Heading 9804
Articles imported by or for the account of any person arriving in the United States from a foreign country
18 declarable lines
Heading 9804 covers duty-free entry of personal, household, professional and travel-related articles imported by or for a person arriving in the United States from abroad. It is split by article type and traveler situation, including used household effects, tools of trade, wearing apparel, tobacco and alcohol allowances, gifts, vehicles, articles acquired on the trip, replacement articles, crew effects and effects from a deceased citizen's estate.
Products in this heading
- Used household furniture owned and used abroad for at least one year
- Professional books and tools of trade taken abroad by the traveler
- Personal wearing apparel owned abroad and intended for the traveler's own use
- Automobile brought in by an arriving traveler for personal transportation
- Bona fide gifts accompanying a traveler and valued not over $100
- Cigars, cigarettes and alcohol within the traveler allowance
- Medal or trophy awarded abroad as an honorary distinction
- Game animal killed abroad and imported for noncommercial purposes
How to choose the right subheading
- Who is arriving and in what status: resident returning, nonresident, crew member leaving an international vessel, or estate of a U.S. citizen who died abroad.
- Whether the article is personally owned and used abroad, and whether it is for the traveler's own or household use rather than for another person or for sale.
- Article type: household effects, professional books or tools, wearing apparel or personal effects, tobacco or alcohol, gifts, vehicle, trophy or game, or other acquired article.
- For other articles acquired abroad, check value, route or origin, and length of time outside the United States to choose among 9804.00.65, 9804.00.70 and 9804.00.72.
- Special situations such as replacement of an unsatisfactory article, unaccompanied insular-possession articles, crew effects, or deceased-citizen estate effects.
Often confused with
- Heading 9805Used household effects of a U.S. government employee returning from extended duty abroad
Covered by the government-employee returning effects provision, not the general traveler exemption.
- Heading 9806Baggage and effects of an alien visitor
Alien baggage and effects have their own heading rather than 9804.
- Heading 9816Low-value personal or household articles or gifts under the $1,000 fair retail value exemption
Use the separate low-value personal, household or gift provision when its conditions apply.
- Heading 9801U.S. products returned after export without advance in value
Returned U.S. goods are classified under the returned-goods heading, not 9804.
- Heading 9810Articles imported for the use of a religious institution
Institutional religious use is covered by 9810, not traveler effects.
Frequently asked questions
What is the HTS code for used household furniture brought back by a returning resident?
Used household furniture and similar household effects owned and used abroad by the traveler for at least one year are classified under 9804.00.05, general (MFN) rate Free.
What is the duty on personal clothing owned abroad and worn by an arriving traveler?
Personal wearing apparel and similar personal effects owned abroad and intended only for the traveler's own use are classified under 9804.00.20, general (MFN) rate Free.
How do I classify professional tools taken abroad and brought back by the traveler?
Professional books, implements, instruments and tools of trade taken abroad by the traveler or for the traveler's account are classified under 9804.00.10, general (MFN) rate Free.
Guide written from the official schedule text. Rates quoted are general (MFN) rates; check the line page for trade agreement rates and the classification of your exact product.
