Almost every Chinese-language article about the Importer of Record is written for Amazon sellers: how to become a “foreign importer” yourself and get your goods into an FBA warehouse. A Taiwanese factory doing B2B export is in a completely different position. You are not selling small parcels one box at a time; you are shipping full containers of food, parts or equipment, where duties start at several thousand dollars and a single customs penalty can be several times the value of the cargo. At that point “who is the IOR” is not a process question — it is the question of whose company name goes on the customs documents.
Written by SKYCARGO INC, a US logistics company shipping between the US and Taiwan since 2014 and incorporated in the US in 2023, with warehouses in Oregon, Los Angeles and Taoyuan; it serves as an FDA U.S. Agent and can assist clients with USDA registrations and inquiries. More on this topic: US Food & FDA Compliance: The Complete Guide Index.
What the IOR is responsible for to Customs
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requires every import shipment to have an Importer of Record, whose responsibilities are spelled out in black and white:
- Entry filing: submitting the correct description, HS classification, quantity, value and country of origin; for ocean freight, the ISF (10+2) data must be filed 24 hours before loading
- Paying duties and fees: including regular duties, anti-dumping duties, and the Section 301 tariff currently applied to Taiwanese products (see below)
- Reasonable care: Customs holds the IOR responsible for confirming the declaration is correct — “the broker filled it in wrong” is not a defense
- Keeping records for five years: all import documents must be kept for five years from the date of import, and Customs can call for them at any time
- Bearing penalties: false declarations are penalized by culpability: up to twice the lost duties for negligence, four times for gross negligence, and up to the domestic value of the goods for fraud (19 USC 1592), with criminal liability in serious cases
In other words, the IOR is the party Customs goes to for money, for documents and with penalty notices.
What the Customs Bond is
Commercial imports valued above US$2,500 (or goods regulated by another agency, such as FDA-regulated food) must be covered by a Customs Bond — a guarantee the IOR provides to Customs that duties and penalties can be paid. Two kinds:
| Type | Suited to | Cost concept |
|---|---|---|
| Single Entry Bond | Occasional imports | Calculated from cargo value and duties, purchased per shipment |
| Continuous Bond | Multiple imports per year | Common limit of US$50,000, annual fee of a few hundred dollars, covering all imports and ISF filings for the year |
The bond is in the IOR’s name, not the exporter’s. Whoever is the IOR provides the bond. If you act as a non-resident importer yourself, the bond must be issued by a US surety, and Customs applies stricter bond and guarantee requirements to foreign importers (Executive Order 14411 of June 2026 added further limits — check with your broker before buying). For how single-entry and continuous bonds are priced, and what the surety can claim back from you, see Customs bonds are not insurance.
Current tariffs on Taiwanese goods: who pays and how they are calculated
Since July 24, 2026, Taiwanese goods are subject to a Section 301 tariff: items whose MFN rate is below 10% are brought up to a combined 10%, while items already at 10% or above keep their original rate (USTR, 91 FR 47318; CBP CSMS #69326983). The earlier reciprocal tariff stopped being collected in February 2026, and the regime has changed several times in two years, so check the current CBP/USTR notice before shipping; see the tariff calculation guide for a worked example. The IOR pays the duty to Customs; who ultimately absorbs it is a matter for you and the buyer under the trade terms (Incoterms):
- DDP (Delivered Duty Paid): the exporter is responsible door-to-door including duties, so someone in the US must act as IOR and pay them — usually the exporter itself as a non-resident importer, or a genuine US selling agent; the duty cost must be built into the quote
- FOB / CIF: the buyer acts as IOR and pays the duties; the exporter is responsible only to the port
In practice US buyers increasingly ask Taiwanese suppliers to quote DDP. But simply finding a US company to lend its name as IOR is not a route CBP accepts: a freight forwarder or logistics company that only earns freight and has no ownership or financial interest in the goods has no right to make entry in its own name, even with the owner’s permission (CBP Directive 3530-002A). The workable routes are to act as a non-resident importer yourself, or to have a genuine US selling agent act as IOR.
Acting as a non-resident importer: five steps
US Customs allows a non-resident (foreign) company to act as IOR (19 CFR 141.18). A Taiwanese company does not need a US entity, but it does need the five items below, and CBP tightened the rules from September 18, 2026:
- Get a CBP importer number by filing CBP Form 5106. It must show your company’s real business address — since September 18 CBP no longer accepts the address of a freight forwarder, customs broker, registered agent or P.O. box, and false information voids the number. Filing a 5106 is customs business, so a licensed customs broker must file it for you.
- Appoint a resident agent for service of process in the state of the port of entry (for example, California for the Port of Los Angeles).
- Buy a customs bond issued by a US surety, with the type and amount your broker recommends.
- For food, appoint a US FSVP agent (21 CFR 1.509(b)), usually a paid third-party service. The FSV field on the entry cannot be left blank.
- Sign the power of attorney directly with the customs broker — since September 18 it can no longer go through a freight forwarder. You pay the duties directly; a freight forwarder cannot pay them on your behalf, as that is customs business.
SKYCARGO INC is a US-registered logistics company that serves as an FDA U.S. Agent and can assist clients with USDA registrations and inquiries. For most shipments we quote DAP: Taiwan-side handling, ocean freight, destination port, FDA Prior Notice and inspection coordination, entry through our partner licensed customs broker, then our Los Angeles or Oregon warehouse and delivery. We give you a checklist of the documents needed for the five steps above, and the broker handles them with you directly.
We act as Importer of Record for a client’s goods in one situation only: when we are your selling agent in the US — under a long-term agency agreement, actually finding buyers and taking orders for you in the US, paid a commission on sales, with warehousing, delivery and customer service continuing after import, and, for food, running the FSVP ourselves. We take these cases only when all of those conditions are met. We do not act as a nominal consignee, collect and forward payments only, or sign a power of attorney only.
Three questions to ask before appointing an IOR
- Are the trade terms DDP or FOB? Is it written into the quote who absorbs the duty?
- Is the other party the real owner, buyer or selling agent — or only lending its name? Have they handled FDA-regulated goods before?
- When Customs inspects, penalizes or orders re-export, who pays and who decides?
Answer those three, and only then put a company name on the customs documents. Tell us your cargo and trade terms and we will reply within one working day with the importer arrangement, the documents you will need and the fee structure.
This article summarizes US CBP import rules, the relevant provisions of 19 CFR and CBP’s September 18, 2026 rule changes for reference only. Tariff rates and the scope of Section 301 change with policy — always check the latest CBP and USTR announcements.
