A customs bond has two prices, and most quotes only show you one. The first is the bond amount, the coverage CBP requires. For an importer's continuous bond, CBP's current public guidance sets that at the greater of $50,000 or 10% of the duties, taxes, and fees from the previous 12 months. The second is the premium, what you actually pay a surety to stand behind that amount. No regulation sets the premium. A surety prices it off your finances, your record, and what you import. This guide is current as of October 6, 2026. It explains how both numbers are built, why 2026 duty levels are pushing the first one up, and how to compare sureties on the second.
If you need the basics first (what a bond is, the three parties, how a claim works), start with our customs bonds guide. This piece is only about cost.
The Two Numbers on Every Bond Quote
The bond amount is the most the surety can owe CBP under the bond. For a continuous bond, CBP's guidance treats it as exhausted once the full amount for that annual period has been paid out. You don't pay that number. You pay for the promise.
The premium is the surety's price for that promise. The surety sets it, not CBP, and it moves with the bond amount and with the surety's estimate of how likely it is to pay a claim it can't recover. A customs bond is not insurance for you. Surety applications typically come with an indemnity agreement, so if the surety pays CBP on your behalf, it comes back to you for the money. That full exposure is a third line on the cost, and it's why the lowest premium isn't automatically the best deal.
One alternative skips the premium. Under 19 CFR 113.40, CBP may accept cash or U.S. obligations in lieu of a surety, equal to the full bond amount, for a term of no more than one year. That swaps a premium for $50,000 or more of tied-up capital, which is why most importers don't use it.
How CBP Sets the Bond Amount
The regulation has no percentage in it. 19 CFR 113.13 sets a $100 floor for any CBP bond. It lists six factors CBP weighs: your record of paying on time, your record of complying with redelivery and other demands, the value and nature of the merchandise, how closely CBP will supervise, your record of honoring bond commitments, and your bond application. It also commits CBP to "periodically review each bond on file" for sufficiency.
The 10% formula comes from CBP guidance, not the CFR. That guidance was Directive 3510-004 (1991) until February 2024, when CBP marked the directive "For Internal Use Only" and published A Guide for the Public: How CBP Sets Bond Amounts (Publication #3569-0224) in its place. As of October 6, 2026, CBP's page for the guide still shows February 16, 2024, with no newer version posted. The guide is what to rely on:
"The minimum Activity Code 1 continuous bond amount is $50,000 or 10% of the total estimated duties, taxes, and fees in the previous 12-month period, whichever is greater, for all principals, co-principals, and users appearing on the bond, unless otherwise specified."
Four details in the guide change what you'll pay:
- Rounding. Continuous bonds are set in increments of $10,000 up to $100,000, then in $100,000 increments. Since June 2020, ACE has rejected new continuous bonds that don't follow that pattern (CSMS #42984449).
- New importers. If you made no imports in the preceding year, the amount is based on the duties, taxes, and fees you estimate for the next 12 months. "In no event" can it be less than $50,000.
- Excluded entry types. Some entries don't count toward the computation. The list includes type 11 informal entries (under $2,500), type 86 de minimis entries, FTZ admissions (26), warehouse withdrawals (31, 32, 34, 38), and drawback (47).
- Unpaid bills raise it. The guide's "Analytical formula" adds three things on top of the base: 10% of delinquent bills that are unprotested and under 210 days past due (or under protest), 100% of delinquent bills over 210 days or tied to a denied protest, and 100% of unpaid debit vouchers.
A worked example
| Duties, taxes, and fees, previous 12 months | 10% | Continuous bond amount |
|---|---|---|
| $380,000 | $38,000 | $50,000 (minimum applies) |
| $740,000 | $74,000 | $80,000 |
| $1,850,000 | $185,000 | $200,000 |
Now give the $740,000 importer a $20,000 bill from CBP that has gone unpaid and unprotested for more than 210 days. Under the guide's Appendix B, that bill adds dollar for dollar: an $80,000 base plus $20,000 comes to $100,000. One overlooked bill just added $20,000 of required coverage, and the premium goes up with it.
