Importer of Record definitions: the terms that decide whose name goes on the entry

The vocabulary of United States customs entry is small, but the terms are used loosely in shipping documents, marketplace help pages, and sales pitches, and the loose use is where importers get into trouble. This post defines the terms that matter for anyone deciding who the Importer of Record (IOR) on a shipment is, or should be, and gives the legal source for each. Each entry is short on purpose. The pages and posts linked under each term go deeper.

Where a term has a statutory or regulatory definition, that definition controls. Where CBP uses a term in guidance rather than in the regulations, that is noted.

Importer of Record

The party in whose name the entry is filed and who is answerable to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for it. Under 19 U.S.C. §1484(a)(2)(B), the parties qualifying as importer of record are the owner or purchaser of the merchandise or, when appropriately designated by the owner, purchaser, or consignee, a licensed customs broker. The IOR owes the duties, holds the bond, keeps the records, and carries the reasonable care duty. The Importer of Record page covers the role in full.

Right to make entry

The legal standing to file an entry for a shipment. It belongs to the owner or purchaser of the goods. CBP Directive 3530-002A, Right to Make Entry, reads owner and purchaser to include any party with a sufficient financial interest in the import transaction, and gives the actual owner, the actual purchaser, a buying or selling agent, and a party importing for exhibition or repair as examples. A party that only handles or forwards the goods does not have it. See who has the right to make entry.

Consignee vs Importer of Record: nominal and ultimate consignee

A consignee is the party to whom goods are shipped, as named on the bill of lading. A nominal consignee is a party named in the shipping documents that has no financial interest in the goods; under the directive it cannot make entry in its own name, though it may designate a licensed broker to make entry for the party that holds the interest. The ultimate consignee is the party in the United States to whom the goods are delivered, reported on the entry for CBP’s records. Being a consignee of any kind does not by itself make a party the Importer of Record.

Customs broker

A person or company licensed by CBP under 19 U.S.C. §1641 to transact customs business, which 19 C.F.R. §111.1 defines to include the entry and admissibility of merchandise, classification and valuation, and the payment of duties, on behalf of others. The broker files the entry in ACE under a power of attorney from the importer. A broker may be designated as Importer of Record by the owner, purchaser, or consignee, but it is not the IOR by default, and filing an entry does not make it one.

IOR number and CBP Form 5106

The identification number under which an importer’s entries are filed, usually the company’s IRS employer identification number with a two-digit suffix, or a CBP-assigned number for parties without one. It is obtained and kept current by filing CBP Form 5106, the Importer Identity Form, under 19 C.F.R. §24.5. Since September 18, 2026, under the August 19, 2026 Federal Register notice implementing Executive Order 14411, CBP voids an IOR number whose Form 5106 lists a physical address that is not the importer’s own, contact details that belong to a broker or agent, or a power of attorney not executed directly with the importer. See the Form 5106 enforcement post.

Registered importer

A term people search for, but not a CBP status for general merchandise. There is no registry of importers beyond the Form 5106 record described above. The phrase does have a specific meaning for one category: a registered importer under 49 C.F.R. Part 592 is a business approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to import vehicles that were not built to United States safety standards. For any other product, a company that holds a current Form 5106 record and the right to make entry is as registered as an importer gets.

Nonresident importer

A company not incorporated in the customs territory of the United States that enters goods in its own name. Under 19 C.F.R. §141.18 a nonresident corporation may enter merchandise for consumption only if it has a resident agent in the state of the port of entry authorized to accept service of process, and files a bond on CBP Form 301 with a resident corporate surety. The nonresident importer post covers what that requires in practice.

Customs bond, continuous and single transaction

The surety instrument that secures the importer’s obligations to CBP. The basic importation and entry bond conditions are in 19 C.F.R. §113.62 and obligate the principal to pay duties, taxes, and charges, to complete entry, and to produce documents and redeliver merchandise on demand. A continuous bond covers all of the principal’s entries for a year. A single transaction bond covers one entry. The bond is in the Importer of Record’s name, which is one reason the role cannot be held casually.

