Analysis
HTS 4202.92.50 covers musical instrument cases under heading 4202 (trunks, suitcases, vanity cases, attache cases, briefcases, school satchels, spectacle…).
Neighbouring lines carry rates from 3.4% to 20%, so the exact line matters. The widest gap is with 4202.92.45 (travel, sports and similar bags: other), at 20%: a product that belongs there but is entered here, or the reverse, changes the duty by 15.8 percentage points.
The general duty rate is 4.2% of the customs value, which is at the low end of the rates in chapter 42 (27th percentile of 88 lines with an ad valorem rate). On a shipment valued at $10,000 that is $420 in duty before any Chapter 99 additions or preference claims.
Goods that qualify under GSP, the Australia FTA, the Bahrain FTA, the Chile FTA, the Colombia TPA, and 12 others can enter duty-free instead of paying 4.2%. It is also eligible under GSP, the developing-country programme, which Congress has to renew; check whether GSP is in force on the entry date.
The column 2 rate, for countries without normal trade relations, is 50%, 11.9 times the general rate.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 4202.92.04 | Beverage bags whose interior incorporates only a flexible plastic container of a kind for storing and dispensing potable beverages through attached flexible tubing | 7% |
| 4202.92.08 | With outer surface of textile materials: other | 7% |
| 4202.92.10 | Insulated food or beverage bags: other | 3.4% |
| 4202.92.15 | Of vegetable fibers and not of pile or tufted construction: of cotton (369) | 6.3% |
| 4202.92.20 | Of vegetable fibers and not of pile or tufted construction: other (870) | 5.7% |
| 4202.92.31 | Of man-made fibers | 17.6% |
| 4202.92.33 | Of paper yarn or of cotton; containing 85 percent or more by weight of silk or silk waste | 17.6% |
| 4202.92.39 | With outer surface of textile materials: other (870) | 17.6% |
| 4202.92.45 | Travel, sports and similar bags: other | 20% |
| 4202.92.60 | Other: of cotton | 6.3% |
| 4202.92.91 | Of man-made fibers (except jewelry boxes of a kind normally sold at retail with their contents) (670) | 17.6% |
| 4202.92.93 | With outer surface of textile materials: other | 17.6% |
| 4202.92.94 | Cases designed to protect and transport compact disks (CD's), CD Rom disks, CD players, cassette players, and/or cassettes | 17.6% |
| 4202.92.97 | Other: other | 17.6% |