Analysis
HTS 8504.34.00 covers having a power handling capacity exceeding 500 kVA under heading 8504 (electrical transformers, static converters (for example, rectifiers) and inductors; parts…).
Rates on the nearby lines range from duty-free to 6.6%. The costliest confusion would be with 8504.31.40 (having a power handling capacity less than 1 kVA) at 6.6%, a difference of 5 points on the customs value.
The general duty rate is 1.6% of the customs value, which is in the middle of the rates in chapter 85 (60th percentile of 624 lines with an ad valorem rate). On a shipment valued at $10,000 that is $160 in duty before any Chapter 99 additions or preference claims.
The column 2 rate, for countries without normal trade relations, is 35%, 21.9 times the general rate.
Goods that qualify under GSP, the Australia FTA, the Automotive Products Trade Act, the Bahrain FTA, the Chile FTA, and 14 others can enter duty-free instead of paying 1.6%. 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.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8504.10.00 | Ballasts for discharge lamps or tubes | 3% |
| 8504.21.00 | Having a power handling capacity not exceeding 650 kVA | Free |
| 8504.22.00 | Having a power handling capacity exceeding 650 kVA but not exceeding 10,000 kVA | Free |
| 8504.23.00 | Having a power handling capacity exceeding 10,000 kVA | 1.6% |
| 8504.31.20 | Having a power handling capacity not exceeding 1 kVA: unrated | Free |
| 8504.31.40 | Having a power handling capacity less than 1 kVA | 6.6% |
| 8504.31.60 | Having a power handling capacity of 1 kVA | 1.6% |
| 8504.32.00 | Having a power handling capacity exceeding 1 kVA but not exceeding 16 kVA | 2.4% |
| 8504.33.00 | Having a power handling capacity exceeding 16 kVA but not exceeding 500 kVA | 1.6% |
| 8504.40.40 | Speed drive controllers for electric motors | Free |
| 8504.40.60 | Suitable for physical incorporation into automatic data processing machines or units thereof of heading 8471 | Free |
| 8504.40.70 | Power supplies for automatic data processing machines or units thereof of heading 8471; power supplies for goods of subheading 8443.31 or 8443.32; power supplies for monitors of subheading 8528.42 or 8528.52 or projectors of subheading 8528.62: other | Free |
| 8504.40.85 | For telecommunication apparatus | Free |
| 8504.40.95 | Static converters: other | Free |
| 8504.50.40 | For power supplies for automatic data processing machines or units thereof of heading 8471; power supplies for goods of subheading 8443.31 or 8443.32; power supplies for monitors of subheading 8528.42 or 8528.52 or projectors of subheading 8528.62; for telecommunication apparatus | Free |
| 8504.50.80 | Other inductors: other | Free |
| 8504.90.20 | Printed circuit assemblies | Free |
| 8504.90.41 | Of power supplies for automatic data processing machines or units thereof of heading 8471; of power supplies for goods of subheading 8443.31 or 8443.32; of power supplies for monitors of subheading 8528.42 or 8528.52 or projectors of subheading 8528.62: other | Free |
| 8504.90.65 | Of the goods of subheading 8504.40 or 8504.50 for telecommunication apparatus | Free |
| 8504.90.75 | Printed circuit assemblies: other | Free |
| 8504.90.96 | Other: other | Free |