Single-Entry Bonds Are Sized Very Differently
A single transaction bond (STB) covers one entry, and its size catches people off guard because it isn't based on duty alone. Under CBP's guide, an STB for an ordinary consumption entry generally is "not less than the total entered value, plus all duties, taxes, and fees that apply." Take a $60,000 shipment carrying $15,000 in duties, taxes, and fees. It needs an STB of at least $75,000, which is more than the $50,000 continuous minimum, for a single shipment.
The guide carves out exceptions in both directions:
- Unconditionally duty-free merchandise may be bonded at 10% of entered value.
- Restricted merchandise is bonded at three times its value, as are several special classes in the guide's Appendix A: quota/visa merchandise, alcoholic beverages, and goods under AMS marketing orders. Other Appendix A classes, including FDA-, CPSC-, and EPA-regulated goods, are sized on value and rise to three times value only if the goods are restricted or prohibited.
- AD/CVD (antidumping and countervailing duty) goods. If CBP has evidence that a continuous bond alone would threaten the revenue because of AD/CVD issues, it may require an additional STB "reasonably tailored to the evidence of additional risk."
The guide also notes that an STB amount can only be increased during the 10-day window between entry and entry summary, so size it right the first time. And because the surety prices an STB off that larger number, single-entry bonding gets expensive quickly beyond the occasional shipment.
What Drives the Premium
No CBP rule sets a premium, and we aren't going to print a market range here. Sureties price each account individually, and a range in a blog post goes stale while telling you nothing about your own quote. Here is what moves the number instead.
The bond amount. This is the largest driver. More coverage means more potential liability for the surety, and the premium reflects it.
Your financial strength. Sureties underwrite credit, and in our experience larger bonds mean deeper review, often financial statements on top of a credit check. A thin or damaged file can mean a higher rate, collateral, or both.
Your payment and compliance record. The factors CBP lists in 113.13(b) (timely payment, redelivery compliance, liquidated damages history) are the same things a surety cares about, because they predict claims. An open bill to CBP hurts you twice. It raises the required bond amount through the Analytical formula, and it makes you look like a worse risk.
What you import. CBP's own guide names AD/CVD as a reason to demand security beyond a continuous bond, and sureties read that risk the same way. Goods in the guide's three-times-value classes and freight that touches many partner government agencies (PGAs, such as FDA or EPA) carry similar weight.
Collateral and terms. A low premium attached to a collateral demand isn't actually cheap. Get collateral, renewal, and multi-year terms in writing.
Why Your 2026 Duty Bill Is Now a Bond Cost
Because the continuous bond formula is a percentage of duties, taxes, and fees, your duty bill feeds directly into your bond cost. The guide excludes certain entry types from the base but does not carve out any duty program. When additional duties stack on ordinary duty, the trailing 12-month number climbs, and the required bond climbs with it. Our 2026 tariff stacking guide explains how those layers add up on a single entry.
CBP doesn't wait for your renewal to check. Its 2018 message on the subject, CSMS #18-000664, says the "Revenue Division conducts sufficiency review for all active Activity Code Type 1 continuous bonds on a monthly basis." The same message advises importers to "forecast their import activities for the next 12 months, to determine if a bond increase beyond the minimum amount will be more appropriate." In practice, we size bonds on whichever is greater: the trailing 12 months or a credible projection of the next 12.
Getting caught short costs more than sizing up front. Under 19 CFR 113.13(c), CBP notifies the principal and surety in writing, and the principal has 15 days to fix the deficiency. CBP can also require a cash deposit or an STB on your transactions until it's fixed. Because CBP allows only one continuous bond per activity for each importer number, an increase generally means terminating and replacing the bond, with new paperwork and a new premium. If you're already holding one of these notices, call us. That's a different conversation.
One open question: as of October 6, 2026, we haven't found CBP guidance on whether duties later refunded reduce the trailing amount used in sufficiency reviews. Don't plan a bond reduction around a refund until CBP says so.
A note for former de minimis shippers. CBP's interim final rule effective June 24, 2026 requires non-postal shipments valued at $800 or less to use formal or informal entry (our de minimis guide covers the change). Type 11 informal entries are excluded from the continuous bond computation. Type 01 formal entries count. If your mix shifts toward formal entries, your bond base shifts with it.
