: As a customs broker custom me
company does the ( ) need to be a
corporate officer?
JEANNINE: Sorry. The permit
qualifier does not have to be an officer
of the company. The license qualifier
must be an officer of the company. But
nothing permit qualifier. In many cases
it is the same person. Then of course
they would have to be an officer. But in
some cases a brokerage has identified
their permit qualifier as a different
persons than their license qualifier.
The permit qualifier does not have to be
an officer of the company.
OMAR: Can you confirm that we no
longer have to pay for the local permits
and only have to pay for the national
permit?
JEANNINE: Yes. That is accurate.
All local permits have gone away. They
don't exist anymore. Have not existed
since December 19th of 2022. And you
only paid one user fee for 2023. You
paid a user fi for your national permit.
That is the same this year. Every broker
who is transacting customs business with
their filer code and permit only has one
national permit.
OMAR: Does license holder and
company who has a national permit have
to pay user fee?
JEANNINE: That is a good question.
I think you are asking does the fee have
to be paid by the license holder? No
wait -- so the user fee is only owed on
the national permit. And each company or
each soul proprietor transacting customs
business only has one national permit.
So is just paid on that. We are not
dictating who is -- who within the
company is expected to sign in and
submit that user fee. That is your
choice. As a company. Who you are going
to designate to sign in and pay that
user fee.
They just need to have authority to
submit it for the company.
OMAR: Should we use the qualifying
license holders license date or person
making payment?
JEANNINE: If you are making a
payment on the permit, it needs to be
the license associated with that permit.
If you are an organization brokerage and
you holder permit that you need to put
in the organization brokerage license
number and license issue date. If you
are a sole proprietor operating under a
permit issued to you as a sole
proprietor individual, then you would
input your individual license and
individual license issue date.
OMAR: On the permit user fee, do
you see corporate license number or
qualifier license number?
JEANNINE: Corporate license number
because the permit is issued to the
Corporation. Not to the individual
qualifier.
OMAR: License number we use is the
one on our actual national permit copy,
right?
JEANNINE: So the national permit
that we issue to you does have your
license number on it. It does not
contain your license issue date. The
issue date on your permit is your permit
issue date. So you need to use the
license number and the issue date that
is on your license that was issued to
you. It is the same license number and
issue date you have to use when you go
into file your TSR.
OMAR: Does an organization row
courage license holder have to have his
or her own permit?
JEANNINE: I think what you are
asking hopefully is your asking does the
license qualifier for the organization
-- did they have to have a permit? No.
The permit -- when you have an
organization that is licensed, the
permit is issued to the organization. If
that is not what you are asking you
might have to rephrase the question for
me.
OMAR: Two companies merge and
company names change. Do separate new
account for the organization?
JEANNINE: Well, good question. If
you have a merger -- I don't have enough
information to answer that question
appropriate. Probably because if you had
two rogue ridges that merged, one of
those brokerage licenses would have been
retained. Whatever company continue to
exist -- that brokerage license would be
the continuing to exist license. And it
still exists in our system. So I don't
know what your scenario is. I don't know
if you reported your merger and
acquisition to CBP yet as required by
regulation. What you may need to send us
an email directly to broker management
at DHS.gov and give us more details so
we can help you with that question. I
don't have enough information to answer
it well right now.
So we are going to take all these
questions. Like the question I just said
I cannot answer -- that probably won't
be posted as an FAQ because it is a very
specific event that happened. But these
general questions we have been
answering, we will compile them. And we
will post them as FAQs on our FAQ page.
It will take a few days or a week to do
that so not up there tomorrow.
OMAR: Last question -- if brokerage
company has only one license holder got
does this license holder have to have a
national permit issued for himself or
herself?
JEANNINE: Two types of licenses.
You either have an individual license --
we call that a soul proprietor. You are
operating in your own personal name. You
are a sole proprietor. You are not a
company. If you have that, then you have
a permit associated with your individual
license.
The other kind of license is an
organization license which is a license
issued to a Corporation. And LLC. In
association. Partnership. Those are
legal entities that have filing with the
state. If you registered with the state
they are an organization. That
organization has to have an organization
permit. So permit issued to the
organization if they are transacting
customs business. So two different types
of licenses. Permits are attached to
those different licenses.
OMAR: Can you confirm that the
issue date of the national permit is the
date on the license of the individual
license holder?
JEANNINE: Customs issues licenses
and the license has an issue date. If an
individual or an organization wishes to
transact customs business with their
filer code, filing entries, then they
get issued a permit. That permit is a
separate document with its own issue
date. I don't know if I answered that
question.
I don't want to confuse people. I
feel like I'm starting to confuse you
all. But licenses and permits are two
different things. If you have a permit,
you know you have a permit. If you are
not sure you have a permit got you
probably only have a license and you are
not transacting customs business.
OMAR: We are not seeing any more
questions come in. So we will go ahead
and close for today.
JEANNINE: Folks, if you have
questions about policy. About your
license. The status of your license.
Status of your permit. You can certainly
either email the broker management
officer who oversees your license and
permit. That would be the broker
management officer at the location from
which your license was issued. We have a
broker management officer contact list
on our broker webpage.
Or, you can also email us at our
email address which is broker management
at CBP dot DHS.gov. But if you reach out
to your broker management officer it
allows you to establish a rapport with
them. Good to know who you are broker
management officer is.
If you have a technical issue with
logging in, understanding how to fill it
out, those kinds of things with eCBP
portal, then you should contact the Rev
Mod service desk. They have both email
and phone number. That is on our webpage
and also on the eCBP main portal page.
There are also FAQs on the eCBP portal
page. So we're trying to get as much
information out there to you so you can
be self-sufficient. And we hope you will
use those resources.
We will turn it back over to Chrissi
to close this out.
CHRISSI: Thank you Jeannine. This
concludes our webinar for this
afternoon.
If you have logged into this webinar
use your email you will receive an email
with the CCS CES code. This is a
reminder the webinar will be posted on
the Tremont website. Thank you for
day.