France to US Luxury Goods Duty Calculator

US Import Duty on French Luxury Goods — Category by Category

French luxury does not ship under a single duty rate. Every item lands in its own HTS heading, and the differences are significant enough to shift a landed-cost model by hundreds of dollars on a single order. Leather handbags classified under HTS 4202.21 carry 6.2%. Silk scarves under 6214.10 sit at just 2.6%. Cosmetics and fragrance compounds under Chapter 3304 range from 0% to 6.5% depending on whether the product is a cream, a powder, or an alcohol-based fragrance. Still wine under heading 2204 pays 5.3 to 12.7 cents per liter — a specific-rate duty calculated by volume, not a percentage of value. The blended average across all major French luxury categories is 5.2%, drawn from CBP's publicly posted 2025 HTS revisions.

Concrete example — a real Parisian order. You buy a Hermès silk scarf (€2,500) and a Louis Vuitton leather handbag (€2,500) from a Paris boutique. Declared value $5,000. Shipping via Chronopost or DHL Express runs $200 including insurance. The US assesses duty on the transaction value of the goods, not on CIF, so the dutiable base here is $5,000 — provided your invoice shows freight as a separate line. A CIF or DDP invoice that buries it hands CBP a $5,200 base instead. The 5.2% blended MFN rate is also not the rate you pay: the 2026 forced-labour Section 301 action tops EU-origin goods up to a 10% floor, so duty is 10% × $5,000 = $500.00. The Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) on formal entries carries a minimum of $34.58 for entries under $27,000 in entered value. Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF), 0.125% of the entered value, applies to vessel cargo rather than air express — $0 on this shipment, and $6.25 if the same goods moved by sea. Total customs bill = $531.67. Landed cost before trucking and brokerage = $5,731.67. There is no $800 relief to fall back on either — Section 321 was suspended on 29 August 2025, so splitting the order into two parcels produces two dutiable entries, not one free one.

No De Minimis Left — Duty From the First Dollar

Section 321 de minimis used to be the unsung hero of French luxury e-commerce. The old rule: any single shipment with a total value of $800 or less entered the United States free of duty, tax, MPF, and HMF — no broker, no formal entry. That lane was suspended with effect from 29 August 2025, and the suspension covers every country of origin, so duty is due from the first dollar. A $750 Goyard card holder shipped direct from the Rue Saint-Honoré store to a Manhattan apartment is dutiable now, and so are a $600 Diptyque candle order, a $400 Hermès twilly, and a $700 Longchamp leather tote. There is no de minimis line left for single-piece French luxury purchases to sit underneath — the free ride on direct-to-consumer orders is over.

De minimis used to bite when you combined items. A $5,000 Chanel tweed jacket packed with a $1,200 matching handbag in a single shipment has a combined declared value of $6,200 plus shipping — and there is no longer any threshold to stay under. Full 5.2% duty — topped up to a 10% floor by the Section 301 forced-labour layer — plus MPF and HMF applies to the entire shipment value, not just part of it. There is no partial exemption left to argue about. A single-piece order from a French retailer to a US consumer used to clear free; now it is dutiable like any other import. For wholesale orders and importer-of-record entries from French maisons to US boutiques, de minimis almost never applied anyway — those shipments run in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. Full de minimis value guide with worked examples →

Category-Specific Duty Rates for French Luxury

Below is a detailed breakout of the most common French luxury categories, their HTS codes, and the duty rates CBP applies at the port of entry. Rates are based on the 2025 Harmonized Tariff Schedule, General (MFN) column. All are ad valorem (percentage of entered value) unless marked as specific (cents per unit).

