For most of the last decade, a rule called de minimis quietly moved billions of packages into the United States duty-free — no tariffs, barely any paperwork — as long as the shipment was worth $800 or less. It's the machinery that made ultra-cheap, ship-direct-from-overseas e-commerce work. In 2025, it ended. Here's what the rule was, what changed, and what it means for anyone importing low-value goods now.
What De Minimis Was — and Why It Existed
"De minimis" comes from a legal phrase — de minimis non curat lex, "the law does not concern itself with trifles" — and that's exactly the idea behind it. The exemption has been part of US customs law for nearly a century: it's codified in Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930, and Congress set the first de minimis threshold in 1938, at just $1.
The reason was pure administrative efficiency. Collecting duty on a trivially small shipment cost the government more to process than the duty was ever worth, so the law simply waived it — the stated aim was to avoid expense and inconvenience out of proportion to the revenue collected. In practice, de minimis let a low-value shipment — one per person, per day — enter free of duty and tax through a simplified, informal entry: no formal customs filing, no duty calculation, minimal data.
Over the decades the threshold climbed — to $200 under the Customs Modernization Act of 1993, and then all the way to $800 under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2016. That last jump is the one that mattered: it turned a minor administrative convenience into a business model. By the end, an estimated four million de minimis packages entered the US every day — well over a billion a year — and the provision had become the backbone of the cross-border e-commerce giants shipping straight from overseas warehouses to US doorsteps. By then the original logic had flipped: the exemption was no longer saving the government money so much as forgoing a great deal of it.
Not to be confused with the rules-of-origin "de minimis" — a separate 10% allowance for non-originating materials in a free-trade claim. Same Latin, entirely different rule.
What Changed in 2025
Citing the flood of low-value parcels — and the tariff revenue and oversight lost through the channel — the government moved to close it, first for the biggest source and then for everyone:
- May 2, 2025 — China and Hong Kong. Executive Order 14256 eliminated de minimis treatment for goods from China and Hong Kong, the origin of the large majority of de minimis parcels.
- August 29, 2025 — the rest of the world. A follow-on order suspended de minimis for all countries, ending the $800 duty-free entry entirely.
- 2026 — the new normal. This is the first full year in which essentially every package, regardless of value, is subject to duty and must be formally entered.
What Importers Face Now
With de minimis gone, a $15 parcel is treated much like a $15,000 container. In practical terms:
- Duties and tariffs apply at any value. A shipment worth $1 owes the same rate as one worth $799 — including Section 301 and other add-on tariffs where they apply.
- Formal entry is required. Shipments now have to be entered through CBP's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) by an authorized filer — with an HTS classification, a declared value, and full documentation.
- Cost and friction go up. Brokerage fees, slower clearance, and the duty itself all now land on shipments that used to clear for free.
Who's Affected — and What to Do
The hardest hit are the businesses built on the old math: direct-to-consumer brands and marketplaces shipping many small parcels straight from an overseas factory or warehouse. If that's you, the response is the same discipline serious importers have always run on:
- Build duty into your pricing. The "free entry" line in your cost model is gone; your real landed cost now includes duty on every unit.
- Get a customs broker or filer. Formal entry isn't optional anymore — know what your broker charges and how it scales.
- Consolidate. Many small parcels each carrying their own entry and duty are far less efficient than consolidated freight cleared once — a reason to rethink shipping directly to consumers from overseas.
- Get the classification right. Every shipment now needs a correct HTS code and declared value. See how to read a 10-digit HTS code.
Confirm your situation with a customs broker. De minimis policy has moved fast and remains subject to change, and formal-entry requirements now apply to shipments that never needed them before. Confirm how the current rules apply to your products, origins, and shipping model with a licensed customs broker before you commit to a fulfillment plan.
The Bottom Line
De minimis was a quiet subsidy for low-value imports, and for a decade it made shipping cheap goods straight to US consumers almost frictionless. That era is over. In 2026, value no longer buys you a pass — every package is a customs entry, with a classification, a duty, and the paperwork to match. If your business was built on the $800 threshold, the model has to be rebuilt around real landed cost.
This is general guidance, not legal or customs advice. De minimis and low-value-shipment rules have changed rapidly and may change again — confirm the current requirements for your shipments with a licensed customs broker or CBP before you rely on them.
Did the end of de minimis change how you import — your pricing, your fulfillment, or where you ship from? And how are you handling formal entry on low-value shipments now? We'd like to hear what's working.