Customs and duty deferral

Bonded warehouse software that keeps every lot tied to its entry and its bond clock

A bonded warehouse is a facility where imported goods are stored under bond without payment of duty until they are withdrawn. US rules in 19 CFR Part 19 define classes 1 through 11, merchandise may generally remain up to 5 years from the date of importation, and the proprietor files an annual reconciliation within 45 days of the end of the business year. Neurobird ties each lot to its entry, duty status and remaining bond time.

Pallets of imported goods stored under customs bond in a warehouse with entry documentation on a clipboard, used to illustrate bonded warehouse operations
Locations are the easy part. Entries and duty status are not.
11classes of customs bonded warehouse
5 yearsmaximum time under bond
45 daysto file the annual reconciliation

Neurobird Bonded Warehouse in short

  • Hold every lot against its entry number, class and duty status rather than against a location alone
  • Run the five year bond clock per lot and warn before goods go to general order
  • Record every withdrawal, manipulation and transfer as a permitted event with the paperwork attached
  • 19 CFR 19 The federal part governing customs bonded warehouses, including the 11 classes, the proprietor duties and the inventory control and recordkeeping requirement. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 19 CFR Part 19
  • 19 CFR 113 Customs bond rules, which set the financial instrument standing behind every bonded facility and every entry in it. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 19 CFR Part 113
  • Pricing runs 180 to 640 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.
The daily reality

What bonded warehouse operators actually deal with

The inventory control system CBP expects is a spreadsheet plus a memory of which pallet belongs to which entry.
The five year clock runs per entry, not per pallet, and nothing warns you when a lot is about to go general order.
The annual reconciliation is rebuilt from receipts every year because nothing recorded the entry linkage as goods moved.

Why it stays broken

A warehouse management system tracks locations. Customs cares about entries, duty status and time under bond, and those 3 facts are the ones nobody's software holds. So the compliance record becomes a parallel spreadsheet.

A lot that quietly reaches day 1,825 stops being an inventory question and becomes a duty question.

A warehouse of class 4 or 5 may be bonded exclusively for the storage of goods imported by the proprietor thereof, in which case it shall be known as a private bonded warehouse.

GPO print of 19 CFR Part 19, source
What it does

Neurobird Bonded Warehouse Operations Platform

Record the entry linkage at receipt and every permitted event after it. The reconciliation then falls out of the record rather than being rebuilt.

  • 1Hold every lot against its entry number, class and duty status rather than against a location alone
  • 2Run the five year bond clock per lot and warn before goods go to general order
  • 3Record every withdrawal, manipulation and transfer as a permitted event with the paperwork attached
  • 4Produce the annual reconciliation from the same record the floor is already updating

What changes with Neurobird Bonded Warehouse?

The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.

Bonded warehouse: current practice compared with Neurobird Bonded Warehouse
TodayWith Neurobird Bonded Warehouse
The inventory control system CBP expects is a spreadsheet plus a memory of which pallet belongs to which entryHold every lot against its entry number, class and duty status rather than against a location alone
The five year clock runs per entry, not per pallet, and nothing warns you when a lot is about to go general orderRun the five year bond clock per lot and warn before goods go to general order
The annual reconciliation is rebuilt from receipts every year because nothing recorded the entry linkage as goods movedRecord every withdrawal, manipulation and transfer as a permitted event with the paperwork attached

Who is this for?

Same bond, three different exposures.

Public warehouse

You store for many importers

Your customers own the duty exposure and you own the record. You need entry linkage per customer lot, not one shared inventory.

Importer operated

You bond your own goods

Deferral is a cash flow tool. You need the bond clock visible so timing a withdrawal is a decision rather than an accident.

Class 8 manipulation

You relabel and repack under permit

Every manipulation is a permitted event that has to reconcile. You need each one logged against the lot with its paperwork.

How does Neurobird Bonded Warehouse work?

  1. Receive against the entry

    Every lot is recorded to its warehouse entry, class and duty status at the door, not reconstructed later from paperwork.

  2. Watch the bond clock

    Days under bond run per lot. Warnings arrive with time to act, well before the 5 year limit or a general order deadline.