• Handbags — 4202.21, 4202.22, 4202.29: 5.3% to 9%. A leather handbag with outer surface of composition leather (4202.21.60) pays 6.2%. Handbags with outer surface of plastic sheeting (4202.22) hit 9%. Textile handbags (4202.29) can reach into double digits depending on fiber and construction. The distinction between "handbag" and "clutch" or "evening bag" matters at the subheading level — CBP's National Commodity Specialist Division has issued binding rulings on these distinctions.
• Leather small goods — 4202.31, 4202.32: 4% to 8%. Wallets, card cases, checkbook covers, coin purses, and key cases. Items carried in a pocket or handbag — the "pocket article" classification under 4202.31 — generally land at the lower end around 4–5%. Flatter items like passport covers and document wallets can fall under different subheadings with different rates.
• Cosmetics and perfume — 3303, 3304: 0% to 6.5%. Fragrance compounds and toilet waters (3303.00) are at the upper end at 6.5% ad valorem. Makeup preparations — lipsticks, foundations, powders — under 3304.91 typically run 5.8%. Skincare creams and lotions under 3304.99 are often duty-free or near-zero. The key variable is whether the product contains alcohol (fragrance) or is water-based (cream). Alcohol content also triggers a parallel TTB concern — perfumes with high ethanol may need TTB clearance.
• Wine — 2204: Still wine in containers of 2 liters or less pays specific rates of 5.3 to 12.7 cents per liter depending on alcohol by volume. Wine over 14% ABV lands at the upper tier. Sparkling wine under 2204.10 pays a higher specific rate. This is a per-unit duty, not a percentage — 12 cases of Bordeaux at 9 liters per case incur duty on 108 liters, regardless of whether the wine is worth $15 or $150 per bottle. The TTB federal excise tax then layers on top.
• Silk scarves and accessories — 6214: Silk scarves under 6214.10 sit at 2.6% — one of the lowest apparel-accessory rates in the entire HTS. Wool scarves under 6214.20 pay 5%. Cotton scarves under 6214.90 jump to 12.5%. A scarf that is 70% silk and 30% cotton is classified by the predominant fiber by weight — know your blend before filing. Get it wrong and the rate swings by a factor of five.
• Fashion jewelry — 7117: 11% ad valorem across the board. Base metal, glass beads, plastic, wood, and plated pieces all converge here. There is less sub-classification nuance than in textiles — if it is not precious metal, it is 7117 and the rate is 11%. The line between "fashion jewelry" (7117) and "fine jewelry" (7113) turns on whether the item contains any precious metal or gemstone content.
• Fine jewelry — 7113: 5% to 13.5%. The rate depends on the precise metal (silver, gold, platinum) and whether the piece contains diamonds, pearls, or colored gemstones. A plain 18k gold ring pays a different rate than a gold ring set with a sapphire. CBP requires detailed metal weight and gemstone carat weight breakdowns on the commercial invoice for all 7113 entries.
• Footwear — 6403, 6404: 6% to 37.5%. Leather-soled French dress shoes with leather uppers (6403.59) typically clear at around 8.5%. Textile-upper sneakers on rubber soles can exceed 20%. The highest rates in the footwear chapter — 37.5% and above — apply to certain rubber or plastic footwear and are largely irrelevant to French luxury, but the principle stands: get the subheading right or pay the wrong rate.

Also see: EU to US Duty Calculator | Italy to US Machinery Duty

Wine, Spirits, and the TTB — Federal Excise + Customs Duty

French wine and spirits face a double layer of federal charges that regularly surprises first-time importers. Layer one is the CBP customs duty at the rates described above — specific per-liter charges for wine, small ad valorem or specific charges for spirits. Layer two is the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) federal excise tax, which is entirely separate from customs and collected through a different channel on a different schedule.

On still wine: customs at 5.3–12.7 cents/liter plus TTB excise at $1.07 per gallon for the first 750,000 gallons (small producer rate) rising to $3.40 per gallon for larger volumes. The excise tier depends on alcohol content: table wine under 16% ABV gets the lower rate, while dessert and fortified wines over 16% pay a higher excise. On Champagne and other sparkling wines under 2204.10: customs applies a higher specific rate than still wine, and the TTB sparkling excise tier is higher too — typically $3.30–$3.40 per gallon depending on the producer's size and the exact carbonation method.