Continuous or Single-Entry: Doing the Math With Real Quotes
Rules of thumb about how many shipments justify a continuous bond depend on prices you haven't been quoted yet. Do this instead:
- Get a continuous bond quote for the amount the formula gives you, using your trailing or projected 12 months.
- Get an STB quote for a typical shipment, sized at entered value plus duties, taxes, and fees (or three times value if your goods fall in a restricted class).
- Divide the continuous premium by the STB premium. That's your break-even shipment count for the year.
Then account for what the arithmetic misses. Every STB is another application on another deadline, and an under-sized STB can only be raised in that 10-day window. If you move ocean freight, Importer Security Filing (ISF, the pre-loading data filing for ocean cargo) has its own bonding requirement. CBP's guide sets minimums of $50,000 for an ISF-only continuous bond and $10,000 for an ISF single transaction bond, so ask the surety how your ISF is covered.
How to Pick a Surety (and What "Best" Should Mean)
There is no objective "best customs bond provider." Bonds for the same amount are close to interchangeable on paper. What separates providers is price, terms, and what happens when something goes wrong. Check five things.
1. Confirm the surety is Treasury-certified. Under 19 CFR 113.37, CBP accepts no corporate surety that isn't listed in Treasury's Department Circular 570, and no bond above the surety's listed limit unless the excess is protected under 31 CFR 223.11. Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service publishes the list and last updated it on August 1, 2026. Whoever you buy from, an agent, a broker, or the surety itself, the underwriting company should be on it.
2. Get the premium, term, and renewal pricing in writing.
3. Read the indemnity agreement and ask about collateral. This is your real exposure if the surety pays a claim.
4. Ask how a mid-term increase is priced and how quickly they can turn a replacement bond around.
5. Ask who watches your sufficiency. CBP reviews monthly. Find out whether anyone on the surety's side or your broker's side compares your trailing duties to your bond amount before CBP does.
Through a broker or direct? Either works. Many importers go through their customs broker because the broker already knows their entries and can size the bond properly. Either way, you are the principal. CBP identifies the principal by your importer number, not the broker's, so the bond and the responsibility for it stay with you. For the wider picture of what clearance costs beyond the bond, see how much a customs broker costs in 2026.
Where Strix Fits
Strix does not underwrite customs bonds. We work with surety partners and help importers size the coverage CBP expects. Premiums go to the surety, separate from our fees. Here's how we help:
- Clear. Full-service customs brokerage at $100–$250 per entry. We make sure a properly sized bond is in place before your first entry, not after a rejection.
- Consult. A bond sizing review: your trailing 12 months of duties, taxes, and fees against your current bond amount, plus a forward projection, so you're buying coverage on real numbers.
- Comply. Keeping the record sureties underwrite on clean. That means correcting entry errors through Post Summary Corrections ($150 per PSC entry, up to 10 lines) and keeping CBP bills from aging into the Analytical formula.
- Automate. Self-filing at $30 per entry for importers who want to run their own entries. You need your own bond either way. Our broker vs. self-filing framework can help you choose.
Our pricing page lists every service.
CBP doesn't charge one. What people call the fee is the premium a surety charges to issue the bond, and the surety sets it from your bond amount, credit, record, and commodities. The bond amount itself, at least $50,000 for an importer's continuous bond under CBP's guidance, is coverage, not a payment. The only reliable way to know your premium is a written quote.
What does a continuous customs bond cost for a new import business?
With no import history, CBP sizes the bond on the duties, taxes, and fees you estimate for the next 12 months, never below $50,000. A new business usually has less financial history for a surety to underwrite, so expect closer review and possibly a collateral request. Keep the estimate realistic, because a monthly sufficiency review can catch an underestimate.
Is the bond amount what I pay?
No. The bond amount is the most the surety can owe CBP during the bond period. You pay the surety a premium for taking on that obligation. If the surety ever does pay CBP on your behalf, your indemnity agreement generally requires you to pay the surety back.
Get Your Bond Sized on Real Numbers
Most bond surprises come from a formula nobody re-ran after duties went up. Send us your last 12 months of entries and what you expect to import next year. A licensed broker will walk through the amount CBP's formula gives you, how your current bond compares, and whether continuous or single-entry bonding fits your volume. Then we'll connect you with a surety partner for a quote. Talk to our team.