Customs brokerage software that keeps the entry file and its retention clock together
A customs broker is a person or company licensed to transact customs business on behalf of importers and exporters, working under 19 CFR Part 111. An individual licence requires citizenship, a minimum age of 21 and a passing grade of 75 percent or higher on the broker examination, and a national permit is needed to work throughout the customs territory. Records run 5 years from the date of entry, with powers of attorney kept until revoked and 5 years beyond. Neurobird holds the entry file and its retention rule together.
Neurobird Customs Brokerage in short
- Hold every entry as a file: importer, documents, classification basis, filing and any correction
- Track powers of attorney against the retention rule that applies to them rather than the one that applies to entries
- Show responsible supervision and control as evidence: who reviewed what, and when
- 75 percent An individual applying for a broker licence must be a United States citizen, at least 21 years of age, of good moral character, and must have attained a passing grade of 75 percent or higher on an examination taken within the 3 year period before the application. eCFR, 19 CFR 111.11
- 5 years Broker records other than powers of attorney must be retained for at least 5 years after the date of entry, while powers of attorney are retained until revoked and then for 5 years after revocation or after the client stops being an active client. eCFR, 19 CFR 111.23
- Pricing runs 210 to 840 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.
What licensed customs brokers and trade compliance teams actually deal with
Why it stays broken
Brokerage software was built to file entries, and filing is the part that is already solved. What is not solved is everything the licence actually obliges you to hold: the documents behind the filing, evidence of responsible supervision, and a retention rule that differs by record type and by whether a power of attorney has been revoked. Those live in a document management system that knows nothing about entry dates, so retention becomes a manual decision nobody wants to make.
Broker records run 5 years from the date of entry, but a power of attorney runs until it is revoked and for 5 years after that, so one purge rule cannot be right.
To the extent that additional information is subsequently discovered, the broker must electronically provide that information within 72 hours of discovery.
Neurobird Customs Brokerage Compliance Platform
Keep the file and its clock together. Each record type carries the retention rule that actually applies to it, and supervision is recorded rather than claimed.
- 1Hold every entry as a file: importer, documents, classification basis, filing and any correction
- 2Track powers of attorney against the retention rule that applies to them rather than the one that applies to entries
- 3Show responsible supervision and control as evidence: who reviewed what, and when
- 4Run retention by record type, so nothing is purged early and nothing is kept forever by default
What changes with Neurobird Customs Brokerage?
The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.
| Today | With Neurobird Customs Brokerage |
|---|---|
| Records have to be kept for 5 years from the date of entry, and different record types carry different periods, so a single purge rule is always wrong somewhere | Hold every entry as a file: importer, documents, classification basis, filing and any correction |
| A power of attorney has no expiry in the regulation but has to be retained until revoked and for 5 years after, which nobody's document system models | Track powers of attorney against the retention rule that applies to them rather than the one that applies to entries |
| Responsible supervision and control has to be demonstrable, and the evidence of it is scattered across the inbox of whoever happened to answer the question | Show responsible supervision and control as evidence: who reviewed what, and when |
Who is this for?
Same entry file, three different brokerage operations.
You hold the licence
A national permit and a small team. You need entry files, clean retention and evidence that you are supervising the work done under your licence.
You do both sides
Freight and customs under one roof. You need the entry file to connect to the shipment without the customs records inheriting the forwarding system's retention rules.
You are the client
You use brokers but the recordkeeping obligation is still yours. You need your own copy of what was filed and the documents behind it, held for the full period.
What the numbers say about customs brokerage
Useful if you are preparing for a broker compliance assessment or writing a supervision plan. Each source links out.
An individual applying for a broker licence must be a United States citizen, at least 21 years of age, of good moral character, and must have attained a passing grade of 75 percent or higher on an examination taken within the 3 year period before the application.
eCFR, 19 CFR 111.11Broker records other than powers of attorney must be retained for at least 5 years after the date of entry, while powers of attorney are retained until revoked and then for 5 years after revocation or after the client stops being an active client.
eCFR, 19 CFR 111.23The examination fee is $390, an individual licence application is $300 and a partnership, association or corporation application is $500, with a further $100 for a national permit application.
eCFR, 19 CFR 111.96The general recordkeeping rule runs 5 years from the date of entry, but packing lists run 60 calendar days from the end of the release period and drawback records run until the third anniversary of the payment of the claim.
eCFR, 19 CFR 163.4A national permit application must set out the office of record, a point of contact available to answer customs business questions, a list of all employees, and a supervision plan describing how responsible supervision and control will be exercised.
eCFR, 19 CFR 111.19How does Neurobird Customs Brokerage work?