Reasonable care

The standard of conduct the entry statute imposes on the Importer of Record. Under 19 U.S.C. §1484(a)(1), the IOR must use reasonable care in classifying the merchandise, declaring its value, and determining the rate of duty, and in providing any other information needed for CBP to assess duties and determine admissibility. It is the importer’s duty, not the broker’s, and it is the standard against which penalties under 19 U.S.C. §1592 are measured.

Formal entry and informal entry

A formal entry is the standard consumption entry, with a bond, for commercial shipments. An informal entry is the simplified procedure available under 19 C.F.R. Part 143 for shipments at or below the informal entry value limit, currently $2,500 for most merchandise. Executive Order 14411 directs that informal entry be limited to United States Importers of Record, and CBP published a proposed rule on October 8, 2026 that would change who may file informal entries and require a bond for them. Neither change is in effect. The tracker page carries the current position.

Delivered duty paid

A delivery term under which the seller clears the goods for import and pays the duties. Under delivered duty paid terms the overseas seller is normally the Importer of Record, which makes it a nonresident importer subject to 19 C.F.R. §141.18 and to the Form 5106 enforcement described above. The United States buyer in that arrangement has no entry in its own name and no control over the declared value or the records. See who needs a US Importer of Record.

Importer of Record service

An arrangement in which a United States company with the right to make entry holds the Importer of Record role for goods it did not manufacture, assuming the duty, bond, recordkeeping, and reasonable care obligations and working through licensed customs brokers. It exists because foreign manufacturers, overseas sellers, and nonresident importers often cannot meet the requirements in their own name, or would rather not carry them from abroad. On this site, that service is provided by an independent Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, The services post explains what the arrangement is and is not, and the how it works page describes the sequence.

ACE

The Automated Commercial Environment, CBP’s system of record for entries. Entries, entry summaries, and importer security filings are transmitted in ACE by the filer, usually a licensed customs broker, under the Importer of Record’s number. Importers can open their own ACE portal account to see entries filed in their name, which is the fastest way to find out who has been acting as IOR for a company’s shipments.

Customs value

The value on which duties are assessed. Under 19 U.S.C. §1401a it follows a sequential hierarchy of methods beginning with transaction value, the price actually paid or payable in a bona fide sale for export to the United States, with statutory additions. Customs value is a legal construct and is not necessarily the invoice figure. The customs valuation page walks through the six methods.

The terms that decide whose name goes on the entry

• Who owns or purchased the goods at the time of entry, and under what delivery terms
• Whether that party is resident or nonresident, and if nonresident, whether it has a resident agent and a resident surety bond
• Whose IOR number the broker files under, and whose address and contacts are on that Form 5106
• Whether the entry is formal or informal

A company that can answer those four from its own files knows who its Importer of Record is. A company that cannot usually finds out from its broker or its ACE portal, and the breakdown by situation describes what to do with the answer. Companies that want to know whether they qualify for a United States Importer of Record structure can see if they qualify or write to ship@iorusa.com.

Related

• Do I need a US Importer of Record
• Importer of Record USA: the party that makes entry and owes the duty
• Importer of Record requirements in 2026
• US Importer of Record services, what a service IOR structure is and is not

Sources

• 19 U.S.C. §1484, entry of merchandise
• 19 U.S.C. §1641, customs brokers
• 19 U.S.C. §1401a, value
• 19 U.S.C. §1592, penalties
• 19 C.F.R. §111.1, definitions, customs business
• 19 C.F.R. §24.5, filing identification number
• 19 C.F.R. §113.62, basic importation and entry bond conditions
• 19 C.F.R. §141.18, entry by nonresident corporation
• 19 C.F.R. Part 143, special entry procedures
• 49 C.F.R. Part 592, registered importers of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the federal motor vehicle safety standards
• CBP Directive 3530-002A, Right to Make Entry
• CBP, Accuracy of Importer of Record Data Submitted to CBP, Federal Register, August 19, 2026
• Executive Order 14411, Strengthening Customs Enforcement, 91 FR 35125, June 10, 2026