All lines in heading 9804
- 9804.00.05Books, libraries, usual and reasonable furniture and similar household effects, if actually used abroad by him or by him and his family not less than one year, and not intended for any other person, or for saleFree
- 9804.00.10Professional books, implements, instruments and tools of trade, occupation or employment, which have been taken abroad by him or for his accountFree
- 9804.00.15Professional books, implements, instruments and tools of trade, occupation or employment (not including theatrical scenery, properties or apparel, and not including articles for use in any manufacturing establishment, for any other person or for sale), owned and used by him abroadFree
- 9804.00.20Wearing apparel, articles of personal adornment, toilet articles and similar personal effects; all the foregoing, if actually owned by and in the possession of such person abroad at the time of or prior to his departure for the United States, and if appropriate for his own personal use and intended only for such use and not for any other person nor for saleFree
- 9804.00.25Not over 50 cigars, or 200 cigarettes, or 2 kilograms of smoking tobacco or a proportionate amount of each, and not over 1 liter of alcoholic beverages, when brought in by an adult nonresident for his own consumptionFree
- 9804.00.30Not exceeding $100 in value of articles (not including alcoholic beverages and cigarettes but including not more than 100 cigars) accompanying such person to be disposed of by him as bona fide gifts, if such person has not claimed an exemption under this subheading 9804.00.30 within the 6 months immediately preceding his arrival and he intends to remain in the United States for not less than 72 hoursFree
- 9804.00.35Automobiles, trailers, aircraft, motorcycles, bicycles, baby carriages, boats, horse-drawn conveyances, horses and similar means of transportation, and the usual equipment accompanying the foregoing; any of the foregoing imported in connection with the arrival of such person and to be used in the United States only for the transportation of such person, his family and guests, and such incidental carriage of articles as may be appropriate to his personal use of the conveyanceFree
- 9804.00.40Not exceeding $200 in value of articles (including not more than 4 liters of alcoholic beverages) accompanying such a person who is in transit to a place outside United States customs territory and who will take the articles with him to such placeFree
- 9804.00.45All personal and household effects taken abroad by him or for his accountFree
- 9804.00.50Articles of metal (including medals, trophies and prizes), bestowed upon him abroad, as honorary distinctions, by foreign countries or citizens of foreign countriesFree
- 9804.00.55Game animals (including birds and fish) killed abroad by him and imported by him for noncommercial purposesFree
- 9804.00.60Automobiles rented by any resident of the United States while abroad and imported for the transportation of such resident, his family and guests, and such incidental carriage of articles as may be appropriate to his personal use of the automobileFree, for such temporary periods as the Secretary of the Treasury by regulation may prescribe
- 9804.00.65Articles, accompanying a person, not over $800 in aggregate fair retail value in the country of acquisition, including (but only in the case of an individual who has attained the age of 21) not more than 1 liter of alcoholic beverages and including not more than 200 cigarettes and 100 cigarsFree
- 9804.00.70Articles whether or not accompanying a person, not over $1600 in aggregate fair market value in the country of acquisition, including:(a) but only in the case of an individual who has attained the age of 21, not more than 5 liters of alcoholic beverages, not more than 1 liter of which shall have been acquired elsewhere than in American Samoa, Guam or the Virgin Islands of the United States, and not more than 4 liters of which shall have been produced elsewhere than in such insular possessions, and (b) not more than 1,000 cigarettes, not more than 200 of which shall have been acquired elsewhere than in such insular possessions, and not more than 100 cigars, if such person arrives directly or indirectly from such insular possessions, not more than $800 of which shall have been acquired elsewhere than in such insular possessions (but this subheading does not permit the entry of articles not accompanying a person which were acquired elsewhere than in such insular possessions)Free
- 9804.00.72Articles whether or not accompanying a person, not over $800 in aggregate fair market value in the country of acquisition, including- (a) but only in the case of an individual who has attained the age of 21, not more than 1 liter of alcoholic beverages or not more than 2 liters if at least one liter is the product of one or more beneficiary countries, and (b) not more than 200 cigarettes, and not more than 100 cigars, if such person arrives directly from a beneficiary country (but this item does not permit the entry of articles not accompanying a person which were acquired elsewhere than in beneficiary countries)Free
- 9804.00.75Any article imported to replace a like article of comparable value previously exempted from duty under subheading 9804.00.70, if the article previously exempted shall have been exported, under such supervision as the Secretary may prescribe, within 60 days after its importation because it was found by the importer to be unsatisfactoryFree
- 9804.00.80Articles (including not over 50 cigars, or 300 cigarettes, or 2 kilograms of smoking tobacco or a proportionate amount of each, and not over 1 liter of alcoholic beverages), reasonable and appropriate, and intended exclusively, for the bona fide personal use of, and (except for articles consumed in use) to be taken out of the United States by, any person arriving in the United States who is leaving a vessel, vehicle or aircraft, engaged in international traffic, on which he is employed, with the intention of resuming such employmentFree
- 9804.00.85Personal and household effects, not stock in trade, the title to which at the time of importation is in the estate of a citizen of the United States who died abroadFree