On Cognac and Armagnac under 2208.20: customs runs 0–2.8 cents per proof liter, a relatively small line. But the TTB distilled spirits excise — $13.50 per proof gallon for the first 100,000 proof gallons — often dwarfs the customs charge. A 750ml bottle of Cognac at 80 proof contains roughly 0.2 proof gallons, so the excise per bottle is about $2.70 before customs even enters the picture. For a 12-bottle case, that is $32.40 in federal excise alone, compared to perhaps $0.50 in customs duty on the same case. The excise is the real cost driver on spirits imports.

The TTB also imposes licensing requirements that run in parallel with CBP clearance. Before customs will release a commercial wine or spirits shipment, the importer must hold a Federal Basic Permit issued by the TTB. Each product label requires a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) confirming the label meets US federal standards for alcohol labeling — health warnings, appellation of origin, net contents, and alcohol content statements. A new COLA application can take 30–90 days. Budget that time into your launch timeline. States then impose their own three-tier distribution rules, excise taxes, and label registration requirements — but those fall outside federal customs and will not hold up the CBP entry itself.

French Fashion — Leather, Silk, and the HTS Details

France's major luxury categories fall into specific HTS chapters, and crossing chapter boundaries on a customs entry triggers audits and back-duty bills. Leather handbags are Chapter 42 — not Chapter 64 (footwear) and not Chapters 61 or 62 (textiles and apparel). This is the single most common classification error on French luxury entries. An importer classifies a leather handbag under a textile accessories subheading, CBP's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) flags the entry during post-release review, and twelve months later the importer gets a CF-29 Notice of Action demanding underpaid duties plus interest. The bag did not change. The chapter number did. The bill is real.

Silk scarves live in Chapter 62, heading 6214.10, at 2.6% — one of the lowest apparel-accessory rates anywhere in the HTS. Lower than most cotton apparel, lower than wool, lower than synthetics. It is a structural advantage for French maisons whose core accessory is a silk carré. But the rate flips hard when the fabric changes. A cotton scarf under 6214.90 pays 12.5% — nearly five times the silk rate. A scarf that is 51% silk and 49% cotton by weight is classified as silk (predominant fiber rule) and gets the 2.6% rate. A scarf that is 51% cotton and 49% silk gets 12.5%. French luxury houses use specific fabrics for specific collections — silk twill for one season, cotton-silk blend for the next — and each SKU needs its own HTS determination. Do not batch them under a single code.

Leather apparel — jackets, coats, skirts — falls under Chapter 42 heading 4203, distinct from textile apparel in Chapters 61–62. The rate on leather garments varies by type and gender classification. A women's leather jacket under 4203.10 typically clears around 6%, but a men's leather jacket may fall at a slightly different subheading with a different rate. The gender distinction persists in the HTS even when the garment is unisex in appearance. French luxury houses shipping leather RTW should file separate line items for each distinct garment type.

Shipping French Luxury — Insurance, Security, and Customs Bonds

French luxury goods are high-value-per-kilo by their nature. A single Hermès Birkin can be $15,000+ and weigh under 2 kilograms. A Dior evening gown can be $8,000 and fit in a garment bag. This value density changes the shipping calculus completely compared to, say, industrial machinery or bulk wine. Air freight from Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to John F. Kennedy (JFK) is the standard route — FedEx, DHL, and Chronopost handle the majority of French luxury e-commerce into the US. Insurance on these shipments is not optional; it is the single most important line item after the goods themselves. A lost or damaged package containing a $5,000 handbag becomes a claim large enough to wipe out the margin on a dozen successful deliveries. Insure at full replacement value, every shipment.

CBP pays unusually close attention to declared value on luxury goods. The agency knows what a Louis Vuitton bag costs. Undervaluation — declaring a $5,000 bag at $500 to reduce the duty bill — is one of the most frequently prosecuted customs violations in the luxury space. CBP's investigative arms (FP&F and the Centers of Excellence and Expertise) run commercial invoice verification against known retail and wholesale price data. A mismatch triggers a CF-28 Request for Information, then potentially a CF-29 Notice of Action demanding corrected value and back duty, then potentially a penalty under 19 USC 1592 for negligence or fraud depending on the circumstances. Declare the actual transaction value — the price you paid — and keep the commercial invoice.

