Importer Security Filing Report Cards

It´s graduation day January 2010 where do you find yourself? Has U.S. Customs voted you valedictorian, a roll model to all ISF filers, or will you be sitting in the stands watching your colleagues receive their diplomas? If you haven´t been putting forth your good faith effort to file your ISF you will be starting back at square one fighting to catch up.

ISF Report Cards - Click here to see an example.

U.S. Customs is providing ISF report cards to importers who request them. This is to be used as an educational tool for reflection on the ISFs filed by the importer. Since we are still in a non penalty phase ISF filers should be using this report to understand the timeliness and accuracy of their filings. I suggest importers take of this offer to help yourself prepare for graduation. To register for your ISF report please send an email to U.S. Customs at progress_report@cbp.dhs.gov.

The email should include:
Filer´s corporate name
Filer code used for filing ISF
Point of Contact
Point of Contact´s telephone number

If you are a self filer, filing under another company's filer code, the ISF system administrators should have requested this on your behalf. There´s Still Time to Flip Your Tassel & Self FileI mporter Security Filing has been in effect for 4 months now. Many ISF self-filers have been filing ISF since day 1. There is still plenty of time to start filing before the penalty phase begins. Most systems can get you up and filing in less than 2 days. Whether you decide to direct file or not, you should weigh all your options. Just like choosing which college university to attend after graduation you want to pick the right option for you.

Pushing It - Advanced Placement Classes for ImportersNow that your filing your ISF you can save even more time and more money on your consumption entry. Using the same system to file both entries you can "push" the repetitive information from your ISF to your consumption entry. Systems like TRG Direct have added this ability to filter information for thier customers. Once you file your ISF in-house, why not file the shipment´s consumption entry as well?