  3. Log permitted events

    Withdrawals, manipulations, transfers and destructions are recorded as events with documents attached, which is exactly what the reconciliation needs.

Interactive preview

The bonded inventory, as your clerk would run it

A working preview. Tick a lot to record a permitted event against it.

neurobird / bonded warehouse
3 / 5
requirements current
RequirementStatusNext due
Class 3 general order lot, day 41currentin 42d
Entry 231-4409881-2, wine, 600 casesdue soonin 9d
Manipulation under permit, relabelcurrentin 120d
Withdrawal for consumption, partialoverdue3d late
Transfer to another bonded warehousecurrentin 64d

Tick a requirement to file evidence against it.

How bonded warehouses are actually regulated

Useful if you are applying for a bonded facility or preparing for a spot check. Each source links out.

19 CFR 19

The federal part governing customs bonded warehouses, including the 11 classes, the proprietor duties and the inventory control and recordkeeping requirement.

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 19 CFR Part 19
19 CFR 113

Customs bond rules, which set the financial instrument standing behind every bonded facility and every entry in it.

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 19 CFR Part 113
19 CFR 144

Warehouse and rewarehouse entries and withdrawals, the rules that define what a legitimate movement out of bond looks like.

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 19 CFR Part 144
19 CFR 146

Foreign trade zone rules, the alternative duty deferral regime bonded operators are usually asked to compare against.

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 19 CFR Part 146
1,825

Days in the 5 year maximum storage period, the number that actually matters when a lot has been sitting since 2021.

US Government Publishing Office, 19 CFR Part 19

Bonded warehouse software questions, answered

Key terms

What is a customs bonded warehouse?
A customs bonded warehouse is a facility where imported goods are stored under bond without payment of duty until they are withdrawn. US regulations under 19 CFR Part 19 define classes 1 through 11 of bonded warehouse, and merchandise may generally remain in a bonded warehouse for up to 5 years from the date of importation.
What is the annual reconciliation?
A report the proprietor files with the port director covering the warehouse business year, due within 45 days of the end of that year. It reconciles what was received, what was withdrawn and what remains, which is only easy if the inventory record tracked entries all along.

What happens if goods pass the 5 year limit?

They become subject to sale or other disposition. That is a duty and revenue event, not a housekeeping one, so the practical requirement is a warning long before day 1,825, not a discovery afterwards.

Does this replace our WMS?

No. If you run a warehouse management system it keeps doing locations and picking. The entry linkage, duty status, bond clock, permitted events and the reconciliation live here.

Why we are building this

A bonded warehouse is a normal warehouse carrying an abnormal record keeping duty. The goods move like any other pallet. The obligation follows the entry, the duty status and the clock.

Almost every operator we have looked at holds the second half in a spreadsheet, then rebuilds the annual reconciliation from receipts once a year. That is a data model problem, not a diligence problem.

We would rather build this with proprietors than guess. Tell us how your bonded record is kept, and where we have got it wrong.

Neurobird Team neurobird.com

Where the requirement comes from

The federal parts that govern bonded storage, bonds and withdrawals.

How much does Neurobird Bonded Warehouse cost?

Priced per bonded facility because the permit and the reconciliation are per facility. Users and entries are unlimited on every tier.

Single facility
$180
per facility, per month
  • Entry linked receiving
  • Duty status per lot
  • Bond clock warnings
  • Withdrawal log
  • Email support
Request access
Bonded operator
$360
per facility, per month
  • Everything in Single facility
  • Permitted event records
  • Annual reconciliation build
  • Document attachment per event
  • Named contact
Request access
Multi facility
$640
per facility, per month
  • Everything in Bonded operator
  • Multi facility roll up
  • Transfer between warehouses
  • Spot check response pack
  • Onboarding included
Talk to us
First 15 bonded facilities get early access pricing locked for three years

Get free early access

If you run a bonded facility, tell us how entry linkage is recorded today and how the reconciliation gets built.

Straight answer on where this is: In development. Early access gets the working preview, a say in what ships first, and early access pricing. It does not get you a login today.

Prefer email? Write to office@neurobird.com and a person will reply. No autoresponder.