The importer should hold a continuous customs bond of at least $50,000 for any meaningful volume of luxury goods. A single-entry bond covers one shipment up to its face value. A continuous bond covers all shipments for a rolling 12-month period up to the bond amount, and CBP typically requires a bond equal to 10% of the prior year's total duties, taxes, and fees — with a $50,000 minimum for most commercial filers. A single shipment of high-end handbags with a CIF value of $75,000 would generate roughly $4,100 in duty. But the bond also covers penalties — and a single CF-29 penalty for negligent undervaluation can quickly reach five figures. A $50,000 continuous bond is cheap protection against a shipment being held at JFK over a bond insufficiency.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the duty rate for French luxury goods entering the US?

The blended average across common French luxury categories is 5.2%. Handbags run 5.3–9% depending on outer surface material. Cosmetics and perfume range from 0% to 6.5% depending on whether the product is alcohol-based or a cream. Still wine pays 5.3–12.7 cents per liter in customs duty plus a separate TTB federal excise of $1.07–$3.40 per gallon. Silk scarves sit at a favorable 2.6%, while leather-soled French dress shoes clear at around 8.5%. Fashion jewelry is a flat 11%. The rate for your specific item depends entirely on the HTS classification at the 10-digit level — use our calculator for a blended estimate and consult a licensed customs broker for an exact binding classification.

Do French luxury goods face Section 301 tariffs?

Yes — one layer does now. The China-focused Section 301 action that began in 2018 still applies only to goods of Chinese origin, and French luxury goods are not on those lists: they pay standard MFN (Most Favored Nation) rates, the Column 1 General subcolumn of the HTS. But a second Section 301 action, the forced-labour measure in force since 24 July 2026, covers 60 economies including the EU and tops EU-origin goods up to a 10% floor, so French luxury steps up to 10% wherever its MFN rate sits below that. The US and EU have their own trade disputes, including the longstanding Airbus-Boeing tariff rounds, but luxury consumer goods have generally been excluded from those targeting lists.

Can I bring a $5,000 French handbag into the US duty-free?

Not through commercial import channels. A $5,000 handbag does not clear duty-free: Section 321 was suspended with effect from 29 August 2025, and the suspension covers every country of origin, so duty is due from the first dollar on every commercial shipment. For personal travel — carrying the bag in your luggage through the airport — the only treatment still outside the suspension is genuine bona fide gifts and personal accompanied items valued at $100 or less. Anything above that is dutiable, and the personal-travel rules are not a commercial channel. Personal exemptions and commercial import rules are separate legal regimes with separate forms, separate exemptions, and separate enforcement mechanisms. A bag purchased in Paris and shipped by the boutique to your US address is a commercial import, not a personal exemption.

Do I need a customs broker for French luxury imports?

For commercial shipments over $2,500 in entered value, formal entry is mandatory under 19 CFR 143.21, and a licensed customs broker is strongly recommended. The broker handles the ACE filing, HTS classification, PGA (Partner Government Agency) clearances including FDA for cosmetics and TTB for alcohol, and payment of duties through the periodic monthly statement system. For direct-to-consumer shipments up to $2,500, informal entry is available and a broker is generally not needed — the express carrier (DHL, FedEx) files the entry as part of its standard door-to-door service. Note what changed in August 2025: the informal track is now about paperwork and fees, not about liability. Section 321 was suspended on 29 August 2025, so a $300 scarf and a $5,000 order are both dutiable, and the carrier bills the duty through to you either way. A broker is still worth paying for on any shipment where an HTS misclassification or an undervaluation flag would be expensive. If your shipment includes alcohol or alcohol-based cosmetics requiring PGA clearance, retain a broker from the start.