About Customs Lookup

What this site is

Customs Lookup is a free reference site for international customs and import duty information. We operate three connected tools: an import duty calculator, an HS code lookup, and a library of country-by-country import guides. We also publish plain-English summaries of major trade policy changes as they happen.

There is no paywall, no signup wall, and no premium tier. The site is funded by Google AdSense advertisements, which lets us keep the underlying tools free for the people who need them most: small importers, hobbyist resellers, freelance freight agents, and the customer service teams of small e-commerce stores.

Why we built it

Free customs information online is in surprisingly poor shape. Government tariff portals are authoritative but built for trade professionals — they assume you already know your HS code, your incoterm, and your country's customs jargon. Commercial logistics platforms bury free tools behind enterprise navigation or charge subscriptions. Older "duty calculator" sites are abandoned, with broken country lists and stale tariff rates from years ago.

A small business owner shipping a $2,000 order to Brazil shouldn't need a customs broker just to find out roughly what duty they'll owe. A first-time importer working out whether to use a Mexican supplier for a US-bound product should be able to compare landed costs in five minutes, not five hours. That's the gap we're trying to fill.

Where our data comes from

Every tariff, threshold, and code on this site is sourced from primary or near-primary sources. We do not scrape competitor sites or generate figures with AI. The main sources we rely on:

• HS code structure — the World Customs Organization (WCO), custodian of the Harmonized System.
• US tariff rates — the USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance.
• EU tariff rates — the European Commission's TARIC database and Combined Nomenclature.
• UK tariff rates — HM Revenue & Customs and the UK Trade Tariff service.
• Other national rates — each country's official customs authority (e.g. CBSA for Canada, ABF for Australia, GACC for China, CBIC for India, Receita Federal for Brazil, Singapore Customs, Japan Customs).
• Trade policy and tariff news — the WTO Tariff Download Facility, USTR press releases, the EU's Official Journal, and HMRC notices.

How often we update

Tariffs change. We aim to refresh major policy events (reciprocal tariff orders, anti-dumping duties, FTA changes, de minimis reforms) within seven days of their announcement. Routine HS schedule updates — such as the WCO's six-yearly amendments to the Harmonized System — are reviewed in batch when a new revision takes effect. Each FAQ and country guide carries a "Last updated" date; if it's stale, treat it as such.

How the duty calculator works

The calculator is deliberately simple. It applies the textbook formula used by most customs authorities worldwide:

Where CIF is Cost + Insurance + Freight, the duty rate comes from the destination's tariff schedule for the entered HS code, and the VAT/GST rate is the destination's standard import VAT/GST rate. The result is an estimate: it does not account for anti-dumping duties, country-of-origin surcharges (e.g. US Section 301 on Chinese goods), excise taxes on alcohol or tobacco, broker fees, port handling, or last-mile delivery. For sensitive shipments these can move the total by 20–50%, which is why the result is always labelled as indicative.

Editorial standards

• No undisclosed sponsorship. AdSense ads are clearly distinguished from editorial content. We do not accept payment to write about specific brokers, freight companies, or platforms.
• Human-written commentary. Tariff data is sourced from official records; the explanatory text around it is written and reviewed by a human editor with a working knowledge of customs procedure.
• Plain language. Where customs jargon is unavoidable, we link to a definition in the FAQ.
• Corrections. If you spot an error, please tell us and we'll fix it. Material corrections are noted on the affected page.

What we are not

We are not a licensed customs brokerage. We do not file customs declarations on your behalf. We are not affiliated with any government customs authority, the WCO, or any specific freight or logistics company. Nothing on this site is legal or tax advice — see our Terms & Disclaimer for the full picture.

Get in touch

Questions, corrections, partnership ideas, or feedback are all welcome — see our contact page.