CBP's New International Mail Guidance, Explained: The Bond, the Pay.gov Account, and the Seven Steps You Need Working by July 24.

On July 6, CBP issued updated global guidance for international mail that lays out how the new postal informal entry process actually works. The de minimis suspension itself is not new. What this document provides is the operating manual: who can file, what data they submit, how bonding works, how payment works, and what happens if you get it wrong. For any business that moves low-value product by mail, this is the guidance that turns a policy change into a daily process you have to run.

This post walks through the whole thing, in the order you would actually need to set it up.

What the process covers, and when

The new postal informal entry process is effective July 24, 2026. It applies to merchandise imported by mail that is valued at $2,500 or less and is eligible for informal entry. As of July 24, this guidance replaces all prior guidance issued under Executive Order 14324. Prior guidance stays in effect only until that date.

There is a second date that governs eligibility, and it is October 22. As of that date, several categories of merchandise are excluded from the informal mail process: goods claiming duty-free treatment under Chapter 98, goods subject to duties under Chapter 98 or Chapter 99, goods claiming duty-free treatment under a Free Trade Agreement, and goods subject to Partner Government Agency requirements. After October 22, those have to move under another appropriate entry process, such as an entry type 13 or formal entry. CBP delayed enforcement of these exclusions to October 22, so between July 24 and then, those categories can still use the informal process provided the filer includes the additional required data.

Some goods never qualify for the informal process at all. Shipments over $2,500 in value, or subject to quota, or subject to antidumping or countervailing duties, must be formally entered.

Who is allowed to file

Entry under this process is limited to parties with the right to make entry under the regulations. That means an owner or purchaser of the merchandise being mailed to the United States, or a licensed customs broker properly designated by the owner, purchaser, or consignee. This is not a process a shipper can hand to just anyone; the filer has to have standing.

Step one: the bond

This is the piece most likely to catch a business off guard, because it has lead time built into it. Every entry under the new process requires a basic importation and entry bond, either single transaction or continuous, meeting the conditions in the regulations under activity code 1. The bond has to be effective and on file in ACE eBond before any activity occurs under it.

You obtain the bond from a surety company. CBP cannot recommend one; the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service publishes a list of certified surety companies to choose from, and the surety will charge a fee that CBP neither sets nor controls. To get the bond, you give the surety your EIN, SSN, or CBP-assigned number, the same number used on the Form 5106 to establish your importer account. If you need a CBP-assigned number, the Form 5106 has to be processed before the surety can finalize the bond, which adds another step to the front of the timeline.

Once issued, the bond has to reach CBP electronically. Most sureties can transmit it directly to ACE eBond as test participants. If yours cannot, the bond has to be emailed to CBP's Office of Finance, Revenue Division, for manual input. Either way, the bond must be on file before any activity it secures takes place. Starting this in October for an October deadline is starting too late.

Step two: the data

For each shipment, the filer transmits a defined set of mandatory data to CBP by spreadsheet, in Excel or CSV, emailed to a dedicated CBP mailbox. The required fields are the filer code, bond number, description of merchandise, country of origin, all applicable 10-digit HTSUS classifications, quantity or weight where a specific duty rate applies, duty rate, value, total duty owed, carrier, flight or conveyance number, the tracking number generated by the foreign post operator, arrival port, and arrival date. The file has to be named in a specific format that combines filer code, month, and year.

Certain goods need more. For entries made before October 22, merchandise in the excluded categories still requires the additional data those goods normally carry, things like country of melt and pour for steel, special program indicators, or a full PGA message set, entered in an "other data as required" column using a consistent delimiter. After October 22, those goods leave the informal process entirely.

Classification is where the real work sits. Every shipment now needs a correct 10-digit HTSUS code, and the duty calculation flows from it. This is a meaningful shift for anyone whose mail parcels used to move with essentially no data attached.

Step three: payment through Pay.gov

Duty is paid by ACH debit through a Pay.gov International Mail Duties form, and getting set up on Pay.gov is its own small project. You create a Pay.gov account, which requires an ID.me or Login.gov identity login, then send your name and the email tied to your Pay.gov registration to a dedicated CBP mailbox, and CBP notifies you when access to the mail duty worksheet is granted. If you already have a Pay.gov account, you still have to send your details to get access to the specific worksheet.

Both the spreadsheet and the payment are due by the seventh day of the month following the month the package arrived. CBP's own example: a package that arrives April 15 is due, filed and paid, by May 7. Both pages of the CBP International Mail Duty worksheet have to be submitted, and CBP reserves the right to audit the spreadsheet and verify the package count through physical inspection.

What happens if you miss the deadline

The back end of this process has real consequences. If payment is not received by the due date, interest starts accruing on the delinquent duty under the regulations. If a delinquent debt goes unpaid, CBP can offset it against a refund you would otherwise receive, and can suspend your immediate release privileges. For a business running steady mail volume, losing immediate release is a serious operational problem, not a paperwork footnote.

The process in seven steps

CBP summarizes the workflow as follows. Confirm the shipment is eligible for the informal process. Obtain and maintain the bond. Collect all required data elements for each shipment. Verify the filing party has the right to make entry. Submit the spreadsheet to the CBP mailbox by the seventh of the following month. Pay the duties through Pay.gov by the same deadline. And maintain compliance, because CBP may audit.

What to do now

The work divides cleanly. Get the bond in motion first, since it depends on your Form 5106 being processed and on a surety issuing and transmitting it, none of which is instant. Set up Pay.gov access in parallel, because the identity verification and CBP approval both take time. Get your classification and valuation data clean, since correct 10-digit HTSUS codes now drive every entry. And decide whether the monthly spreadsheet workflow fits your volume or whether you should be looking at the voluntary electronic entry test, entry type 13, that CBP is launching September 22.

We are helping clients stand up the whole process, bond, Pay.gov, classification readiness, and the monthly filing workflow, ahead of the deadlines. If low-value mail is part of how you move product, reach out to your ShipTech account manager and we will map out what you need in place and when.