Every entry is a file
Importer, commercial documents, classification and valuation basis, the filing itself and any post summary correction, held in one place.
Retention runs by record type
Five years from date of entry for most records, until revoked plus five years for powers of attorney, and shorter rules for packing lists and informal entries.
Supervision is visible
Reviews, queries and sign offs are recorded against the entry, so responsible supervision and control is a record rather than an assertion.
The desk, entry by entry
A working preview. Tick an entry to move it through the file.
| Requirement | Status | Next due | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duty deposit due, entry 447 8790 | current | in 42d | |
| Post summary correction, 3 lines | due soon | in 9d | |
| Power of attorney expired, client Harlow | current | in 120d | |
| Entry 447 8812, classification query | overdue | 3d late | |
| Record retention purge, 2020 entries | current | in 64d |
Tick a requirement to file evidence against it.
Customs brokerage software questions, answered
Key terms
- What is a customs broker?
- A customs broker is a person, partnership, association or corporation licensed by the federal customs authority to transact customs business on behalf of others. An individual must be a United States citizen, at least 21 years old, of good moral character, and must have passed the broker examination with a grade of 75 percent or higher taken within the 3 years before the application.
- What is a national permit?
- A national permit is required to transact customs business throughout the customs territory of the United States. The applicant must be a licensed broker, must name an office of record and a point of contact, must file a supervision plan describing how responsible supervision and control will be exercised, and must pay both a permit application fee and the annual permit user fee.
- What are the exceptions to the five year rule?
- Drawback claim records run until the third anniversary of the date the claim was paid. Packing lists run 60 calendar days from the end of the release or conditional release period. Informal entry records held by an appointing consignee run 2 years, as do records for duty free admissions under the low value provision.
How long must customs records be kept?
Under 19 CFR 111.23(b) broker records other than powers of attorney are kept for at least 5 years after the date of entry. Powers of attorney are kept until revoked, then for 5 years after revocation or after the client ceases to be an active client, whichever is later. The general recordkeeping rule at 19 CFR 163.4 also runs 5 years from the date of entry.
Does it file the entry?
No. Filing stays with your entry software and the customs interface. What lives here is the file behind the filing: the documents, the classification basis, the reviews and the retention clock.
How does it help with supervision?
Responsible supervision and control has to be demonstrated, not asserted. Reviews, queries and sign offs recorded against the entry give you something to show, which is the part most operations cannot produce quickly.
Why we are building this
Filing an entry is the part of brokerage that software solved a long time ago. Holding the file behind it is the part that never got solved, and it is the part the licence is actually about.
Retention is where it shows. Five years from the date of entry for most things, until revoked plus five for a power of attorney, sixty days for a packing list, three years from payment for drawback. No document management system models that, so the honest answer in most brokerages is that nothing is ever deleted and nothing can be found quickly either.
We would rather build this with licensed brokers than with people who sell filing software. Tell us how your retention actually runs, and where we have got it wrong.
Where the requirement comes from
The federal regulations a customs broker operates under.
- 19 CFR Part 111, customs brokers Licensing, the national permit, responsible supervision and control, recordkeeping, fees and disciplinary proceedings.
- 19 CFR 111.11, basic requirements for a license Citizenship, minimum age of 21, good moral character and a passing grade of 75 percent or higher on the examination.
- 19 CFR 111.23, retention of records Five years after the date of entry for broker records, with powers of attorney retained until revoked and for five years afterwards.
- 19 CFR 111.96, fees License application fees, the examination fee, the national permit application fee, the annual permit user fee and the triennial status report fee.
- 19 CFR 163.4, record retention period The general five year rule, plus the exceptions for drawback claims, packing lists, informal entries and duty free admissions.
- 19 CFR Part 111, printed edition The full printed part as published in the Code of Federal Regulations, useful for citing a fixed text.
How much does Neurobird Customs Brokerage cost?
Priced per brokerage because the licence, the permit and the retention obligation sit with the organisation. Entries, clients and users are unlimited on every tier.
- Entry files
- Document store
- Retention by record type
- Power of attorney register
- Email support
- Everything in Single broker
- Supervision and review log
- Client portals
- Correction tracking
- Named contact
- Everything in Brokerage
- Multiple entities in one view
- Assessment ready exports
- Role based access
- Onboarding included
Get free early access
If you hold a broker licence, tell us how your retention actually runs and what your last compliance assessment asked for.
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.